Mapping The Global Architect Of Alterity

Due to globalization, cultural spaces are now developing with no tangible connection to geographical place. The territorial logic traditionally used to underpin architecture and envision our built environment is being radically altered, forcing the adoption of a new method of conceptualizing space/geography and what constitutes architectural practice. Construction techniques, design sensibilities, and cultural identities are being transformed as technology transports us to places that were previously unreachable. The resultant "globalized" architect must become more than just an artful visionary, but also a master of the art of the political nudge willing to act within multiple mediums and at the simultaneous scales of a chaotic new world disorder. Though fearless they must also be responsible, inherently understanding the necessity to align bold visions with the mundane details of the everyday in ways that are culturally flexible and accepting of change. The potential for what must be considered the legitimate practice of the architect must move from a purely material venue to one more directly engaged in the chaos of the larger economic, political, and social spheres of a globalizing world. The issues and possible interactions with globalization contained in this text exemplify ways that architecture is transforming into a more flexible and fluid interdisciplinary version of its traditional self in order to rise to challenges of this new international terrain. A theme runs throughout in the form of a call: that architects must conceptually re-construct their frames of reference to better align with the demands of a rapidly globalizing world.

Due to globalization, cultural spaces are now developing with no tangible connection to geographical place. The territorial logic traditionally used to underpin architecture and envision our built environment is being radically altered, forcing the adoption of a new method of conceptualizing space/geography and what constitutes architectural practice. Construction techniques, design sensibilities, and cultural identities are being transformed as technology transports us to places that were previously unreachable. The resultant "globalized" architect must become more than just an artful visionary, but also a master of the art of the political nudge willing to act within multiple mediums and at the simultaneous scales of a chaotic new world disorder. Though fearless they must also be responsible, inherently understanding the necessity to align bold visions with the mundane details of the everyday in ways that are culturally flexible and accepting of change. The potential for what must be considered the legitimate practice of the architect must move from a purely material venue to one more directly engaged in the chaos of the larger economic, political, and social spheres of a globalizing world. The issues and possible interactions with globalization contained in this text exemplify ways that architecture is transforming into a more flexible and fluid interdisciplinary version of its traditional self in order to rise to challenges of this new international terrain. A theme runs throughout in the form of a call: that architects must conceptually re-construct their frames of reference to better align with the demands of a rapidly globalizing world.

The Routledge Companion to Critical Approaches to Contemporary Architecture convenes a wide array of critical voices from architecture, art history, urbanism, geography, anthropology, media and performance studies, computer science, bio-engineering, environmental studies, and sociology that help us understand the meaning and significance of global architecture of the twenty-first century. New chapters by 36 contributors illustrated with over 140 black-and-white images are assembled in six parts concerning both real and virtual spaces: design, materiality, alterity, technologies, cityscapes, and practice.

In the last fifteen years we witnessed a new ethnographic wave of studies that focused on practising architecture. This body of research aimed at grasping the socio-material dimension of architectural practice. They all relied on the assumption that architecture is collective but it is shared with a variety of nonhumans. These “new ethnographies” generated “thick descriptions” of the knowledge practices of different participants in design. This issue of “Ardeth” collects contributions that will address the ecology of contemporary architectural practice, scrutinizing it as involving actors with variable ontology, scale and politics; exploring empirically different formats of design and reflecting on the importance of ethnography for understanding contemporary architectural practices.

The notion of data is increasingly encountered in spatial, creative and cultural studies. Big data and artificial intelligence are significantly influencing a number of disciplines. Processes, methods and vocabularies from sciences, architecture, arts are borrowed, discussed and tweaked, and new cross-disciplinary fields emerge. More and more, artists and designers are drawing on hard data to interpret the world and to create meaningful, sensuous environments. Architects are using neurophysiological data to improve their understanding of people’s experiences in built spaces. Different disciplines collaborate with scientists to visualise data in different and creative ways, revealing new connections, interpretations and readings. This often demonstrates a genuine desire to comprehend human behaviour and experience and to – possibly – inform design processes accordingly. At the same time, this opens up questions as to why this desire and curiosity is emerging now, how it relates to recent technological advances and how it converses with the cultural, philosophical and methodological context of the disciplines with which it engages. Questions are also raised as to how the use of data and data-informed methods may serve, support, promote and/or challenge political agendas. Data, Architecture and the Experience of Place provides an overview of new approaches on this significant subject and is ideal for students and researchers in digital architecture, architectural theory, design, digital media, sensory studies and related fields.

The EAAE/ARCC International Conference, held under the aegis of the EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) and of the ARCC (Architectural Research Centers Consortium), is a conference organized every other year, in collaboration with one of the member schools / universities of those associations, alternatively in North America or in Europe. The EAAE/ARCC Conferences began at the North Carolina State University College of Design, Raleigh with a conference on Research in Design Education (1998); followed by conferences in Paris (2000), Montreal (2002), Dublin (2004), Philadelphia (2006), Copenhagen (2008), Washington (2010), Milan (2012) and Honolulu (2014). The conference discussions focus on research experiences in the field of architecture and architectural education, providing a critical forum for the dissemination and engagement of current ideas from around the world.

The escalating interdependecy of nations drives global geopolitics to shift ever more quickly. Societies seem unable to control any change that affects their cities, whether positively or negatively. Challenges are global, but solutions need to be implemented locally. How can architectural research contribute to the future of our changing society? How has it contributed in the past? The theme of the 10th EAAE/ARCC International Conference, “Architectural Research Addressing Societal Challenges”, was set to address these questions. This book, Architectural Research Addressing Societal Challenges, includes reviewed papers presented in June 2016, at the 10th EAAE/ARCC International Conference, which was held at the facilities of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon. The papers have been further divided into the following five sub-themes: a Changing Society; In Transit – Global Migration; Renaturalization of the City; Emerging Fields of Architectural Practice; and Research on Architectural Education. The EAAE/ARCC International Conference, held under the aegis of the EAAE and of the ARCC, is a conference organized every other year, in collaboration with one of the member schools/ universities of those associations, alternatively in North America or in Europe.

Cultural sociology - or the sociology of culture - has grown from a minority interest in the 1970s to become one of the largest and most vibrant areas within sociology globally. In The SAGE Handbook of Cultural Sociology, a global range of experts explore the theory, methodology and innovations that make up this ever-expanding field. The Handbook′s 40 original chapters have been organised into five thematic sections: Theoretical Paradigms Major Methodological Perspectives Domains of Inquiry Cultural Sociology in Contexts Cultural Sociology and Other Analytical Approaches Both comprehensive and current, The SAGE Handbook of Cultural Sociology will be an essential reference tool for both advanced students and scholars across sociology, cultural studies and media studies.