Cultural buildings and urban areas

Even a cursory review of contemporary urban architecture and architectural urbanism attests that the field is largely driven by two contrasting dispositions. On the one hand, there is abundant work promoting ‘place-making’, whilst, on the other, there is ample output advocating a profound revaluation of the field. Notwithstanding the numerous variations of these two dispositions, what they generally seem to be missing is a sophisticated understating of the intricate and reciprocal relationship between architecture and the city. This failure is part and parcel of a distortion in the field as to our expectations from and appraisal of cultural buildings. In other words, since cultural buildings are typically deployed as keystones in urban strategies, they seem well-placed—if not inescapably positioned—to take on a role as protagonist, and thus to anchor and spearhead transformation in their host urban areas. Through a series of both theoretical and design references, this article examines the notion of the urban area in respect to its constituent elements. This takes place within a broader conception of the city of parts which frames an investigation of the strategic tension cultural buildings introduce within their respective areas.