Critical Regionalism
Critical regionalism is the responsibility of the architect in almost every urban intervention where new architecture is being created. It has become increasingly important for architects to understand the nature of the context they design in and learn to develop ideas that enrich the conditions that are already present – assuming that the context is a rich one. Where critical regionalism fails, however, is where the context is already one that is broken. Here the architect has the opportunity to create a richness that may be unprecedented. However, in many cases, it is imperative that the architect takes stock in the surrounding context to ensure that any kind of intervention is one that serves the public, and the character of a place, rather than to serve the architect or to serve other academics. Beauty apparent, the ability for an architecture to exhibit its tactful placefulness, is vital for strengthening urban conditions and, by extension, the character of a place that people are to inhabit.
Interesting comments Eric.
ReplyDeletethis seems to tie into the confusion surrounding cities. What is the context to work within critical regionalism if you're in NYC? Its kind of a space that based in current locality of surroundings you are in fact pushed to do whatever you want. Or at best if you're working within adaptive reuse of a structure you have the base envelope as a starting point. Does this mean that New York City doesn't have critical regionalism? should cities in general be defined by other metrics of locality?