Speculations on a Future for the Concept of Precedents

Abstract

It is never easy to determine what ought to be included in introductory architectural history classes. How do we select a set of buildings that might adequately demonstrate the field’s changing contours over time?1 The question of what architectural projects to introduce in design curriculum core classes, at least for historians teaching in professional programs, carries with it a specific kind of stakes. Architectural history serves, in part, to ground the discourse surrounding contemporary practice. The default historical canon introduced in school, more than merely telling one version of the discipline’s story, has also become coterminous with a set of precedents that form the basis for architectural judgment. A canon is useful—not only for reinscribing disciplinary values, but also because it provides a common set of reference points. Maybe because it is so useful—and despite ongoing work towards its expansion—the architectural canon is obstinate; it is sticky.