Critical regionalism - A reflexive perspective from the Brandywine Valley /
Critical Regionalism is presented in the genre's dominant discourse as an architectural theory of resistance directed toward both the ubiquitous, undifferentiated patterns of globalized civilization as well as the scenographic mechanisms of populist/nostalgic forms of architectural regionalism....
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2000.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=731930261&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Critical Regionalism is presented in the genre's dominant discourse as an architectural theory of resistance directed toward both the ubiquitous, undifferentiated patterns of globalized civilization as well as the scenographic mechanisms of populist/nostalgic forms of architectural regionalism. Critical Regionalism's dominant critique, derived from the aesthetic theories of Adorno, assumes that traditions associated with a region's identity have been subsumed by the postmodern culture industry and any direct reference to such traditions can only result in nostalgic commodification. In order to resist nostalgic commodification, the genre's primary spokespersons have focused on a theoretical strategy of defamiliarization and abstraction, the aesthetic mechanisms of Modernism, to remove the stigma of nostalgia from historical/traditional references. That is, individual works of architecture are reduced to a set of formal relationships at the scale of the immediate site which can be freely manipulated without acknowledging the complexities of regional identity. It is my supposition that the forces of globalized civilization cannot be effectively resisted through the abstract aesthetic mechanisms Critical Regionalism advocates. In order to move beyond Critical Regionalism's universal, a priori, theoretical assumptions related to the notion of regional identity, this investigation is grounded relative to a particular region: the Brandywine Valley of southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware. Instead of condemning the traditions associated with the region's identity that have fallen prey to postmodern commodification, the thrust of this study is to better understand and elucidate how the Brandywine Valley's regional identity developed, how its identity has been appropriated and commodified by the forces of globalized civilization, and the complexities associated with the notion of resistance. The study reveals the existence of a complex web of commodification (device paradigm) in the Brandywine Valley which results in the fabrication of mask, a postmodern simulacrum which represents itself as the Brandywine Valley. This mask covers the portions of the traditional landscape which do not conform with its superficial rhetoric while it simultaneously serves as a veil which conceals the ceaseless advance of globalized civilization. In order to experience the authentic region beneath the mask, I point toward Albert Borgmann's notion of postmodern realism. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Architecture". |
| Physical Description: | xi, 256 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-253). |