ABSTRACT
That architecture is a multidisciplinary practice is not novelty. In Western history, architects describe their profession as an assemblage of expertise which, one might think, can hardly be performed by just one individual. This is the case in Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture where he stated that an architect has to be conversant in matters related to geometry, history, philosophy, music, medicine, jurisprudence, astronomy, and the theory of the heavens. 1 This is repeated today in the Article 46 dedicated to ‘Training of Architects’ included in the EU’s Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC where an architect should understand fine arts, technology, human sciences, environmental issues, building regulations, just to name a few. 2 But an architect should not only to be versatile in a variety of different disciplines other than architecture, but — as the Directive states as well — the profession of architecture is to exist ‘in society’, mediating ‘between people and buildings, and between buildings and their environment’, responding to ‘human needs and scale’. What this being ‘in society’ means and demands is at the core of architecture remaking today, yet has taken on various meanings throughout the history of architecture practice and pedagogy.
