Critical Juncture: the Work of Joseph Rykwert, critic

Comité International des Critiques d'Architecture
International Committee of Architectural Critics
Comité Internacional de Críticos de Arquitectura

Critical Juncture: the Work of Joseph Rykwert, critic

CICA, AA and V&A organise events to mark the occasion of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal

awarded to CICA President Joseph Rykwert on 21-22 February 2014

Joseph Rykwert, President of CICA, is one of the most important critics and historians of

architecture alive today. His work has influenced generations of architects, and his

achievements are recognised this year in the RIBA’s decision to award him the Royal

Gold Medal. To commemorate his work, CICA, the V&A and the AA will host a gathering

of architecture critics from around the world to reflect on the enduring importance of his

books and journalistic criticism.

On February 21st, the Architectural Association will host a A CICA meeting and talk on the

current state of architectural criticism by celebrated American writer Michael Sorkin, with

contributions from a range of respondents, including Rowan Moore, architecture critic of

the Observer and Canadian critic Trevor Boddy.

On February 22nd, the Victoria & Albert Museum will host an all-day conference about

Rykwert’s work, chaired on behalf of the V&A by senior curator Kieran Long and on behalf

of CICA by the Mexican critic Louise Noelle. Speakers include Kenneth Frampton, Vittorio

Gregotti, David Leatherbarrow, Phyllis Lambert, Luis Fernandez-Galiano and many more.

Critical Juncture is curated by Trevor Boddy, Manuel Cuadra and Yasmin Shariff.

CICA Open Session

Friday 21 February 2014: 15:30 - 18:00

Architectural Association, 33 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3ES

Michael Sorkin, New York: Architectural Criticism Now

Respondents:

Danny Wicaksono, Jakarta

Trevor Boddy, Vancouver

Rowan Moore, London

Rafael Gómez-Moriana, Barcelona

V & A Symposium 

Saturday, 22 February 10:00-17:30

The Lydia & Manfed Gorvy Lecture Theatre, V & A Museum, South Kensington, London SW7 2RL

Book tickets here

10:00 Registration

10:30 Welcome and Introductions

Martin Roth, Director, V&A

Kieran Long, Senior curator, V&A

Louise Noelle, CICA

10:45 Adam’s House in Paradise  

Louise Noelle, Mexico (session chair)

Süha Özkan, Istanbul

Michelangelo Sabatino, Houston

Carlos Eduardo Comas, Porto Alegre

Richard Wesley, Philadelphia

11:45 Break

12:00 The Idea of a Town / The Seduction of Place

George Baird, Toronto  (session chair)

Phyllis Lambert, Montreal

Luis Fernández-Galiano, Madrid

Czeslaw Bielecki, Warsaw

13:00 Break

14:00 Critique of Buildings

Manuel Cuadra, Kassel  (session chair)

David Leatherbarrow, Philadelphia

Pippo Ciorra, Rome

Desmond Hui, Hong Kong

Vittorio Gregotti, Venice

15:00 Break

15:15 Critical Juncture

Trevor Boddy, Vancouver  (session chair)

Robert Tavernor, London

Patrick Lynch, London

George Baird, Toronto

Kenneth Frampton, New York

16:15 Concluding remarks

Yasmin Shariff, London

Adam's House in Paradise

A cluster of 1960s courtyard houses in Lambeth, London. 

The courtyard house may be ancient, but it is still contemporary and modern. This became apparent to me on a recent trip to London, during which I was fortunate enough to stay with a friend who lives in an exquisite single-story L-shaped house with its own private courtyard. The house was originally built as part of the Cotton Garden housing estate in the 1960s and forms part of a cluster of 21 courtyard houses in a park.

Adam bought the house a decade ago and renovated it with the help of Cox Bulleid Architects, converting it from a compact and efficient three bedroom house into more of an open-plan house to suit his lifestyle. The remarkable thing about the renovation is its invisibility: The house barely looks like it's been renovated, updated or restored in any way. Such resilience attests to the exceptional quality of the original design, by none other than the Architect's Department of the London Borough of Lambeth. 

From the exterior, these houses barely look like houses. With their long stretches of one story high solid brick walls in which the only exterior door or window openings occur at offsets, and with trees poking out from behind, the architecture resembles a garden wall (which in fact it is, in part). The idea of unifying the architectural wall with the garden wall can of course be seen in ancient Pompeii, Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion as well as his unbuilt courtyard housing schemes of the 1930s, and, in the 1980s, the Casa das Artes in Porto, Portugal, by Eduardo Souto de Moura.

It is worth noting, given the contemporary architectural climate, that there was once a time when talented architects sought to make well-designed housing accessible to a majority of people without seeking fame and notoriety. What a concept.

Cotton Garden Estate courtyard houses and tower blocks

Adam's house

The large sliding door into the courtyard is part of the renovation, as are the
doors of the other wing, which were previously windows.

Image courtesy brutalismandbooze.blogspot.com