The Allure of Generality (Revisited)

Abstract Ongoing appraisals of generality in architecture have largely referenced theories in natural philosophy as well as generic and normative structures, criticised as formalistic and dull. Expounding on generality’s role beyond its received ideas, this paper describes the creative methodological value of this concept. Drawing on sources in post-war modernism, analytic philosophy, and the prevailing academic quest for new research methods, the paper assesses the methodological role of generality as a creative tool in the search for innovative architectural knowledge and modes of practice. It ties conceptual design’s exploration during the post-war period to cross-disciplinary academic methodological concerns about generality. Scrutinising Mies van der Rohe’s mid-century statements, it illuminates a rigorous, disciplined body of work anchored in the epistemology of the era’s philosophy of science. The terrain highlighted has relevance to current architectural dialectics, which rethink research methods in the quest for new design practices.