IJUP08 - Universidade do Porto

Architectural Languages for the 21 st Century
N. Vieira da Costa 1 and J. Quintão 2
1 Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal.
2 Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal.
This study pretends to be a comprehension of the present situation in architecture. For that,
we proceeded to a distribution of the methods and languages present in contemporary
architecture, by groups and in a hierarchic disposition, based on their formal, technical
and conceptual similitude. This systematised classification corresponds to the taxonomic
scheme presented in the study and constitutes its essential synthesis.
The architectonic approaches explored in the study have been identified from the
observation of works conceived or built between 2001 and 2005 published in the
magazines L’ Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, The Architectural Review, Arq/a, Casabella and
Pasajes. It is important to refer that it is not our intention to classify the architects, only the
architectonic works in question.
The study persists on the idea of architectural language by identifying witch formal,
technical and conceptual rules are in the base of the diverse architectonic approaches. We
also try to clarify the genesis for each architectural posture; in the sense of knowing what
prevails, if the desire for tradition or that of reinvention. This method allowed us to
determine the origins behind concepts and theories and to establish differences and
similarities towards the dominant architectural concepts. Subsequently, the architectural
concepts proceeding, synthesizing or contesting the prevailing traditions were grouped in
several postures that maintain an internal coherence.
Along the study, theories coming from sciences and arts’ fields are also taken into
consideration. Consequently, here are described both the “meta-languages” (theories,
concepts, utopias, etc.) and the methods and languages applied to the architecture in
concrete. Therefore, this study doesn’t consist on a description of architectonic works; it
establishes a dialectical relation between the theoretical concepts and the concrete
languages.
Key words: methods and languages; contemporary architecture; systematised
classification; genesis; sciences; arts.
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