Date & Time
As part of 'Depends on Your Perspective', a season curated by N.A.W. Members 2019-20
Architectural history and critique have until fairly recently relied on a Eurocentric approach and narrative. Palladio [or insert any other western white male architect] is a symbol of high culture in architecture; an architecture with a capital A. When we critique architecture and design, it is largely an examination of its formal qualities and aesthetic value. But what stories are left untold?
Join N.A.W. members Shawn Adams & Nana Biamah-Ofosu and the panel of invited guests as they discuss the relationship between architectural journalism and power.
Architectural critique - ‘form and what else?'
Image: Ngurrara Canvas II is a painting produced by a group of forty artist-claimants in support of their native title claim over land in the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia.The painting embodies intergenerational relationships, laws and ceremonies of the Ngurrara People.
When we critique architecture and design, it is largely an examination of its formal qualities and aesthetic value. But what stories are left untold? This absence is felt nowhere more strongly than in the popular architectural press where buildings are often described and merit ascribed on the basis of brick choice or the ‘right’ architectural language or expression. This is not to suggest that these elements are not important, but what if we challenged this status-quo or introduced other ways of seeing ‘good’ architecture? What if, say, architectural awards and building reviews were based on a community’s reflections about a building or a space? What if we questioned the power structures, violence and displacement that often enable architectural production?
If magazines and journals neglect informal spaces, deeming them beyond the boundaries of architectural critique, then what injustices do we reinforce? There are great architectural writers whose works examine the formal and physical qualities of architecture, to quote an influential architectural critic, “Summerson, Rowe and Venturi,” but what do old dead white men have to do with architectural critique today?
Architectural history and education - whose voice?
Image: Clay houses decorated with low-relief ornamentation and brightly coloured designs in Zaria, Nigeria.
Architectural history and critique have until fairly recently relied on a Eurocentric approach and narrative. Palladio [or insert any other western white male architect] is a symbol of high culture in architecture; an architecture with a capital A. The production of architectural critique and discourse is inextricable from the development of architectural teaching and training, with both depending on one another. So if architectural critique continues to regard certain spaces, buildings or artefacts as being beyond the purview of architectural discourse, what is lost in terms of education? How do we dismantle the myth that architectural history begins with the Greeks?
New gen (non-conventional)
Image: Forensic Architecture employs architectural technologies to investigate war crimes, governmental brutality and violations of human rights. The multi-disciplinary research team uses architecture to address violence in spaces across the world.
The nature of architectural writing is changing. It can no longer solely focus on physical form but must address social, economic and global issues. The next generation of writers is rebuking spatial trends in order to expand the field of architectural discourse. We are now increasingly reading about the political dimension of space as opposed to why a new shiny skyscraper is beautiful. The architectural canon is being juxtaposed with formerly disregarded topics. But while unconventional narratives slowly get the legitimacy they deserve, those who write about architecture still largely look the same. So we ask: how can new-gen architectural writing truly be inclusive? How can it provide a platform for previously neglected subject matters? And how can we democratise who gets to write about architecture?
TOM DYCKHOFF is a writer, historian and broadcaster about architecture, geographies and cities, and teaches urban and architectural history and theory at University College London and Central Saint Martins. He has written and presented many TV and radio/podcast series for the BBC, Netflix and Sky and was previously architecture and design critic at The Times.
OWEN HATHERLEY writes regularly on aesthetics and politics for various publications. He is the author of several books, culture editor of Tribune and is the editor of The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs (Open House, 2020).
LÈOPOLD LAMBERT is a Paris-based trained architect and the editor-in-chief of The Funambulist, a print / online magazine and a podcast dedicated to the politics of space in the framework of the global anticolonial, antiracist, queer, and feminist struggles.
LESLEY LOKKO trained as an architect at the Bartlett School of Architecture. She was the founder and former director of the Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg, South Africa and is the author of eleven best-selling novels.
ROWAN MOORE is Architecture Critic of The Observer. He was formerly Director of the Architecture Foundation, Architecture Critic of the Evening Standard and Editor of Blueprint magazine.
About New Architecture Writers (N.A.W.)
New Architecture Writers is a free programme for emerging design writers, developing the journalistic skill, editorial connections and critical voice of its participants. N.A.W. focuses on black and minority ethnic emerging writers who are under-represented across design journalism and curation. The core of the N.A.W. programme consists of a series of evening workshops, talks, and writing briefs with one-to-one mentoring from experienced design critics and editors throughout.
The second cohort (2019-20) of the New Architecture Writers consists of Nasra Abdullahi, Shawn Adams, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Nana Biamah-Ofosu, Lois Innes, Ewa Effiom, Ting Jui and Jasper van der Kort.
Founded in 2017, N.A.W. is run by Thomas Aquilina and Tom Wilkinson with support from the Architecture Foundation. The open call for the third cohort will be announced imminently, and details of how to apply will be posted on our website.