{"title":"建筑有多大的影响力?","authors":"Susannah Cramer-Greenbaum","doi":"10.1215/00666637-10329569","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n Dhaka's National Assembly building, designed by Louis Kahn, was built over several turbulent decades as East Pakistan fought for autonomy and became the new country of Bangladesh. Conventional critical narratives situate the National Assembly within Kahn's biography, treating Bangladesh as an empty canvas on which Kahn could enact design philosophies developed over his career. I contend that architects and critics are not the only arbiters of a building's meaning, and that local and political context should not be ignored in a building's historical narrative. There is ample recent scholarship decentering the Western canon, to which the National Assembly belongs, in architecture history, theory, and criticism. This article calls for decentering the architect as well, and acknowledging that the client's agenda, historical context, local interventions, popular perception, and the ongoing use of a building all influence the many layers of meaning architecture acquires over time. Continuing to perpetuate the myth of the lone artistic genius doggedly pursuing his creative vision gives unfounded agency to the individual architect alone. Design has agency and buildings shape worlds, but buildings themselves are shaped by complex collective actions, not singular visions. As a Western architect called to build on a grand scale in Asia, Kahn is an early example of a now prevalent trope. This research establishes a template for understanding this kind of work in context, and acknowledging the crucial role played by local actors in shaping each project and determining the project's cultural significance over time.","PeriodicalId":41400,"journal":{"name":"ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"How Much Agency Does Architecture Have?\",\"authors\":\"Susannah Cramer-Greenbaum\",\"doi\":\"10.1215/00666637-10329569\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"\\n Dhaka's National Assembly building, designed by Louis Kahn, was built over several turbulent decades as East Pakistan fought for autonomy and became the new country of Bangladesh. Conventional critical narratives situate the National Assembly within Kahn's biography, treating Bangladesh as an empty canvas on which Kahn could enact design philosophies developed over his career. I contend that architects and critics are not the only arbiters of a building's meaning, and that local and political context should not be ignored in a building's historical narrative. There is ample recent scholarship decentering the Western canon, to which the National Assembly belongs, in architecture history, theory, and criticism. This article calls for decentering the architect as well, and acknowledging that the client's agenda, historical context, local interventions, popular perception, and the ongoing use of a building all influence the many layers of meaning architecture acquires over time. Continuing to perpetuate the myth of the lone artistic genius doggedly pursuing his creative vision gives unfounded agency to the individual architect alone. Design has agency and buildings shape worlds, but buildings themselves are shaped by complex collective actions, not singular visions. As a Western architect called to build on a grand scale in Asia, Kahn is an early example of a now prevalent trope. This research establishes a template for understanding this kind of work in context, and acknowledging the crucial role played by local actors in shaping each project and determining the project's cultural significance over time.\",\"PeriodicalId\":41400,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-04-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1215/00666637-10329569\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"艺术学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"ART\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1215/00666637-10329569","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ART","Score":null,"Total":0}
Dhaka's National Assembly building, designed by Louis Kahn, was built over several turbulent decades as East Pakistan fought for autonomy and became the new country of Bangladesh. Conventional critical narratives situate the National Assembly within Kahn's biography, treating Bangladesh as an empty canvas on which Kahn could enact design philosophies developed over his career. I contend that architects and critics are not the only arbiters of a building's meaning, and that local and political context should not be ignored in a building's historical narrative. There is ample recent scholarship decentering the Western canon, to which the National Assembly belongs, in architecture history, theory, and criticism. This article calls for decentering the architect as well, and acknowledging that the client's agenda, historical context, local interventions, popular perception, and the ongoing use of a building all influence the many layers of meaning architecture acquires over time. Continuing to perpetuate the myth of the lone artistic genius doggedly pursuing his creative vision gives unfounded agency to the individual architect alone. Design has agency and buildings shape worlds, but buildings themselves are shaped by complex collective actions, not singular visions. As a Western architect called to build on a grand scale in Asia, Kahn is an early example of a now prevalent trope. This research establishes a template for understanding this kind of work in context, and acknowledging the crucial role played by local actors in shaping each project and determining the project's cultural significance over time.
期刊介绍:
Since its establishment in 1945, Archives of Asian Art has been devoted to publishing new scholarship on the art and architecture of South, Southeast, Central, and East Asia. Articles discuss premodern and contemporary visual arts, archaeology, architecture, and the history of collecting. To maintain a balanced representation of regions and types of art and to present a variety of scholarly perspectives, the editors encourage submissions in all areas of study related to Asian art and architecture. Every issue is fully illustrated (with color plates in the online version), and each fall issue includes an illustrated compendium of recent acquisitions of Asian art by leading museums and collections. Archives of Asian Art is a publication of Asia Society.