Essays
TQ Schools: Rinsgtabekk School by DIV.A
This school in Norway was designed to be flexible and workshop-like in its nature, as well as energy efficient and sustainable
TQ Schools: Orestad College by 3XN Architects
The design of this Danish school is characterised by spatial flexibility and a large communual space for playing and learning. It was commissioned as a landmark for its neighbourhood
TQ Schools: Romania School by Herman Hertzberger
An interplay between inside, outside and varying elevations creates a malleable school by Hertzberger
TQ Schools: Leutschenbach School by Christian Kerez
A stacked school programme drives Kerez’s school design, pushing it into a more engaging surrounding
Typology Quarterly: Schools
In the industrial era, schools developed as highly controlled environments to instil the discipline to thrive in a machine age. Now, to prepare pupils for success in a knowledge economy, the evolving typology is more fluidly conceived to provide flexibility, connectivity, and spaces for social and educational encounters
10 Years On: Evaluating kroll’s eco school
Ten years ago, the AR published a new secondary school at Caudry in northern France by Lucien Kroll, which marked an important advance in green building. The result of an architect/contractor competition, the school had to meet a demanding list of ecological criteria. As reported in January 2002 these were met and the school got off to a good start. But how has its life developed?
Reputations: Alison and Peter Smithson
Steve Parnell elaborates on the extraordinary lives of The Smithsons
THE BIG RETHINK: Farewell to modernism's inherent lack of sustainability
The second essay in the new Campagin decries Modernism for its betrayal of our essential humanity, and puts the case for why this must be regained to achieve true sustainability. In an emerging epoch based on a vision of a ‘living, organic universe’, architecture must start again to mediate our relations between nature, place and community.
Prehistoric buildings hold an overlooked social complexity
The discovery of the oldest known wooden stairway in Europe, preserved in an Alpine saltmine, revealed astonishing levels of design sophistication among some of our distant ancestors. Timothy Taylor muses on Bronze Age construction and placemaking and the effects that prehistoric architecture may have had on social control.
Pedagogy - Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales
Should the serious business of sustainability be a laughing matter? According to the holistic learning principles promoted by CAT, the combination of green technology, having fun and fresh country air can lead to making better buildings.
Theory
Reassessing Postmodernism
As a major exhibition opens at the V&A on the same subject, Charles Jencks has published an account of Postmodernism’s historic and unfolding story. While the author includes many recent architectural projects, these later examples emerge as antithetical to the movement’s original intent. But if the current crop of architecture is devoid of meaning, could Postmodernism find a future in the complexity of the city and a world of rapid scientific and technological transition?
TROUBLES IN THEORY PART 1: THE STATE OF THE ART 1945-2000
Becoming a subject of interest to those beyond the profession in the late 1960s, architecture - and its theory - in turn opened up to outside influences. An anti-institutional ideology, with strong French philosophical connections - Foucault, Barthes, Derrida - served to undermine architecture’s own disciplinary focus. Key figures - Summerson, Banham, Eisenman - sought to regain the lost territory, but a unified theory of architecture remains elusive. The first of three essays outlines ...
ON THE TRAIL OF ORANGEFEST
The 12 July celebrations in Belfast have been branded as a retail-friendly attraction by the local government, but the move belies the cultural provocation of a sectarian ritual. Essay and photographs by Declan O’Neill
Bärbel Högner documents daily life in Chandigarh, exploring how the buildings and spaces are colonised
Chandigarh’s buildings and spaces are brought vividly to life by its residents, but the city now faces a challening future as India’s economy booms. Photography by Bärbel Högner
history
THE CLASSICAL IDEALS OF LE CORBUSIER
How three weeks in Athens left a lasting impression on the father of Modernism
Sixty years on from the Festival of Britain – Joseph Rykwert
Sixty years on from the Festival of Britain, the AR invites Joseph Rykwert to reconsider its role in shaping modern, post-war architecture
A radical new masterplan for Doha
Part of the Qatari capital of Doha is being redeveloped to reconnect with the traditional urban patterns and textures of historic Arab cities
Investigating the redevelopment of India’s most famous informal settlement, Dharavi
Following a visit to Mumbai’s largest informal settlement, the AR reports on the government’s plan to displace residents when it redevelops Dharavi
