Theory and Practice

CRITICAL PROJECT - A ROLE FOR THEORY IN THE PRACTISE OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
Gonçalo Furtado

"If we conceive architecture not as merely the «art of organizing and constructing spaces» but rather as the conceptualization and sharing of 'life-forms', we are forced to reevaluate the relation between theory and practice in this realm of knowledge. It is thus crucial to understand the transition from modernity to post-modernity, since, as much as in modernity architecture was conformed to a totalitarian language, with post-modernism arose a complex process that triggered deep cultural effects. Among these, we highlight the new perception of architecture as a cultural artefact able to articulate auto-reflexively a theory from its practices, and not reduced to the expression of a technique aimed at accomplishing a function."
(Abstract cit in: http://www.cecl.com.pt/rcl/34/rcl34-14.html)