A BREAKTHROUGH TO A CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE

Architecture builds interdisciplinary bridges to the Humanities

Report on the Second International and Interdisciplinary Conference on 'Built Form and Culture' Research at the University of Kansas

by Nold Egenter


This article was written in quite an enthusiastic mood at a time when the first movement of architectural research, the American group 'Built Form and Culture' centering around Amos Rapoport, began to consolidate itself institutionally. In this context, the text has already become a small piece of a very particular point in history. Most of the thoughts expressed in it are still relevant. This is the reason for reprinting the article here in its original version, that is, just as it appeared in German in UMRISS (1987/1), the Viennese journal for architecture and design. The developments outlined at the time have by far exceeded all expectations: approximately 2000 persons worldwide are now active in this field of research. The School of Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley has become its leading centre, offering courses, editing several regular publications, and organizing an international symposium every other year. A subsequent article of this series will focus on these very recent developments in architectural anthropology.



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