From Blurred Limits of Architecture to New Practices

Trained to synthesise complexity, architects are proving to be fundamental players in designing solutions to systemic crises such as global warming, human displacement, and pandemics. The quest for sustainable futures has prompted new discussions on the fluid boundaries of the architecture discipline — its disciplinarity vis-à-vis its interdisciplinarity — often favouring a broad understanding of the architect’s role ‘as integrator, professional generalist, and practical idealist’ as Rachel Armstrong has recently put it. ¹ Architecture’s Afterlife explores the relationships between the disciplinarity of architecture and its interdisciplinarity as a way to adapt architecture to societal changes, thus responding to systemic crises. Through competency mapping, Architecture’s Afterlife offers an alternative to this binary view, turning it into a relationship of complementarity. The interdisciplinarity of architecture is a necessary means through which architecture constantly redefines itself and adapts to resilient futures.