Theories and History of Architecture

by Manfredo Tafuri

An expert on architectural history suggests criteria for evaluating designs and indicates the concepts which link modern architecture to the past

Genres: Architecture, History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Manfredo Tafuri an Italian architect, historian, theoretician, critic and academic, was arguably the world's most important architectural historian of the second half of the 20th century.[1] He is noted for his pointed critiques of the partisan "operative criticism" of previous architectural historians and critics like Bruno Zevi and Siegfried Giedion and for challenging and overturning the idea that the Renaissance was a "golden age" as it had been characterised in the work of earlier authorities like Heinrich Wolfflin and Rudolf Wittkower.
For Tafuri, architectural history does not follow a teleological scheme in which one language succeeds another in linear sequence. Instead, it is a continuous struggle played out on critical, theoretical and ideological levels as well as through the multiple constraints placed on practice. Since this struggle continues in the present, architectural history is not a dead academic subject, but an open arena for debate. In his view, like other cultural domains, but even more so, due to the tension between its autonomous, artistic character and its technical and functional dimensions, architecture is a field defined and constituted by crisis.
During the 1970s, Tafuri published important essays in Oppositions, the journal directed by Peter Eisenman. Although he always had a strong interest in this area of research, in the last decade of his career he undertook a comprehensive reassessment of the theory and practice of Renaissance architecture, exploring its various social, intellectual and cultural contexts, while providing a broad understanding of uses of representation that shaped the entire era. His final work, Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects, published in 1992, synthesizes the history of architectural ideas and projects through discussions of the great centres of architectural innovation in Italy (Florence, Rome, and Venice), key patrons from the middle of the fifteenth century to the early sixteenth century, and crucial figures such as Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Francesco di Giorgio, Lorenzo de' Medici, Bramante, Raphael, Baldassare Castiglione and Giulio Romano.
Tafuri held the position of chair of architectural history at the University Iuav of Venice.

Reviews

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a crucial examination of the roles of the historian and critic within the history and practice of architecture. His critique is focused on recent architectural practice and mostly about the Modern Movements anti-historical bent. He exhaustively tries to demonstrate the dangers and complications of ideologically motivated exclusions and dismissals within historical research. He goes on to outline the linguistic turn in architecture (i.e. architectural objects as symbols + codes to be read), discusses its connection his the ideas of structuralism and Roland Barthes. Tafuri draws on a wide list of examples covering the past 500 years of architecture. The breadth of his architectural knowledge and his willingness to challenge orthodoxy make this an important and wide ranging book.

The amazing thing about this book is that his ideas are applicable in any number of fields. His examinations can be applied to any of the art disciplines, the social sciences and to some degree even the hard sciences. His relentlessness and rigor is crucial to an understanding of the importance of the critic.

At root he advocates for a critical view of history and historical research encouraging students to trace the history of particular objects and styles and to decode the various obfuscations, ideological readings and omissions that are part of the architectural records available. I believe that this is a much richer form of research and definitely applies to any number of fields.

The book was written in the late 70's but the material is timeless.
My only complaint is that like many books of this sort the language is often dry and drags at points. Admittedly some of the academic awkwardness is likely a result of translation. This is a very specific text for a very specific audience so if its for you, you probably already know.

[Kihyun Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

'도시 활동가' 스터디 리더가 완전 방향을 잘못 잡아서 오독을 할 정도로, 이 책은 미술사와 건축사에 대한 지식이 없으면 건축에대해 냉소적이 될 수 밖에 없는 구조로 보인다. 하지만 역사 속에서 진정한 아방가르드 건축이 새로운 언어를 시도한다면 거짓 아방가르드는 기존의 건축 문법을 반복하고 '장식적 부언'들을 건축에 첨가하는 지를 빠르고 즐겁게 묘사한다. 특히 '모든 역사적 건축 문화재를 보전해야 한다' 챕터는 이러한 구조가 다시 드러나는데 보수주의에 이해 좌절되는 새로운 시도들이 사회의 사유의 한계와 어땋게 연결되어있는지 생각하게 하는 책.
현재까지 건축 역사에 대한 책으로는 가장 좋아하는 책이다.

[Numkang · Rating 5 out of 5]

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