Article

• Histoire Croisée

  Globalization makes understanding worldmaking processes a crucial issue. During the Cold War the social sciences mainly addressed this issue through comparative studies which mirrored the logic of the world-historical confrontation. In this respect 1989 fostered not only a political turn but an epistemological one. The new political situation fueled the development of approaches dedicated to the study of relations and interdependencies between different parts of the world.

  Like entangled, shared or connected histories, Histoire croisée takes a cross-border approach.Their common feature is shifting the analysis from comparative approaches centered on territorial entities to the relationships that flow through and the interactions which constitute them, as well as moving away from approaches solely focused on state relationships. Dedicated to the study of intersecting processes in various settings, Histoire croisée is driven by an empirical, methodological and epistemological shift that involves redefining the object of research.

   

  Globalization makes understanding worldmaking processes a crucial issue. During the Cold War the social sciences mainly addressed this issue through comparative studies which mirrored the logic of the world-historical confrontation. In this respect 1989 fostered not only a political turn but an epistemological one. The new political situation fueled the development of approaches dedicated to the study of relations and interdependencies between different parts of the world.

  Like entangled, shared or connected histories, Histoire croisée takes a cross-border approach.Their common feature is shifting the analysis from comparative approaches centered on territorial entities to the relationships that flow through and the interactions which constitute them, as well as moving away from approaches solely focused on state relationships. Dedicated to the study of intersecting processes in various settings, Histoire croisée is driven by an...

  Globalization makes understanding worldmaking processes a crucial issue. During the Cold War the social sciences mainly addressed this issue through comparative studies which mirrored the logic of the world-historical confrontation. In this respect 1989 fostered not only a political turn but...

  Bénédicte Zimmermann

  7-14

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• Portuguese Architecture in Transit(ion)

  In the final years of the Estado Novo regime (1933–1974), the Amsterdam Town Hall International Competition of 1967 presents the opportunity for seven teams of Portuguese architects to confront their own reality and rehearse distinct visions of building and city. From a national context, politically and geographically distant from the heart of the disciplinary debate of the 1960s, the proposals submitted set the terms on which Portugal competes in Amsterdam, revealing in the diversity of approaches and experiences forwarded by this new generation of architects the vitality of Portuguese architecture on its path to internationalisation.

  This article retraces the Portuguese participation in the Amsterdam Town Hall Competition to refute the generalised idea of cultural mismatch with the European scene of the time and assesses the impact of this particular event on the transition of Portuguese architecture to international recognition, an impact that Portuguese architecture historiography has to this day completely ignored.

  In the final years of the Estado Novo regime (1933–1974), the Amsterdam Town Hall International Competition of 1967 presents the opportunity for seven teams of Portuguese architects to confront their own reality and rehearse distinct visions of building and city. From a national context, politically and geographically distant from the heart of the disciplinary debate of the 1960s, the proposals submitted set the terms on which Portugal competes in Amsterdam, revealing in the diversity of approaches and experiences forwarded by this new generation of architects the vitality of Portuguese architecture on its path to internationalisation.

  This article retraces the Portuguese participation in the Amsterdam Town Hall Competition to refute the generalised idea of cultural mismatch with the European scene of the time and assesses the impact of this particular event on the transition of Portuguese architecture to international recognition, an impact that...

  In the final years of the Estado Novo regime (1933–1974), the Amsterdam Town Hall International Competition of 1967 presents the opportunity for seven teams of Portuguese architects to confront their own reality and rehearse distinct visions of building and city. From a...

  Bruno Gil, Susana Lobo, José Ribau Esteves

  15-38

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• Competition Juries as Intercultural Spaces

  In this article, design competitions, as they are practiced in Canada, are understood as devices that allow the study of interdisciplinary and intercultural dimensions of architecture. From the construction of the brief to the selection of the winning project, competitions are exemplary platforms for communicating design values. For example, competitor project proposals, which comprise many qualities, including constructive, material, and even political, represent the priorities of each design team, in the form of a place. Jurors debate each of these qualities through their own expertise. In their search for excellence, the competition jury is then an exemplar contact zone. By examining the various documents produced in this process, we can uncover the value systems of the many stakeholders. Observations of jury deliberations and analyses of jury reports can help expose how the diversity of jurors influences the selection of the winning project. Furthermore, in a contemporary context where environmental design is at the forefront, this diversity is especially interesting to study. An environmental expert’s evaluation of quantitative eco-measurements is very different from an architect’s judgment of spatial qualities and experiences. The focus of this article is to understand how such a variety of jurors influences the competition outcome.

  In this article, design competitions, as they are practiced in Canada, are understood as devices that allow the study of interdisciplinary and intercultural dimensions of architecture. From the construction of the brief to the selection of the winning project, competitions are exemplary platforms for communicating design values. For example, competitor project proposals, which comprise many qualities, including constructive, material, and even political, represent the priorities of each design team, in the form of a place. Jurors debate each of these qualities through their own expertise. In their search for excellence, the competition jury is then an exemplar contact zone. By examining the various documents produced in this process, we can uncover the value systems of the many stakeholders. Observations of jury deliberations and analyses of jury reports can help expose how the diversity of jurors influences the selection of the winning project. Furthermore, in a contemporary...

  In this article, design competitions, as they are practiced in Canada, are understood as devices that allow the study of interdisciplinary and intercultural dimensions of architecture. From the construction of the brief to the selection of the winning project, competitions are exemplary...

  Carmela Cucuzzella

  39-62

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• This is Not a Nest

  Although the architecture competition has been analysed through a number of rhetorical lenses, the recurring production of transcultural metaphors, particularly in international competitions, remains to be addressed as a genuine disciplinary phenomenon. The hypothesis of competitions as contact zones is particularly appropriate for the study of international events, in which competitors forge broad analogical figures to bridge cultural differences. Recent studies in the cognitive understanding of analogical matrices have considerably reinforced the theories on metaphors. Our analytical grid characterizes analogical matrices to identify levels of symbolic operations through the differentiation of formal, structural and conceptual analogies. We first dig into a sample of competition projects nicknames (Crystal, Birds’Nest, DNA, Cloud, Lace, Stealth, etc.) to confirm that these tropes have a paradoxical status at the intersection of architects’ intents and the public expectations. We then summarize an in-depth hermeneutical discourse analysis of 40 North American international competitions. This indicates a fourfold series of expectations to which competitors hope to provide answers in an international ‘conflict of interpretations’. Adhering to the theory of speech acts, we suggest that performative metaphors in competitions appear less as indicators of designers’ intentions than as products of the broader context surrounding competitions themselves. We conclude with a proposed grid indexing four types of contact zones in which metaphorical relationships are actively created and not just repeated.

  Although the architecture competition has been analysed through a number of rhetorical lenses, the recurring production of transcultural metaphors, particularly in international competitions, remains to be addressed as a genuine disciplinary phenomenon. The hypothesis of competitions as contact zones is particularly appropriate for the study of international events, in which competitors forge broad analogical figures to bridge cultural differences. Recent studies in the cognitive understanding of analogical matrices have considerably reinforced the theories on metaphors. Our analytical grid characterizes analogical matrices to identify levels of symbolic operations through the differentiation of formal, structural and conceptual analogies. We first dig into a sample of competition projects nicknames (Crystal, Birds’Nest, DNA, Cloud, Lace, Stealth, etc.) to confirm that these tropes have a paradoxical status at the intersection of architects’ intents and the public...

  Although the architecture competition has been analysed through a number of rhetorical lenses, the recurring production of transcultural metaphors, particularly in international competitions, remains to be addressed as a genuine disciplinary phenomenon. The hypothesis of competitions as...

  Jean-Pierre Chupin

  63-82

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• The Architecture Competition: A Beauty Contest or a Learning Opportunity?

  The architecture competition is a high point of interaction between very diverse actors, architecture specialists or not. However, is it really an opportunity for exchange and shared learning? Based on surveys conducted in France and in several European countries on behalf of the French Ministry of Culture, this contribution aims to identify the conditions that foster the interactions inherent to competitions, the possible scope of these exchanges and the rationale behind them. When the competition is a chosen procedure, it is most often perceived as a moment of generating ideas that opens a professional debate and also addresses the general public. When it is mandatory, the competition is guided by another logic: that of ensuring the fairness and transparency of the joint choice of a project and a service provider as well as the legality of the contract concluded with the latter. Depending on the place given by decision-makers to this legal and contractual dimension, the nature and scope of the debates around the competition vary widely. If the legalistic approach dominates, it tends to limit interactions. However if the contracting authority adopts a more open approach to the competition, from programming to the dissemination and capitalisation of its results, it can make a real process of collective deliberation and favour the growth of shared competence.

  The architecture competition is a high point of interaction between very diverse actors, architecture specialists or not. However, is it really an opportunity for exchange and shared learning? Based on surveys conducted in France and in several European countries on behalf of the French Ministry of Culture, this contribution aims to identify the conditions that foster the interactions inherent to competitions, the possible scope of these exchanges and the rationale behind them. When the competition is a chosen procedure, it is most often perceived as a moment of generating ideas that opens a professional debate and also addresses the general public. When it is mandatory, the competition is guided by another logic: that of ensuring the fairness and transparency of the joint choice of a project and a service provider as well as the legality of the contract concluded with the latter. Depending on the place given by decision-makers to this legal and contractual dimension, the nature...

  The architecture competition is a high point of interaction between very diverse actors, architecture specialists or not. However, is it really an opportunity for exchange and shared learning? Based on surveys conducted in France and in several European countries on behalf of the French...

  Véronique Biau, Jodelle Zetlaoui-Léger, Bendicht Weber

  83-98

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