Autopoiesis of Architecture, Volume II - A New Agenda for Architecture

Informationen zum Autor Patrik Schumacher is partner at Zaha Hadid Architects. He joined Zaha Hadid in 1988. In 1996 he founded the 'Design Research Laboratory' with Brett Steele at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, and continues to serve as its co-director. He studied philosophy and architecture in Bonn, Stuttgart and London. In 1999 he completed his PHD at the Institute for Cultural Science, Klagenfurt University. His contribution to the discourse of contemporary architecture is also evident in his prior writings (Digital Hadid, London 2004) as well as in his work as a curator (Latent Utopias, Graz 2002). Currently he is working on an exhibition showcasing Parametricism. Klappentext This is the second part of a major theoretical work by Patrik Schumacher, which outlines how the discipline of architecture should be understood as its own distinct system of communication. Autopoeisis comes from the Greek and means literally self-production; it was first adopted in biology in the 1970s to describe the essential characteristics of life as a circular self-organizing system and has since been transposed into a theory of social systems. This new approach offers architecture an arsenal of general comparative concepts. It allows architecture to be understood as a distinct discipline, which can be analyzed in elaborate detail while at the same time offering insightful comparisons with other subject areas, such as art, science and political discourse. On the basis of such comparisons the book insists on the necessity of disciplinary autonomy and argues for a sharp demarcation of design from both art and engineering. Schumacher accordingly argues controversially that design as a discipline has its own sui generis intelligence - with its own internal logic, reach and limitations.Whereas the first volume provides the theoretical groundwork for Schumacher's ideas - focusing on architecture as an autopoeitic system, with its own theory, history, medium and its unique societal function - the second volume addresses the specific, contemporary challenges and tasks that architecture faces. It formulates these tasks, looking specifically at how architecture is seeking to organize and articulate the complexity of post-fordist network society. The volume explicitly addresses how current architecture can upgrade its design methodology in the face of an increasingly demanding task environment, characterized by both complexity and novelty. Architecture's specific role within contemporary society is explained and its relationship to politics is clarified. Finally, the new, global style of Parametricism is introduced and theoretically grounded. Zusammenfassung Whereas the first volume of this set provides the intellectual groundwork for Schumacher's ideas! the second volume addresses the specific! contemporary challenges that architecture faces. It formulates these tasks! looking specifically at how architecture organizes and articulates the complexity of post-fordist network society. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction to Volume 2 16. The Task of Architecture 56.1 Functions 76.1.1 Functions versus Capacities 116.1.2 Substantial versus Subsidiary Functions 176.1.3 Tectonics 196.1.4 The Categorization of Function-types 226.1.5 Problem-types (Function-types) vs Solution-types (Archetypes) 246.1.6 Patterns of Decomposition/Composition 306.1.7 Functional Reasoning via Action-artefact Networks 326.1.8 Limitations of Functional Expertise 396.2 Order via Organization and Articulation 426.2.1 Organization and Articulation: Historical and Systematic 476.2.2 Architectural Order 526.2.3 A Definition of Organization for Contemporary Architecture 576.2.4 Complicated, Complex, Organized, Ordered 616.3 Organization 706.3.1 Relating Spatial to Social Organization 726.3.2 Territorialization and Integration 776.3.3 Systems, Configurations, Organizations 806...

List of contents

Introduction to Volume 2 16. The Task of Architecture 56.1 Functions 76.1.1 Functions versus Capacities 116.1.2 Substantial versus Subsidiary Functions 176.1.3 Tectonics 196.1.4 The Categorization of Function-types 226.1.5 Problem-types (Function-types) vs Solution-types (Archetypes) 246.1.6 Patterns of Decomposition/Composition 306.1.7 Functional Reasoning via Action-artefact Networks 326.1.8 Limitations of Functional Expertise 396.2 Order via Organization and Articulation 426.2.1 Organization and Articulation: Historical and Systematic 476.2.2 Architectural Order 526.2.3 A Definition of Organization for Contemporary Architecture 576.2.4 Complicated, Complex, Organized, Ordered 616.3 Organization 706.3.1 Relating Spatial to Social Organization 726.3.2 Territorialization and Integration 776.3.3 Systems, Configurations, Organizations 806.4 Supplementing Architecture with a Science of Configuration 886.4.1 Set Theory 886.4.2 Harnessing Network Theory 936.4.3 Excursion: Network Theory 996.4.4 A City is not a Tree 1066.4.5 Space Syntax: Concepts and Tools of Analysis 1126.4.6 Space Syntax: Theoretical Claims 1256.4.7 From Organization to Articulation: Taking Account of Cognition 1316.5 Articulation 1346.5.1 Articulation vs Organization 1346.5.2 The Problem of Orientation and the Problematic of Legibility 1376.5.3 Articulate vs Inarticulate Organization 1386.5.4 Articulation as the Core Competency of Architecture 1396.5.5 Generalizing the Concept of Function 1406.6 The Phenomenological vs the Semiological Dimension of Architecture 1426.7 The Phenomenological Dimension of Architectural Articulation 1456.7.1 The Perceptual Constitution of Objects and Spaces 1476.7.2 Cognitive Principles of Gestalt-Perception 1536.7.3 Parametric Figuration 1656.8 The Semiological Dimension of Architectural Articulation 1676.8.1 The Built Works of Architecture as Framing Communications 1716.8.2 Analogy: Language and Built Environment as Media of Communication 1766.8.3 Signs as Communications 1816.8.4 Territory as Fundamental Semiological Unit 1836.8.5 Saussure's Insight: Language as System of Correlated Differences 1896.8.6 Extra-Semiological Demands on Architecture's Medial Substrate 1936.8.7 Syntagmatic vs Paradigmatic Relations 1966.9 Prolegomenon to Architecture's Semiological Project 2006.9.1 The Scope of Architecture's Signified 2016.9.2 The Composite Character of the Architectural Sign 2066.9.3 Absolute and Relative Arbitrariness 2106.9.4 Natural and Artificial Semiosis 2156.9.5 Designing Architecture's Semiological Project 2226.9.6 Cognitive and Attentional Conditions of Architectural Communication 2296.9.7 Speculation: Expanding the Expressive Power of Architectural Sign Systems 2326.10 The Semiological Project and the General Project of Architectural Order 2386.10.1 The Semiological Project in Relation to the Organizational and the Phenomenological Project 2396.10.2 Relationship between Architectural Languages and Architectural Styles 2446.10.3 The Requisite Variety of Architectural Articulation 2467. The Design Process 2517.1 Contemporary Context and Aim of Design Process Theory 2547.2 Towards a Contemporary Design Process Reflection and Design Methodology 2577.2.1 Method vs Process 2587.3 The Design Process as Problem-solving Process 2637.3.1 The Design Process as Information-processing Process 2647.3.2 The Structure of Information-processing Systems 2697.3.3 Programmes 2727.3.4 The Task Environment and its Representation as Problem Space 2777.3.5 Problem Solving as Search in a State Space 2847.3.6 Planning Spaces 2957.3.7 Heuristic versus Exhaustive Problem-solving Methods 2987.4 Differentiating Classical, Modern and Contemporary Processes 3117.5 Problem Definition and Problem Structure 3187.5.1 Wicked Problems 3197.5.2 The Structure of Ill-structured Problems 3237.5.3 An Information-processing Model for Information-rich Design Processes 3327.6 Rationality: Retrospective and Prospective 3377.6.1 Rational in Retrospect: Observing Innovative Design Practice 3417.6.2 Prospective Rationality 3557.6.3 Processing the Three Task Dimensions of Architecture 3587.7 Modelling Spaces 3618. Architecture and Society 3798.1 World Architecture within World Society 3828.2 Autonomy vs Authority 3858.3 Architecture's Conception of Society 3908.3.1 The Crisis of Modernism's Conception of Society 3948.3.2 Social Systems Theory and the Theory of Architectural Autopoiesis 3968.4 Architecture in Relation to other Societal Subsystems 3988.4.1 Architecture In Relation to the Economic System 4018.4.2 The Economy and the Design-Principle of Economy of Means 4028.4.3 Economic Conditions of Architectural Discourse 4068.4.4 Architecture and Education 4078.5 Architecture as Profession and Professional Career 4108.5.1 Authorship, Reputation, Oeuvre 4118.5.2 Centre-periphery Differentiation within Architecture 4148.5.3 The Absorption of Uncertainty 4188.5.4 The Architectural Design Studio as Organization 4208.6 The Built Environment as Primordial Condition of Society 4228.6.1 The Built Environment As Indispensable Substrate of Social Evolution 4238.6.2 From Spatial Order to Conceptual Order 4268.6.3 Beauty and the Evolution of Concepts of Order 4349. Architecture and Politics 4399.1 Is Political Architecture Possible? 4409.1.1 Political Vacuum 4419.1.2 Normal vs Revolutionary Politics 4459.2 Theorizing the Relationship between Architecture and Politics 4489.2.1 The Incommensurability of Architecture and Politics 4489.2.2 Architecture Responds to Political Agendas - Three Scenarios 4509.2.3 Service Provisions Between Architecture and Politics 4539.3 Architecture Adapts to Political Development 4599.3.1 Modern Architecture Calls on Politics 4619.3.2 The ABC Group: Political Agitation Within Architecture 4629.3.3 The Vicissitudes of Political Polarization 4669.4 The Limitations of Critical Practice in Architecture 4709.4.1 General Political Critique and Macro-political Ambitions 4709.4.2 Architecture's 'Micro-Political' Agency: Manipulating Non-political Power 4729.4.3 Who Controls the Power-distributing Capacity of Design? 4749.4.4 Public Competitions As Structural Coupling between Architecture and Politics 47710. The Self-descriptions of Architecture 48410.1 Theoretical Underpinnings 48510.1.1 Reference as Self-reference 48910.1.2 Levels of Self-reference 49010.2 The Necessity of Reflection: Architectural Theory as Reflection Theory 49610.2.1 Continuity vs Consistency 50110.2.2 Categorical vs Variable Structures of Communication 50410.3 Classic Treatises 50910.3.1 Alberti's De re aedificatoria 51110.3.2 Durand's Pr´ ecis des lec¸ons d'architecture 54310.3.3 Le Corbusier's Vers une architecture 56810.3.4 The Autopoiesis of Architecture 59210.4 Architectural Historiography 60610.4.1 History of Architecture's Autonomization and Internal Structuration 60810.4.2 History of Architectural Styles as Responses to Epochal Shifts in the Societal Environment 61010.5 Architectural Criticism 61511. Parametricism - The Parametric Paradigm and the Formation of a New Style 61711.1 Parametricism as Epochal Style 62211.1.1 Historiographical Sketch: The Epochal Alignment of Styles 62711.1.2 A Unified Style for the 21st Century 64211.1.3 The Maturity of Parametricism 64611.1.4 Polarized Confrontation: Parametricism versus Minimalism 64811.1.5 Styles as Design Research Programmes 65111.2 The Parametricist Research Programme 65411.2.1 Conceptual Definition of Parametricism 65411.2.2 Operational Definition of Parametricism: The Defining Heuristics of Parametricism 65611.2.3 Genealogy of the Parametricist Heuristics 66011.2.4 Analogies: Emulating Natural Systems 66311.2.5 Agendas Advancing Parametricism 66911.2.6 The Agenda of Ecological Sustainability 67611.3 Parametricist vs Modernist Urbanism 68011.3.1 Simple Order, Disorder, Complex Order 68111.3.2 Implementing Parametricist Urbanism 68611.4 Elegance 70012. Epilogue - The Design of a Theory 71012.1 Theoretical Foundation: Communication Theory vs Historical Materialism? 71412.2 The Theory of Architectural Autopoiesis as Unified Theory of Architecture 71912.3 Notes on the Architecture of the Theory 72212.4 The Theory as the Result of Contingent Theory Design Decisions 726Concluding Remarks 735Appendix 3: The Autopoiesis of Architecture in the Context of Three Classic Texts 737Appendix 4: Theses 25-60 742References 748Index 759

Product details

• Authors: Patrik Schumacher, SCHUMACHER PATRIK S
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.03.2012
• EAN: 9780470666159
• ISBN: 978-0-470-66615-9
• No. of pages: 784