Abstract

Taking architecture as an event implies looking at it as an open process. This openness means not merely opening finished objects towards their use, but the openness of the whole process of design, building and use. Ultimately, it means the autonomy of builders and users and the end of a fragmented production of space. The question is, what would then be left for architects to do? In our opinion, some very relevant tasks: in the first place, a constant and incisive theoretical and practical exercise of critique; secondly, the production of interfaces or instruments for helping all actors involved to realise their own critical actions on space; and thirdly, any mediation required between the actors themselves and those interfaces or instruments. These possible practices, along with others we might not even be aware of, are attempts to overcome the production of space as ‘reproduction of the social relations of production’.1 We draw references from the informal production of dwelling space in the Brazilian favelas, as well as from the art of Lygia Clark, to suggest little pointers towards alternatives to the formal, heteronomous, normative and problem-solving practices of architecture.

How to Cite:

Kapp, S. & Baltazar, A. & Morado, D., (2008) “Architecture as Critical Exercise: Little Pointers Towards Alternative Practices”, field 2(1), 7–30.