ABSTRACT
The idea for the ‘Critical Architecture’ conference came from my own dissatisfaction
with the current state of architectural criticism.1 Whether in academic journals or pub-
lications connected with professional practice, very few critics seem willing to con-
sider the purposes and possibilities of architectural criticism, or to reflect upon their
choice of subject matter and modes of interpretation and operation. The level of self-
reflectivity in architectural criticism lags behind architectural history and theory, and
certain practices of architectural design. If one compares the level of intellectual
debate concerning architectural criticism to discussions in other disciplines, namely
art and literature, this sense of stagnation is reinforced.2 To date, in architecture,
although there has been some exploration of the relation between criticism, history,
and theory, there has been, to my knowledge, none of the relation between criticism
and critical practice.3
