Practice of Critical Theory in Architectural Schools: Twenty First Century Transformation

Abstract

Critical theory is an interdisciplinary way of thinking that tries to bridge the gap between architecturaltheory and practice. During the past thirty years, the gap between the academic world of studio studies andthe academic world of history and theory studies has become increasingly difficult to bridge [1]. In otherwords, the space of inquiry between architectural production and advanced scholarship has increased [2].The task of architectural institutions today is thus to bring architectural education back to the interdisciplinaryequilibrium it was once familiar with. This paper reviews the frameworks of critical theory, which during thepast ten years has begun to replace the conventional history/theory approach in North American andEuropean schools as a vehicle to re-unite architectural theory and practice. The review focuses on aselection of different modes that critical theory is taught and practiced, as well as ideas and principles ofcritical theory that have become increasingly relevant in the discourse of architecture today. Priorities andpreoccupations of critical theory may help unfold the inherent complexity and contradiction within theprocess of architectural creation. In architectural discourse, both theory and practice are reread repeatedly,reworked and represented in roles that are well outside the original. Critical theory thus represents boththe pragmatic doctrine and the philosophical inquiry that partake in the potential of architectural design todraw from the past and the present towards the future.