Everybody Loves Critical Regionalism

 “It is self-evident that the tabula rasa tendency of modernization favors the optimum use of earth-moving equipment inasmuch as a totally flat datum is regarded as the most economic matrix upon which to predicate the rationalization of construction. Here again, one touches in concrete terms this fundamental opposition between universal civilization and autochthonous culture.” - Kenneth Frampton in “Towards a Critical Regionalism”

In more accessible terminology, this means bulldozing a site to be flat may be economical in some cases, but we must choose between a building that can be built anywhere or a building that responds more thoughtfully to place. As burgeoning designers, especially with the education we have received, I hope it would be unanimous to agree that in almost every case, designing thoughtfully for site and place leads to a higher quality of architecture. Is Critical Regionalism the first theory to be widely accepted as objectively correct? Perhaps it is so second nature to us at this point that we struggle to recognize it as the theoretical basis of what we are designing, but it really is more often than not.