Architectural Positions on the Public Sphere: The 2007 Delft Lecture Series

摘要

Looking back on architectural theory over the past two decades, a narrative of profound loss appears with regard to the public sphere. As theoreticians lament what they consider to be a decline in its content and character, some have even been moved to use such dire phrases as "The End of Public Space" and "The Phantom Public Sphere." During this period, however, architectural practice has offered a much richer picture, as illustrated, for example, by work on the collective domain by Manuel de Sola-Morales in Barcelona, the Neotraditionalist public projects of Rob Krier, and the minimal public interventions in European cities of Bernardo Secchi. In the end, one is left to ask: which view better captures the actual vicissitudes of the contemporary city? The rift between architectural theory and practice was a key subject of the 2007 Delft Lecture Series, which brought together scholars and practitioners such as de Sola-Morales, Leon Krier, Bernard Tschumi, Kengo Kuma, and Hans Kollhoff between February and May to debate the state of the public realm in cities across Europe. Its format paired a theoretician with two practicing architects around the topics "Changing Definitions of Public and Private," "Image Building and Public Space," "The Temporalities of the Public Sphere," "Monumentality and Public Representation," "Alternating Programs and Practices," and "The Perception of the Public."