What, exactly, did critical theory in architecture hope to address? At its best, perhaps in Kenneth Frampton’s renowned essay on regionalism, it indicated skepticism of romantic notions of vernacular typologies and materials that had previously informed writing on non-European buildings or environments in the developing world. In European philosophy, it might be targeted specifically at political ideologies that undergirded oppressive regimes, or culture that was co-opted by power elites. If rational discourse were possible in such contexts, an architect might well use art to comment on injustices and inequalities in society at large. That is, of course, if one believes that architecture can always communicate effectively to a politically oppressed society, or that architecture is a “fine art.” 

At its worst, addressing social ills by designing buildings that presumed to criticize a corrupt status quo pushed architects toward the arid obsessions of conceptual art—which could at least hide in galleries—and away from common-sense concerns about environmental quality, safety, beauty, psychological well-being, and even neighborhood civility. “Critical” design was a fig leaf that hid the most basic responsibilities of architectural licensure from many otherwise sensible architects pursuing excellence, or accepted standards under a current aesthetic criteria. What, indeed, were those standards?

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