Beyond Architecture: Rethinking the Future

The topic of the lectures focuses on how architecture can be analyzed beyond its aesthetics and more of something that can reshape society. The idea that architecture can be a symbolic fuel to society and the dream of transforming it into something different had me curious about the topic and how it is represented today.

After the post-war era, architectural thinking and understanding has became a critical part of architecture theory. From that moment on, architecture was less about aesthetics and more about the critical potential it could hold within society. As we discussed in class, architecture during this time was expressed through crisis, form, language, and projective, which has challenged the works of Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture. These types of expression are the start of the critical theory moment, which is shaping architecture into something incompatible. The idea is that architecture, like painting and sculpture, is representational art. This movement is taking the idea of representation art by applying non-architecture meaning. The focus is to look at architecture from a sculpture stance and ignore all aspects of human use or needs.  We see this within the early works of Peter Eisenman and Daniel Libeskind, which focus on the use of geometry and grids. They believed that architecture can be represented as the art of process by using the function to explain the process. It was not until the post-critical era to were we started to view architecture, not only from its sculptural forms but how the building can adapt to humans and environmental needs. We are in an era that values human and environmental rights, and architecture should adapt to these changes. 

I believe that architecture should continue to challenge the critical theory by looking beyond architecture and focusing on what architecture could be. Architecture should not be limited to one idea but should be made up of multiple ideas with shared challenges. With all things considered, do you think architecture is becoming more of a symbolic meaning to the cities they are being built on? 

People's Building Shanghai - Bajarke Ingels Group