New! Post: Two Sets of Four Brick Buildings

“New! Post” asserts the premise that by studying the detailed use of a single material, a deeper understanding of the connections between built works of architecture can be evaluated. In this case, the use of brick serves as a polemically appropriate vehicle for the contextualization of architectural practice at present into clear discussion with a tectonic tradition of the past. Brick masonry is an appropriate starting point for cross-referencing current architectural practice against the references that preceded it because of its inherent limitations. It is a material that has a deep history and a narrow latitude for application. This paper uses a comparative method to understand the alignment between the modes of practice today with the late-modern period commencing at the close of the 1960s. The parallels between these two periods, and the influence of the one upon the next, is instructive for understanding the nature of architectural discourse today. While architecture, like any creative pursuit, is always positioned to respond to the immediate present and past in a critical manner, the architecture of the present is in a particular phase of reactivity. By establishing the critical lineage of the present to several instances of architecture of the late 1960’s, a trend emerges that allows us the opportunity to project forwards.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.107.52

Volume Editors
Amy Kulper, Grace La & Jeremy Ficca

ISBN
978-1-944214-21-0