Architectural Theory and Emerging Trends in Contemporary Architecture Quiz

Architectural Theory: A Comprehensive Overview

• Architectural theory is the act of thinking, discussing, and writing about architecture.

• It is taught in all architecture schools and is practiced by the world's leading architects.

• Some forms that architecture theory takes are the lecture or dialogue, the treatise or book, and the paper project or competition entry.

• Architectural theory has existed in some form since antiquity.

• Vitruvius, a Roman writer, architect, and engineer, was the most prominent architectural theorist in the Roman Empire known today, having written De architectura, a treatise written in Latin and Greek on architecture.

• The rediscovery of Vitruvius' work in 1414 had a profound influence on architects of the Renaissance.

• Throughout the Middle Ages, architectural knowledge was passed by transcription, word of mouth, and technically in master builders' lodges.

• The Age of the Enlightenment witnessed considerable development in architectural theory on the European continent.

• The 19th century saw a blossoming of theoretical activity, with a vibrant strain of Neoclassicism providing the foundation for two generations of international activity around the core themes of classicism, primitivism, and a "return to Nature."

• Towards the end of the century, there occurred a reaction against the dominance of neoclassical architecture.

• In the 20th century, there was a blossoming of theoretical activity, and postmodern architecture reacted against the austerity of High Modern (International Style) principles.

• In contemporary architectural discourse theory has become more concerned with its position within culture generally, and thought in particular.Emerging Trends in Contemporary Architecture

• Transient objects and concerns such as ecology, mass media, and economism have affected contemporary architecture.

• The emergence of the "Digital" Architecture in the past decade has led to the development of several currents and design methodologies, including Biomimicry and Digital morphogenesis.

• Many architects are attempting to develop a new formal language by designing organic-looking buildings.

• Theoretical world of contemporary architecture is diverse and includes different dominant schools of architectural theory based on linguistic analysis, philosophy, post-structuralism, or cultural theory.

• There is an emerging interest in the re-discovery of the post-modernist project, defining new radical tendencies of architecture and its implication in the development of cities, and embracing the idea of discipline and a new formalist approach to architecture.

• There is an emergence of architectural theory based on the frameworks of social reproduction theory and care ethics.

• Doina Petrescu and Kim Trogal edited a volume on the Social (Re)Production of Architecture, and Angelika Fitz and Elke Krasny edited a volume Critical Care. Architecture and Urbanism for a Broken Planet.

• Some architectural theorists include Patrick Schumacher, Sam Jacob, Pier Vittorio Aureli, and those who work on the frameworks of social reproduction theory and care ethics.

• The emerging trends in contemporary architecture are plural and multicolored.

• It is too early to say whether any of these explorations will have widespread or lasting impact on architecture.

• Computational creativity and genetic algorithms developed in computer science are used to evolve designs on a computer.

• Digital morphogenesis is influenced by algorithms relevant to biological processes.