Critical Regionalism

 I always enjoy Frampton’s Six Points of Architecture, especially when you realize what he was rallying against. He wrote this in direct opposition to globalization and the commodification of architecture. His essay is an effort to reroute the path of architecture away from a placelessness of copy-paste crazy designs into any major metro market and instead pay closer attention to peripheral conditions such as topography, climate, light and tactilability. While it might be quick to assume he is reaching backwards for the past, it is much more than that. Frampton’s notion of “arrierre-garde” is to strike a balance between lusting for the past and being overzealous for the optimism of modernization. Frampton believes by holding both ideals, a project can make progress while still staying grounded and identifiable to its culture. Critical regionalism tempers the distinctiveness of a place against the universal modernism elements with a consciousness. 

Jim Thomas, was very passionate about critical regionalism and phenomenology of place. One of the key takeaways I had from his class was to think of architecture beyond the visual sense and embracing our other dominant sense of touch. Going beyond aesthetics, tactile resistance embraces a plethora of other sensory perceptions that can combat placelessness and create a more immersive and expressive experience. One of the examples I go to in my mind to understand the impact of these differences we can notice in something as mundane as the flatware we eat with. There are distinctive differences in the qualities of how metal spoon absorbs the heat of whatever it possesses, the different ergonomics between a dinner and dessert fork, the sound of a metal fork scraping the last bite of a meal against a porcelain plate; all give it the advantage of the universal plastic spork.