The Problem of Identity

This week’s reading illustrates and defines critical regionalism as a stance different from modernism and the nostalgic historicism of the past century. Frampton goes to explain through his six points the problem of identity and how this has and is continuing to displace local culture and replace the public realm with “placelessness”.

Go anywhere in the US and you will find the same big commercial strip malls and suburban development. You could almost forget where you were. I think this has an even bigger impact on the inhabitants. Their sense of place is also part of their sense of identity. It is a theme that can be seen in many films that critique our current culture. One such film is “Fight Club”. The main protagonist suffers a similar lack of identity and adopts a reactionary stance to the consumerism that defines who he is in the film.

Going back to architecture, this problem of identity is clearly linked to our lack of limits. The problem is not necessarily universal civilization or globalization. The problem lies in the lack of limits.

The author goes to illustrate a few examples. One of those is simply recognizing the terracing of a slope sight as a strategy to deal with a step grade. The technocratic attitude is to go ahead a bulldoze it to make it nice a flat. But this has inherently changed what that place was before. Recognizing the limits of the site actually helps to keep the character and unique features of the site intact, reflecting a more responsible and earth friendly way of building.

Another example he uses is the use of air conditioning and artificial lighting. While they offer immense benefits, they also can alienate structures with their surroundings. If we can enclose and condition the air, why worry about local climate and conditions? If we can utilize artificial lighting, why worry about orientation of the building?

These all go to illustrate the main problem which we are currently faced with today. How do we address the problem of identity in our buildings and how can we utilize what is there to make places vs. objects?