Hunting the shadow - immaterial architecture

The phenomenon of expressing cultural identity in architecture is apparent in many parts of the world: this paper examines it in the context of Kuwait. It focuses on architects, and the strategies they use in expressing cultural identity. The aim is to understand their views and current efforts in this context. In Kuwait, architecture has passed through dramatic transformations during the second half of the twentieth century that were the result of economic, regional and global changes. A survey of the views of eighteen Kuwaiti architects was conducted using focused interviews and a standardised questionnaire. Examples of their projects were analysed to illustrate their views and ways of thinking. The study concluded that there were several strategies employed by Kuwaiti architects to express a Kuwaiti cultural identity in their work. A three- dimensional matrix was developed to illustrate the relationship between the ranges of these strategies and architecture in Kuwait. It is hoped that this matrix will be useful for practitioners and critics of contemporary architecture in Kuwait interested in understanding current trends in achieving a cultural identity in architecture.     

Terrain-Specific: Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Canada

The Canadian landscape has typically captured a global imaginary of a pristine wild, but how might its urban designed landscapes be distinctly understood? Foregrounded by the landscape transformations accelerated by climate change, the book Innate Terrain: Canadian Landscape Architecture, edited by Professor Alissa North from the University of Toronto, highlights landscape architecture projects situated on the unique Canadian terrain. Providing further provocation on Canadian landscape architecture, Innate Terrain seeks to fill the literary gap on contemporary landscape perspectives, distinguishing Canadian landscape architecture from global practice, and particularly, its well-documented American counterpart. Landscape architecture in the Canadian context has evolved and established its own distinct identity, one imbued with national and local sensitivities. Informed by diverse environmental and cultural contexts, Canadian-designed landscapes reflect and refer to the prevailing ecosystems of Canada’s innate terrain. Contrary to the preceding International Style, landscape architecture projects in Canada have adopted the ethos of Critical Regionalism in the second half of the 20th century. Contemporary Canadian practitioners are designing landscapes that are deeply informed by their surrounding geographical context while emphasizing cultural specificity. Central to this cultural specificity, addressed by a new generation of landscape architects, is the increasing recognition of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge within the discipline. Canadian landscape architects have collaborated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, including the keepers of this knowledge, to develop land management strategies and design landscape interventions.     

To Integrate of Not to Integrate?

Turkish architecture over the last 150 years has been plagued by its preoccupation with its integration with the West. Should it be embracing or reflecting Western cultural, technical and professional standards? Uğur Tanyeli provides the background to this pessimistic context and describes how a new generation of architects over the last 10 years have transcended this predicament by producing work that turns away from this obsession with identity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

乌托邦后退,重建社会生活？或机遇？ 70后中国建筑师的社会建筑观

文章以戏剧性的宏大叙事乌托邦退出公共生活为背景,阐述70后中国建筑师作为与生俱来的改革派,如何在平均主义与集体生活的时代终结之后重建社会生活。特别针对70后中国建筑师的几个颇具代表性的概念性原型设计,分析其中隐含的属于建筑师个人的社会建筑观、设计策略与意图。     

陕西关中传统民居文脉语境下的建筑创作思考

关中传统民居因其特色明显无疑是西安本土地域性建筑设计的灵感源泉之一,而现代建筑创作中如何对这一语境进行传承是我们必须思考的重要课题,也正是本文的研究对象所在,本文在对关中传统民居特质概述的基础上,结合理论分析与项目的实践创作提出了相应的策略与原则。     

传统建筑到现代建筑的嬗变——日本建筑模式的启示

通过对日本传统建筑的特点进行分析,并以之比对这几个特点在日本现代建筑中的运用谈起,说明日本现代建筑从传统建筑中吸取营养所取得的成就,由此析出当今日本建筑风格形成的源泉,以期国内建筑同行得以借鉴。     

脱散的轨迹 对当代中国建筑师思考与实践发展脉络的另一种描述

文章尝试从部分20世纪50至70年代生当代中国建筑师实践策略和思考关注点的转变中寻觅线索轨迹。分析他们受到现代性话语体系的影响,同时检视他们在中国城市发展现状这一特定语境下的身份定义,进而尝试对当代中国建筑师思考与实践发展脉络进行描述。这一描述不从作品的结果出发作总结性的判断,而通过抽取不同建筑师的策略关注点和关键话语,进一步对贯穿不同时间段、没有因果关系的多重线索进行重新梳理和联结,对还原一个未曾明确的当代中国建筑话语体系给出研究建议。这一新的话语体系或许可以提供一种不同于西方现代性的"脱散的轨迹",从而见证多条线索在当代中国的某种不期而至的交汇或离散。     

基于文化策略的城市旧区更新设计* ——以重庆渝中区嘉陵桥西村为例

着眼于我国当前城市旧区更新缺乏文化内涵的现状,为传承城市历史文脉,在分析了文化的含义及其在城市旧区表现形式的基础上,总结了文化在城市旧区中的作用机制在于凸显地域文化特色、加深居民认同感、增加文化氛围,提高城市品味。以此为基础,结合嘉陵桥西村的旧区改造案例,提出了城市旧区中的文化策略,即提高认识,深入发掘嘉陵桥西村的文化资源;注重内涵与表现,建立文化的非物质与物质形态的结合;突出文化特色,建立文化表征的旧区更新体系;以人为本,重视城市更新中居民的文化认同。该策略为我国当前的城市旧区改造提供了积极参考。     

KPF在中国

文章主要涉及以下话题：KPF的设计理念、工作方法和过程，对当今全球经济中的地域性问题的看法．KPF对中国文化的认识及如何体现在中国项目中。文章还讨论了KPF对中国建筑设计市场的影响及其对本土建筑师创作和思想状况的看法也谈到了他们对后911时期高层建筑的观点同时澄清了公司的专长不仅仅是高层建筑类型阐明了中国市场及经营策略．强调了施工精细程度对于保证设计质量的重要性在中国目前施工条件下KPF所面临的挑战以及最大程度上实现中国项目的设计宗旨。     

作为大众媒介的建筑 从五个高出镜率作品管窥70后中国建筑师的价值认同和实践策略

文章指出在全球网络和消费时代,人们越来越多通过大众媒介而非亲身体验来认识建筑。相对于作为物质空间的建筑,作为大众媒介的建筑更具有独立意义。对中国当代建筑师而言,这既是技术发展和经济社会转型的结果,也同近20年来执业环境和文化诉求的改变密不可分。文章从五个70后中国建筑师（事务所）建成作品中分别选择出镜率最高的一个人手,通过作品及其媒介化形式的分析,结合建筑师访谈,管窥这一背景下该建筑师群体的价值认同和实践策略。     

当代中国的消费梦想与建筑狂欢 1992年以来

1992年以来,消费主义文化逐渐成为中国社会的一种主导文化,社会整体的消费梦想构成建筑实践的主要动力,从而引发当代中国的建筑狂欢。通过剖析消费梦想的三方面内涵:"身体的快感"(物质)、"身份的想象"(社会)和"价值的颠覆"(精神),文章指出与之相应的建筑狂欢主要表现为:"狂喜的建筑"、"最大差异的建筑"和"越界的建筑",这是建筑业的活力之源,但也造成资源浪费、社会隔离和文化失序等危机。文章最后提出,中国当代建筑师需要在不可回避的消费主义文化语境中寻找契机,旨在创造具有日常性、当代性、地方性、多样性和原创性的建成环境,构筑"世俗的乌托邦"。     

混乱与秩序——中国本土建筑师的现实策略

全球化背景下,中国本土建筑师在对广泛的西方建筑理论的参照和批判性把握中,力图重新解读传统建筑和地域文化资源,在建筑的意与匠两方面做出一系列本土化应对策略。本文从传统建筑空间特征、适宜技术、传统园林及社会现实四个方面,反映出中国当代建筑师在尖锐的矛盾中,寻求新突破和建立新秩序的反思性实践。     

Complexities of practicing architectural regionalism in India: An interview study

This paper presents the results and analysis from an interview study conducted with practitioners of architectural regionalism in India. The interviews sought to gain in-depth understanding of the strategies, mechanisms, and tools they employ to realize contextualized architecture that responds to local needs and potential. A sample composed of nine eminent Indian architects who regularly integrate the ideas of critical regionalism in their designs is selected and subsequently interviewed with regard to the varied aspects of their architectural practice. Findings are useful for practitioners and scholars of contemporary architecture in India for understanding the means employed by leading regionalist architects, while placing their work in the context of local building traditions, urban landscape, sociocultural conditions, technology, and climate.     

Teaching sustainable design in architecture education: Critical review of Easy Approach for Sustainable and Environmental Design (EASED)

In the current context of climate change and ecological awareness, designing sustainable environments is definitely understood as a shared responsibility. With the construction sector consuming half of the world׳s energy, the role of some key stakeholders such as architects becomes even more critical when providing responsible and relevant design for the built environment. Thus, improving the way our environments are being designed challenges some cultural systems that show evident limits, such as the training of future architects and engineers.In this research, the focus is on architecture students and aims to demonstrate how the use of a new sustainable performance simulation tool, called Easy Approach for Sustainable and Environmental Design (EASED) could contribute to educate them about innovatively sustainable design. This was assessed through the evaluation of student engagement, their use of the tool and its appropriation. Results show that individual work was not convincing, whereas success was met during group work. Limits and improvement possibilities were found in the interface of EASED as well as in the educational set up of the tool.     

Appropriating,Reclaiming and Inventing Identity Through Architecture

Local received knowledge once ensured buildings had a strong connection with their environment and the surrounding community. With rapid urbanisation and the professionalisation of design and construction, architects working internationally with a finely attuned sensibility to place and context have been able to take up the baton and take the opportunity to develop notions of locality and identity. For the last two decades, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has been recognising the contribution of design teams that have been responsible for producing exceptional architecture for Islamic communities worldwide. Here, the award scheme's director, Farrokh Derakshani , defines some key treatments of identity in architecture.     

Form follows metaphors: a critical discourse analysis of the construction of the Israeli Supreme Court building in Jerusalem

This article examines critically the role of architecture in the construction of national identity, using the case of the Israeli Supreme Court building. Through critical discourse analysis of texts that accompanied the design and construction of this building, I propose to study the interrelations between the production of the architectural object and the practice of the construction of an Israeli national identity. The existing body of knowledge that supports this article claims that the creation of national identity is a socially constructed process, which involves a variety of practices including education, music, army service, as well as the design of the built environment. It is important to note that the realisation of such practices does not occur as a natural process, but rather as a result of power relations, embodied within the national sphere. Following this line of argument, the paper proposes a critical approach, which aims to move towards the politicisation of the term 'sense of place'. In this context, concentrating on the Israeli Supreme Court building is not an arbitrary decision, since this institution is at the focus of the Israeli civil arena, and its building became a 'land-mark' and symbol of architectural quality. Following the texts written by the architects and critics, I would argue that this building reflects - and thus strengthens - the hegemonic interpretations of Israeli social and cultural reality. This interpretation is characterised by using selective historical and biblical references, in order to create through architecture an 'iconographic bridge' into an imagined collective past. However, this bridge reproduces the antinomies that frame Israeli space and transform it into 'our place', that is West versus East and Local versus Diaspora.     

技术的异化——当代日本建筑的技术表现

文章试图将建筑与技术置于社会大环境下,就当前日本建筑师对建筑技术理解的异化的奶源,以及建筑师对技术的个性表现进行了分析,从而对其多样性和独特性有了更深的理解,文章是对现有现象的描述,但希望它对我国当前的建筑创作能有所启发。     

生态还是自然主义: 关于当代种植设计的简要回顾和一些思考

Nature is a cultural construct, and a symbolic form to our cultural landscape. It plays a critical role in the profession of Landscape Architecture, shaping both the practice in the constructed environment as well as the conception of landscape in Pedagogy. This article evaluates contemporary landscape architecture practice in the U.S. through the lens of planting design and ecological design approaches. This retrospect situates selected individuals and their practices in the field of landscape architecture in the past two decades, in parallel with the evolving ecological understanding. These individuals and their works demonstrate the changes in planting design and ecological thinking in the professional practice, and most importantly how these changes contribute to current ecological design methodologies, landscape aesthetics, and public perception of landscape. In addition, the article aims to illustrate a shifting conception of Nature over time and in different cultural context, in which different conceptions of Nature facilitate various approaches to addressing environmental issues. By situating in such context, the article hopes to provide a critical view of contemporary American landscape architecture practice and the current ecological agenda, in order to enable discussions regarding the professional practice in the future.     

The Odd-Job Alleyway of Building: Modernization, Marketing, and Architectural Practice in the 1930s

This article examines the emergence of "modernization"—the remodeling of existing buildings—as a significant part of architectural practice in the United States in the 1930s. It shows how the Great Depression spurred interest in modernization among architects and building material manufacturers. It reveals how architects reconsidered the scale, scope, and substance of professional practice. It investigates how manufacturers developed products and construction methods specifically for modernization, and it analyzes their strategies for promoting these products to architects and architectural clients. The article argues that modernization embodied a nexus of social, economic, and technological factors that transformed the interaction of architects, manufacturers, and clients, as well as the buildings they produced. It further contends that this transformation had important consequences, bringing about a reevaluation of the nature and definition of architecture and a questioning of the relationship between architecture and the marketplace—issues that are still being debated today.     

工业建筑发展的启示

在现代建筑和当代建筑中,工业建筑始终都占有一席重要之地,它的叙述性设计理念与结构美学特征给现代建筑和建筑师以重要影响。以工业建筑发展中有影响的阶段为主,探讨西方工业建筑对现代建筑、建筑师、环境景观以及文化艺术的影响和表达方式上的变化。