Zur Sprache bringen. Eine Kritik der Architekturkritik
Zur Sprache bringen. Eine Kritik der Architekturkritik (German: Grasping Architecture - A Critique of Architecture Criticism) was the title of an international conference organized from October 31 through November 2 of 2002 by the Internet architecture journal Cloud Cuckoo Land at the Brandenburg University of Technology (Cottbus, Germany).
Conference
The conference had been organized in honor of (1923-2013), who was one of the most important German architecture critics of the second half of the 20th century. Conrads himself, 79 years old at the time, delivered an opening and a closing address and contributed to the discussions during the conference.
In his opening address The Last Word as Prologue, delivered at the Branitz Palace in the , Conrads recommend seven procedures (he called them seven virtues) as best practice for an architecture critic:
- See and study the building on site and in full scale.
- Consider all the drawings, including site plan.
- Follow the construction process.
- Compare the situation before and after construction.
- Weigh the new building against similar existing buildings.
- Diligently describe and evaluate forms, volumes and spaces.
- Consider the social condition of the critic as well as of the socitety.
Book
Almost the same title has subsequently been used for the book containing the conference proceedings, which occasionally has been used as a recommended reading at universities.
External links
- Conference proceedings
- Book Preview (German)
- Book website (German)