The Autopoiesis of Architecture, Volume I

Take a theoretical approach to architecture with The Autopoiesis
of Architecture, which presents the topic as a discipline with
its own unique logic. Architecture's conception of itself is
addressed as well as its development within wider contemporary
society.

Author Patrik Schumacher offers innovative treatment that
enriches architectural theory with a coordinated arsenal of
concepts facilitating both detailed analysis and insightful
comparisons with other domains, such as art, science and politics.
He explores how the various modes of communication comprising
architecture depend upon each other, combine, and form a unique
subsystem of society that co-evolves with other important
autopoietic subsystems like art, science, politics and the
economy.

The first of two volumes that together present a comprehensive
account of architecture's autopoiesis, this book elaborates the
theory of architecture?s autopoeisis in 8 parts, 50 sections and
200 chapters. Each of the 50 sections poses a thesis drawing a
central message from the insights articulated within the respective
section. The 200 chapters are gathering and sorting the accumulated
intelligence of the discipline according to the new conceptual
framework adopted, in order to catalyze and elaborate the new
formulations and insights that are then encapsulated in the theses.
However, while the theoretical work in the text of the chapters
relies on the rigorous build up of a new theoretical language, the
theses are written in ordinary language ? with the theoretical
concepts placed in brackets. The full list of the 50 theses affords
a convenient summary printed as appendix at the end of the
book.

The second volume completes the analysis of the discourse and
further proposes a new agenda for contemporary architecture in
response to the challenges and opportunities that confront
architectural design within the context of current societal and
technological developments.

Autorentext

Patrik Schumacher is partner at Zaha Hadid Architects and founding director of the Design Research Laboratory (DRL) at the Architectural Association (AA) in London. He studied philosophy and architecture in Bonn, London and Stuttgart, where he received his architectural Diploma in 1990. In 1996 he founded the AADRL with Brett Steele, and continues to serve as one of its directors. In 1999 he completed his PhD at the Institute for Cultural Science, Klagenfurt University. Patrik Schumacher joined Zaha Hadid in 1988. Since then Zaha Hadid Architects has expanded from a small studio to a global ???rm employing over 300 architects. Patrik Schumacher's career continues to integrate practice and theory. His contribution to the discourse of contemporary architecture is also evident in his prior writings, such as Digital Hadid, 2004, as well as in his curatorial work for exhibitions, such as Latent Utopias, Graz, 2002. His essays are available on www.patrikschumacher.com.

Zusammenfassung
Take a theoretical approach to architecture with The Autopoiesis of Architecture, which presents the topic as a discipline with its own unique logic. Architecture's conception of itself is addressed as well as its development within wider contemporary society. Author Patrik Schumacher offers innovative treatment that enriches architectural theory with a coordinated arsenal of concepts facilitating both detailed analysis and insightful comparisons with other domains, such as art, science and politics. He explores how the various modes of communication comprising architecture depend upon each other, combine, and form a unique subsystem of society that co-evolves with other important autopoietic subsystems like art, science, politics and the economy.

The first of two volumes that together present a comprehensive account of architecture's autopoiesis, this book elaborates the theory of architecture?s autopoeisis in 8 parts, 50 sections and 200 chapters. Each of the 50 sections poses a thesis drawing a central message from the insights articulated within the respective section. The 200 chapters are gathering and sorting the accumulated intelligence of the discipline according to the new conceptual framework adopted, in order to catalyze and elaborate the new formulations and insights that are then encapsulated in the theses. However, while the theoretical work in the text of the chapters relies on the rigorous build up of a new theoretical language, the theses are written in ordinary language ? with the theoretical concepts placed in brackets. The full list of the 50 theses affords a convenient summary printed as appendix at the end of the book.

The second volume completes the analysis of the discourse and further proposes a new agenda for contemporary architecture in response to the challenges and opportunities that confront architectural design within the context of current societal and technological developments.

Inhalt

Preface xi

0 Introduction: Architecture as Autopoietic System 1

0.1 Architecture as a System of Communications 1

0.2 A Unified Theory of Architecture 4

0.3 Functional vs Causal Explanations 14

0.4 The Quest for Comprehensiveness 17

0.5 The Premises Imported from Social Systems Theory 19

0.6 Architecture's Place within Society 25

1 Architectural Theory 29

1.1 The Unity of Architecture 29

1.1.1 Architectural System-formation and Self-regulation 30

1.2 The Evolution of Architecture 32

1.2.1 Architectural Theory as Mechanism of Selection 33

1.3 The Necessity of Theory 35

1.3.1 The Function of Architectural Theory 36

1.3.2 Types of Theories 39

1.3.3 The Necessity to Reflect Architecture's Societal raison d'être 47

1.3.4 Super-theories 54

1.3.5 The Theory of Architectural Autopoiesis as Domain-specific Super-theory 58

1.3.6 From Deconstruction to the Programme of Critical Theory 62

2 The Historical Emergence of Architecture 71

2.1 The Emergence of Architecture as Self-referential System 72

2.1.1 Inside-descriptions vs Outside-descriptions 72

2.1.2 Function Systems 74

2.1.3 The Historical Crystallization of Architecture 77

2.2 Foundation and Refoundation of Architecture 81

2.2.1 Autonomization: The Origin of the Discipline in the Italian Renaissance 81

2.2.2 The Refoundation of the Discipline as Modern Architecture 87

2.2.3 The Exclusive Competency and Universal Scope of Modern Architecture 89

2.2.4 The Liberation from Traditional Formal Constraints 91

2.2.5 The Switch from Edifice to Space 93

2.3 Avant-garde vs Mainstream 95

2.3.1 A Prerequisite for Evolution 97

2.3.2 The Autonomy of the Avant-garde 99

2.3.3 Communications between Avant-garde and Mainstream 102

2.3.4 The Reciprocal Dependency between Avant-garde and Mainstream 107

2.3.5 The Time Structure of the Avant-garde Process: Cumulative vs Revolutionary Periods 110

2.3.6 Concrete Exemplars vs Abstract Principles 115

2.3.7 Revolution and Philosophy 120

2.3.8 Latent Utopias vs the Utopian Ambitions of the Historical Avant-garde 123

2.3.9 Retroactive Manifestos 129

2.4 Architectural Research 132

2.4.1 Architectural Research as Avant-garde Design Research 133

2.4.2 Architecture Schools as Laboratories 138

2.5 The Necessity of Demarcation 144

2.5.1 The Differentiation of Art and Architecture 146

2.5.2 The Differentiation of Science and Architecture 155

2.5.3 The Differentiation of Architecture and Engineering 160

2.5.4 The Rationality of Demarcation 163

2.5.5 The Specificity of Architecture within the Design Disciplines 166

3 Architecture as Autopoietic System Operations, Structures and Processes 171

3.1 Architectural Autopoiesis within Functionally Differentiated Society 177

3.1.1 Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Modern Society 177

3.1.2 Third Order Observation 182

3.1.3…