ABSTRACT
In any event, the planning and building of architecture always mean designing and building somewhere else, whether far away or near. The project must somehow be drawn out of itself in order to bring about a critical dialogue between specific conditions, new problems and the state of the discipline. Essential to setting up the dialogue is an agreement that it be based, on the one hand, on the diversity of topics, and, on the other hand, on the common element, that is, the specificity of the diverse architectural traditions, and their comparison. Architectural changes prior to the twentieth century occurred without making a choice between topophilia and topophobia in building something new, and often by favorably interpreting the external influences on the traditions of the specific community. The multicultural issue, when established as a dialogue between different cultural identities, has always been a crucial element of Euro-Mediterranean culture.
