CONTEXTUALISM AS A BASIS FOR AN ENVIRONMENTAL

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD

1
ULKU OZTEN, 2HAKAN ANAY

Department of Architecture, ESOGU, Turkey, Department of Architecture, ESOGU, Turkey

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract— This article is about so-called “contextualism” of 80’s, once a rigorous, discursive approach in architecture
proposing a conceptualization of the relation between architectural and urban designs with their physical and cultural
environment. While setting globalism and its effects on contemporary architecture as a problem for environmentally
responsible architecture it revisits the basic ideas of contextualism from the viewpoint of two intellectual frameworks from
arts, to establish a more inclusive view of contextualism towards understanding and conceptualizing the present situation. It
identifies the great match between the present situation and the conditions that led contextualism to arise, and tries to show
how contextualism is in a position to say something about the present “predicament” of contemporary architecture and how it
contains a potential to contribute to environmentally responsive architecture today.

Index Terms— environmentally responsible architecture, contextualism, Colin Rowe, Collage City, globalization, globalism

I. INTRODUCTION appeared in 1965. In one of his interviews,

Schumacher stated that, he believed that the approach
Globalism is shaping everything, including our was first called "contexturalism" as an attempt of
environment; built, natural, cultural or otherwise. combining the words “context” and “texture”. When
Providing one “big” environment itself, globalization the visuals of the period projects are examined, it is
is becoming one single power, bypassing all others, seen that their main focus is the “urban” texture. Thus,
determining all; around the world differences are the departure point of the problem situation focuses on
evened out, places start to lose their identity, we are at its relation to the texture. Rather than the term with a
the eve of a “world with chamfered peaks and valleys.” "textual" emphasis, the word “contextualism” was
This is one of the basic problems for architecture, then adopted as a more appropriate term for
which itself once was about difference, not sameness; representing the complexity as well as discursivity in
about identity; about the environment; about what the essence of the approach. The new term fit better to
surrounds it, about specificity; about places. Now it the conceptual content of the contextualism argument.
seems that architecture only has to follow the latest Contextualism may seem like a product of a limited
“global” bandwagon. framework, targeting a problematic area that is
This article is about so-called “contextualism” once a particularly limited with current understanding, but in
valuable approach in architecture proposing a essence, the approach is not a uniform, homogeneous,
rigorous conceptualization of the relation between and limited with a narrow perspective. Rowe and
architectural and urban designs with their physical Koetter give an extraordinary wealth of conceptual
and cultural environment. The study aims to revisit and theoretical framework of the approach in their
the basic ideas of contextualism afresh, which in turn article and then in their book of a similar name the
would provide insights towards the present problem Collage City. The content in the book is highly
situation. It reviews contextualism from the viewpoint discursive, but beyond some implications neither is
of two different but related intellectual frameworks; the contextualism mentioned, nor does the book
thus it presents a re-reading of contextualism from a contain materials for its practice. It appears that the
wider inclusive framework. It was intended that such a main aim of the book is to state the problems and to
reading will contribute to the rich intellectual focus on analytical strategies. From this point of view,
framework mired in the discourse of contextualism the Collage City and it’s one of the greatest contents
which in turn will help us to bring them to the service contextualism can be characterized mainly as critical.
of architecture towards coping with the set of It was the duty of the members of this community to
problems related with globalism. develop and enlarge the lines implied by the
intellectual framework emerging from Cornell's
II. ON ARCHITECTURAL CONTEXTUALISM environment. In various articles, the model is taken
from different viewpoints and refined. Significant
Contextualism is the name given to the particular examples in that sense are Steven Peterson's "Urban
studies, which are the products of the urban design Design Tactics," and "Space and Anti-Space;” Colin
master program conducted by Colin Rowe, started in Rowe's "The Present Urban Predicament;" Thomas
Cornell in 1963. The word contextualism first Schumacher's "Contextualism: Urban Ideals and

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Deformations;" Stuart Cohen's "Physical Context / seen from Cubism and Futurism to Elementarism,
Cultural Context: Including it All;" William Ellis's Neo-Plasticism, Suprematism and Purism.
"Type and Context in Urbanism;" and Steven Hurtt's It is possible to observe the kind of contextualism
"Conjectures on Urban Form". They contributed to the mentioned here in the context of the "contextualist
understanding of concept of urban form, also to the criticism" of the formal school called New Criticism.
development of the scope and the distribution of the "Contextualist criticism" considers the work of art as a
effect of the approach. Among these, especially the closed whole, and that art criticism should be done
work of Cohen, Hurtt and Schumacher, have moved with reference to this "inner context". From this
the issue of context beyond the framework of Rowe's perspective, the artfulness of a work is related to its
urban design studio. In this way, the conceptual scope success in bringing together an internal integrity
of context and contextualism has expanded and the without any external reference and ability to form an
impact area of the model has moved from the urban independent/autonomous system.
design towards architecture. While at first “context” The second approach, on the other hand is different
seemed to be denoting a limited sense of the notion from the first one. As it is also typical in the field of
referring to either the immediate surrounding of a architecture, here contextualism is inherently related
building or a physical context, it later on departed to what is external to an artwork.
towards a more inclusive definition that encompasses Eric J. Fox defines contextualism as “a
a wider physical context and more important the philosophical worldview in which any event is
cultural context. On the other hand, throughout this interpreted as an ongoing act inseparable from its
evolution, "methodological" or "practice-oriented" current and historical context”. The foundations of
gap left in Collage City has been extended towards this worldview are based on the work of Charles
what was operational and towards practice keeping its Sanders Peirce, William James, Friedrich Schiller,
"descriptive" and "critical" essence. Contextualism Henri Bergson, George Herbert Mead and John
tried to teach us how to respect and to that degree be Dewey. According to Stephen C. Pepper, these studies
critical to what lies before us, whether physical, have emerged in the form of operationalism in
environmental, cultural or otherwise, while proposing science, instrumentalism in logic, and objective
something new, something not only departs from what relativism in ethics and social theory. The effects of
existed but also contributes to it; it emphasized these studies are known in the field of art, and Pepper
identity and difference. Contextualism has become says that the best expression for such an effect can be
one of the theoretical cornerstones in the architecture called "contextualist aesthetic." He also defines
of the 1980s. contextualist criticism as a critique that takes into
account all the circumstances surrounding a work of
III. TOWARDS A WIDER PERSPECTIVE art and evaluates it in this "context”. Contextualism in
this sense gives high value to “environment” or
Before all these context and contextualism, have "conditions", not to descriptions, recipes, formulas, or
already been an issue in the field of arts. As we have powers determining all. Thus, in assessing a work,
stated in elsewhere, among these, two critical models how and in what way the work is affected by its
are particularly important for our purposes. The environment and also how and in what manner it
conception of context and contextualism in these contributes to its environment is important.
models and the rich intellectual structure surrounding The two critical contextualist approaches, which
them are thought to be useful in producing an seem to emphasize the different qualities of one
environmentally conscious approach and a phenomenon, may form a holistic mature framework
reinterpretation of an architectural contextualism in for a novel expanded reading of an architectural
an expanded framework. contextualism.
The first model of contextual criticism is related to the
notion of “composition” in art; especially in modernist IV. FROM THE MODERN TO THE GLOBAL
art in its formalist traditions. According to this ENVIRONMENT AND THE PROBLEM OF THE
understanding, an artwork is an inseparable whole CONTEXT
composed of a set of internally related parts. The
concept of composition in art (especially in the The critique of urban production of Modern
painting) is related to this particular kind of Architecture, and the contextualist approach as a
contextualism. According to Ellis, the modernist solution to this problem in Collage City can be
picture is contextual, because every part that composes re-considered in the light of the abovementioned two
the whole is dedicated to the overall composition of approaches. This would help us to reconsider the
the work of art. Hence, not the individual objects, but provided intellectual framework and bring it about to
how they come together and make a whole, in other understand the present “predicament” related with
words how they create an "inner context" of the work, globalism’s affects upon built environment.
is important. In the field of art, this approach can be In the urban scale, Modern Architecture is indifferent
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to pursue any relationship between objects; That is to internal "context". As part of the dominant
say, it disregards how the parts forming the whole interpretation of functionalism, modern architecture
(composition). Undoubtedly, there is a logic that argues that like soap bubbles formed from inside out,
brings together parts in such an approach, but since this totality is the result of a function-based process.
modernist urbanism bases itself on an essentially On the other hand, the kind of integrity implied by
functionalist view, rather than aiming to establish contextualism is far from the functionalist mechanics,
interrelationships between objects it focuses on rather it is in parallel with the intellectual
organizing their positions within a space with infrastructures and strategies of approaches such as
reference to their functional relations. Modernist cubist painting and collage.
urban products are isolated "self-referenced" From a wider perspective, a configuration, as
organizations, hence their “objects in space” described above, does not allow for the temporal
constructs have no ability to constitute a “gestalt” or to dimension: since it considers itself as a fixed and
use a contextualist jargon an “inner context”. The absolute being, closed to criticism, it does not concern
phenomenon sharply manifests itself on a higher what is before and after itself. This kind of an
scale: if we take the whole city as providing some type approach does not allow the differences and the
of (inner) context or environment, and assume it as the different parts to come together. From an inside-out
“design” of time, then it is clearly seen that a typical mechanic logic does not interested in the boundary: It
modernist urban design proposal can be described as a is not concerned with the context, nor is it interested in
conscious disruption of that inner context of the city, what was external to is, i.e., its environment its
to that degree the continuity of the time. context. Similar to its final form, what was external is
This attitude can be analyzed from two aspects: the a kind of by-product.
first one is about the internal logic of design proposal. On the other hand, the logic of "collage" and
This pure functionalist, mechanical and autonomous "bricolage" proposed by Rowe and Koetter,
logic determines both the internal organization and emphasizes forms of organization concentrating on an
the resultant form leading from this organization. The entirely ambiguous relationship, which allows for a
second is about the relationship of design proposal different kind of complexity. Here, it is not possible to
with everything that lies before it (physical, cultural, divide the whole into parts or to resolve the relations
historical…etc.). Modern architecture was already clearly that structure the whole. Such a configuration
claiming to break with what existed before it: it does emphasizes uncertainty, flexibility, unpredictability,
not take both its immediate surrounding and the complexity in design, and it does not only allow for the
architectural tradition into consideration. This temporal dimension, (both the past and the future), but
rejection is not only morphological and historical but encourages it by its nature, and sometimes even force
it may resurface in various means. For example at the one to do so. Between the tendency of full chaos and
later stages of architectural modernism it is known full control, the collage and bricolage logic do not lose
that “brise soleil,” a shading device originally the sense of gestalt, wholeness coming from the logic
developed with respect to the environmental of inner context. In that sense, the approach allows the
conditions just become a stylistic element, was started different constituents to come together, it enables
to be applied to every climate (even if that climate does change of parts and the whole responsive to changes at
not demand an element as such) or every façade of a different times.
building (even if it was East, West or North facades With the same view, the design proposals made for the
those demand different elements) regardless of its city can also be evaluated: the city can be seen as a
origin and environmental relations. whole where different parts formed over time are
From the framework of such an approach each brought together in complex relationships (Rowe and
“modern” design proposal, whether on architectural Koetter preferred to see it as a collage). In this context,
or on urban scale, is almost an assertion to determine every design proposal to the city, regardless of scale, is
its own physical, cultural and historical origin. controlled by the “environment” that this whole
Modernist urban design, failed to create an internal provides. This environment can be thought of as the
context in itself and if not tried itself to fit to, rejected "external context" of the design proposal, but at the
to establish any type of relation what surrounds it. same time for the city, it is the "internal context,” and
In Collage City authors just reverse this. Here urban a proposal must be seen as a contribution to this inner
design is not seen as a hermetically sealed, hygienic context which in turn change the nature of this
and clean process based on a positivist functionalist “context” transforming it to provide a new
epistemological framework. Process as such can only environment. Here since the problem is twofold, the
be described as “mechanical” and by nature such an designer has to work in two different ways, no matter
approach would not be able to provide an environment what scale he/she works the situation does not change.
in which life arose nor does it allow changes or While dealing with the integrity/wholeness of the
developments that may be necessary over time. The proposal (internal context), designer also designs a
whole is the sum of its parts and does not form an part of the city which, on the other hand, is not in his
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own control but will be affected from the design determinant of framing and shaping of the all cultural
proposed by him/her. Here control is not one-way and products, including architecture. Architectural
mechanical. It cannot be expressed and understood by environment in the globalized world is substantially
positivist methods, cannot be expressed by formulas. It linked with the existence of this deterministic single
is uncertain, plastic and bi-directional. Existing authority, the meta-context that bypasses all the
situation affects the new proposal possible contextual layers surrounding architectural
non-deterministically, new one on the other hand products. As a result we can see every type of building,
transforms and change the existing situation within a every style, every material, everywhere in the world
continuum. regardless of environmental specificities, local
An architectural work, in one way or another, is differences, cultural patterns, so on so far: as it was
subject to a contextual framework which encompass stated earlier “differences are evened out, places start
two ends of the possible spectrum that extend from to lose their identity.” From this perspective, each
undefined to strictly defined. The scale, scope, and architectural-urban proposal is almost an “fons et
quality of context can vary depending on the scale and origo” of its own physical, cultural and historical
nature of the architectural (or urban) problem. existance. Under the control of the meta-contextual
Cultural as well as physical, climatic, geographical framework, paradoxically it neither demand to create
matters can be taken as context. Perhaps the most its own internal context nor acts as part of a larger
important of these is the context created by the context in which it could be a part of and it could
tradition of architecture. The contextual framework contribute to. Global architecture claims to be an
provides an environment that encourages creativity anti-contextualist but at the same time seeming to be
not the other way round. As Henri Focillon said, it is adopting globalism as a ruling single authority, a
not infinite freedom, but creativity in limitations; “a meta-context that rules all.
large number of experiments and variations is likely to It can be said that the present problematic situation
occur whenever the artist’s expression is at all summarized here greatly coincides with the
confined, whereas unlimited freedom inevitably leads "predicament," which modern architecture was faced
to imitation.” at the beginning of the last century: As seen from this
The aforementioned complex set of relationships can perspective it can be stated that the situation coming
be addressed on the basis of two-fold structure out of contemporary architecture attempting to place
provided here: "internal context" and "external itself in abovementioned uncanny binary position,
context" and the ambiguous, variable and porous shows great similarities with the case addressed by
relationship between the two. architectural contextualism of the last century. This
just turns contextualist intellectual framework of 80’s
V. CONCLUSION: GLOBALISM AS A in a position say something about the present
CONTEXTUAL/ENVIRONMENTAL “predicament.” Beyond its limited, reductive and
PROBLEM superficial interpretations, contextualism may provide
us with an understanding, a critical approach, as well
Contemporary architecture seems to be trying to as an inclusive worldview towards environmentally
establish itself on the basis of two seemingly responsible architecture and architectural design,
contradictory problematic positions. First is about again.
“absolute autonomy,” which is advertised as one of the This paper can be seen as a first step towards this.
“merits” of contemporary architecture, claiming
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