This book explores how the concept of 'region' has evolved over time and shaped architectural culture and practice.
It questions what the 'region' and 'regional' mean for architectural cultures past and present, and speculates on what forms and in which senses they might exist in future. To that end, the contributions explore region as a real geographical site of evolving socio-economic activity, as a mythical locus of enduring value, as a gatekeeper of indigenous crafts and vernacular techniques, as a site of architectural and artistic imagination, and as a repository of contested, conflicted and mobile identities.
The contributing chapters take these themes from the theoretical page to architectural and urban practice, and from the scale of the domestic hearth to the archipelago and international law, avoiding the more predictable, long-standing trope of viewing architectural regionalism purely as a matter of style.
Curated into four key areas, the contributions come from scholars in the US, UK, Poland, Australia, Italy, Serbia, India, Spain, Africa, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Iran, Bangladesh, China, Greece, Russia and Singapore. Together, they provide an essential volume for students, researchers and professionals.
About the Author: Simon Richards is Senior Lecturer in Architectural History and Theory at Loughborough University, and current Programme Director of the undergraduate architectural degree there. An art historian by training, his research and publications focus on the themes of comparative aesthetics, tradition and heritage, and philosophies of selfhood in architectural culture. His previous books include Le Corbusier and the Concept of Self (Yale 2003) and Architect Knows Best: Environmental Determinism in Architecture Culture from 1956 to the Present (Ashgate 2016). Currently he is collaborating, with Mantha Zarmakoupi, on a collected edition of essays on Constantinos Doxiadis and the Delos Symposia (1963-75).
Robert Schmidt III is Reader in Architectural Design at Loughborough University and leads the Adaptable Futures Group. He holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture from Iowa State University (2000); a MSc degree from The University of Tokyo (2007); and a PhD from Loughborough University (2014). He spent four years in New York working for the prestigious and award-winning firm, Herb Beckhard and Frank Richlan (HB+FR). He has received a number of recognitions for his design work including the Jeffrey J. Pilling Scholarship for excellence in design and the Pella Architectural Scholarship. Robert has published several papers and books on the topic of adaptability and presented his research around the world.
Cagri Sanliturk writes and researches about in-between spaces and spatial practices of everyday life. His research focuses on the relation between theory and practice, understanding architecture through the lenses of politics, performance art, visual arts and narratives. He is particularly interested in exploring the everyday life practices of inhabitants and how they relate to the controlling power within conflict studies. Through establishing affective methodologies, such as site-specific interventions, focus group mapping, performances and radical speculative writing, his practice tries to step away from conventional thinking in architecture practice and its implications. Cagri completed his Ph.D. at University of Sheffield and currently he is a Lecturer at Loughborough University. He also taught at Manchester School of Architecture and Manchester Metropolitan University as a Lecturer and design tutor in the masters-level ateliers.
Garyfalia (Falli) Palaiologou is Senior Lecturer in Urban Design at Loughborough University. Previously she was Research Fellow at the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture at the Space Syntax Laboratory, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Her research concerns the study of urban form through urban morphology and mapping methodologies to reveal historical spatial and morphological processes of urban change. Her PhD research investigated the 20th century urban transformation of London terraced houses and Manhattan row houses, focusing on street micromorphology and street liveability. Her postdoctoral research looked at the use of morphological analysis to rethink zoning and delimitation practices for UNESCO historic urban landscapes.
