GLOBALISATION

OF
ARCHITECTURE:
A THEMATIC EXPLORATION

BY: VAISHNAVI SANJAYAN

GUIDED BY: PROF. TANISHA DUTTA
INTRODUCTION:
• Architecture truly belongs to its users. The architect is
just a vessel to manifest their ideas.

• CURRENT MAJOR ISSUE: Loss of Place Identity/

Globalisation of Architecture.

• This shift was mainly caused by the advent of Industrial

Revolution and the subsequent discovery technology and
materials.

• As much as it was a good development, it led to a decline

in place identity; only buildings with an agenda to push
are built to reflect our heritage.

• But in todays world, with the constant ebb and flow of

information, and society broadcasting the world’s likes
and dislikes, the need of the hour is to curb further loss
of architectural language.
• NEED: To understand a phenomenon is to have power over it. This
research is an investigation into the forces that is costing world
countries their faces, their identities.

• But is it ultimately the people and their aspirations of architecture

that is crippling the identity of our architectural community? Or are
there larger forces at play here?

• RESEARCH QUESTION: What are the forces behind the

globalisation of architecture?

• AIM: To understand and analyse the forces behind the wave of

standardization of world architecture and the subsequent loss of
architectural identity.
• OBJECTIVES:

1. To understand globalisation and its

forces as a standalone phenomenon and
evaluate the effects of the pre- and post-
Industrial Revolution era.

2. To understand effects of standardization

of architecture around the world.

• SCOPE:
The research will be a holistic overview of the architectural world and community and its
current stand, with regards to the topic.

• LIMITATIONS: The research will not delve into individual countries and their
architectural identities.
WHAT IS GLOBALISATION?
• The Encyclopedia Britannica defines
globalization as the process by which
the experience of everyday life is
becoming standardized around the
world.
• Roland Robertson, a pioneer in the
Globalisation Theory, defines it as “the
rapid compression of the world and
intensification of consciousness of the
world as a whole”. (Robertson, 1992)
occurring many miles away and vice
versa. (Giddens, 1990)
• It is a “contested discourse” (Eldemery,
2009), with multiple variants and
parallel processes factoring into the
phenomenon.
• PRO-GLOBAL and ANTI-GLOBAL
FORCES
L

• Anthony Giddens defines globalization

as the intensification of worldwide
social relations that link distant
localities in such a way that local
happenings are shaped by events
• AXES OF GLOBALISATION:

TECHNOLO
ECONOMY POLITICS CULTURE
GY

• Architecture being the cultural, social phenomenon it is, is in turn

influenced by the changes in all of these arenas.

• Architecture has an ongoing dialogue with society.

• Architecture addresses our metaphysical, philosophical, and cultural

identities within a material context.

• Pro-global design sponsors include governments using architecture for

symbolism, companies employing architecture for corporate purposes and
product identification, and zealous, sometimes self-righteous, architects
preaching their own theories.

• The 20th century marked a shift in the industry.

• Today, pressure to globalize architecture primarily springs from two sources
(Oncu A, 1997):

Culture Of Culture Of
Commerce Design

• Today, there is a massive import of architectural language, a stereotype

vocabulary of built form that is essentially Western in character. Yet it is
being associated worldwide with images of progress, prestige, and future
orientation.

• Today, a globalized media and consumer culture circulate the globe, creating
“sameness” everywhere, thus bringing to light the bland and boring
universality in modern projects.

• This leads us to media and the decline of spaces-community ties.

LOSS OF PLACE IDENTITY:
• Harold Proshansky (1978:152) stated
that “there is no physical setting that
is not also a social, cultural, and
psychological setting.”
• Place identity is also defined precisely
as a set of cognitions about physical
settings.
community and place, as the
proliferation of secondary (instead of
face-to-face) contacts, thanks to the
emergence of cyberspace, has
weakened the communal ties and
bonds that were once considered the
main characteristics of place-bound
communities.”

• The decay of the sense of a place

began, as claimed by Mahyar Arefi,
(Non-place and Placelessness as
Narratives of Loss: Rethinking the
Notion of Place, 1999), when
“contemporary urban landscapes
reflect the marvels of advanced and
superadvanced telecommunications
technology with unprecedented
implications for notions such as
• A sense of place in the eras before
globalization worked on multiple
scales, namely the local, regional and
national levels and the sense of
place, connoted a deep sense of
belonging. It was the state of
unselfconscious, unreflective security
and comfort of being in a locality.

• This sense began fading with the

advent of modernity, whence “sense
of place typically manifest itself in
historic preservation projects
glorifying national, regional or local
identity.”
 STUDY OF THEMES:
1. ARCHITECTURAL DISCIPLINE
• It is essentially the creation of an • When these two statements in
object; but here, there arises a need themselves describe what
to convince others of the validity of architecture and its creation
this object – we generate an idea of requires, an idea is established of its
what could be, and then through nature: a multidisciplinary art
sequences of both self-critique and turned profession, of such cultural
critique by others, amend, adapt and and social precedence, demanding
defend the idea of our object. (Lara the level of validation it does,
Schrijver, 2017) requires the artist to bolster his/her
creation with embellishments
• It is essentially the creation of an designed to impress.
object; but here, there arises a need
to convince others of the validity of • An art very much a child of its times,
this object – we generate an idea of Michelle Addington (2006:64)
what could be, and then through mentions, “Technology is often
sequences of both self-critique and considered the handmaiden of design
critique by others, amend, adapt and and, as such, is meant to be
defend the idea of our object. (Lara subordinate: design is the why and
Schrijver, 2017) the what, whereas technology is the
how-to.”
2. NEED FOR AESTHETICS AND PHILOSOPHY
• It is a basic instinct to have a roof over your head – but then, there arises
the questions: ‘What should our shelters be like? How do we wish to live, or
on a larger canvas, what is a good life? Or at least, what are the impressions
of a good life?

• Architecture defines living. It is bound to be victim to affectation. The desire

to house our institutions in purposeful, representative and significant
edifices is intimately linked to issues of judgement and the question of how
we perceive beauty.” (Lara Schrijver, 2017)

• “The architectural profession relies on representation, because before

construction, we only have a limited media to communicate our vision.”
(Dalley, 2018)

• Further, “in the late 20th century, philosophy became an almost necessary
spring board from which to define a work of architecture.” (Lara Schrijver,
2017)
3. ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION & ITS FUNDAMENTALS
• HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION:
• Its most famous slogan, from the Bauhaus Era, used in the 1923 Weimar
international exhibition:
“Art and Technology: A New Unity”
• Multiple successors tried to follow in this path, but failed and finally, this
ideology was refuted and reframed as “applied (human and social) science”
rather than “applied science”, essentially rephrasing the slogan as
“Science and Technology: A New Unity”
• Alain Findeli claims that “the optimal, archetypal, structure of a design
curriculum be a threefold articulation of art, science, and technology” as
originally intended by Walter Gropius, but “The problem lies both in the relative
weight of the three dimensions, and in their adequate articulation.”
• “visual intelligence, ethical sensibility, and aesthetic intuition” (Findeli,
2001) (H. Boekraad, November 1998)
• Hence, having established that one of the three dimensions, namely “aesthetics”
should take precedence in design sensibilities and pedagogies
• But architecture today has an inherent quality of being an ostentatious
discipline, and architectural education has mutated into the beast it is today to
accommodate that
4. STARCHITECT CULTURE
• Now, to define “starchitecture”: a portmanteau used for architects, whose
celebrity and critical acclaim have transformed them into idols of the
architecture world and attracts a certain amount of public attention, which
was previously scarce.

• Architects working in the ivory tower of their rational dreams produce

architecture that is universally applicable but lacking truth and relevance,
as it is no longer supported by a corresponding cultural identity.

• Hence, turning it all into a smaller gene pool of ideas, all influenced by one
another. (Lara Schrijver, 2017)

• “Architecture has turned away from constructing utopias to self-promotion

through winning awards, with critics forming the judging panel.” (Parnell,
2016)
5. ROLE OF MEDIA & INFLUENCER CULTURE: THE
MISINFORMATION BUBBLE
• As the world is suddenly condensed into an eleven-inch gadget, that stays on
one’s person around the clock, mobile technologies have to bring with them
the capability of global real-time communication.

• Architecture is no longer something that exists on site, or in a book. With

real-time feedback available about a “place”, perception evolves into the
second-hand dimension.

• Architecture is part of the everyday activity — and these are activities that
getting shared, and impressions that were previously first-hand knowledge,
are now impressions of carefully formulated pictures meant to showcase it in
the best light, hence getting marketed in various manners.

• “This in turn promotes a culture where “people have an obsession with

status and image – a degenerative aspect” (Dalley, 2018)

• “Architecture’s biggest problem is the social media’s capacity to satiate

populist desire for instant gratification” (Parnell, 2016)
6. CHANGES IN ARCHITECTURAL DISCOURSE
• “Buildings may be constructed on site, but architecture is constructed in the
discourse” (Parnell, 2016)

• Architecture is both an individual and shared dialogue, whether it is with

oneself at the desk, or with students at review sessions, or in journals as
reviewers. (Lara Schrijver, 2017)

• “The biggest challenge for architectural criticism is, without doubt, the
internet – where instantaneity is valued over longevity, and image over
consideration.” (Parnell, 2016)
 IN CONCLUSION:
IMPLICATIONS OF THE POST-TRUTH ERA
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THANK YOU