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This contribution explores the impact of architect Oswald Mathias Ungers and his innovative urban concepts on contemporary city planning. Ungers, whose career began in the 1960s, played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between modernism and postmodernism while fostering a rich exchange of ideas between American and European architectural circles. He developed significant urban experiments, including The Urban Villa, Urban Garden, Grossform, Archipel City, and City within the City. These projects often used Berlin as a testing ground, transforming the city into a laboratory for his visionary ideas. Ungers’ influence extended beyond conventional architectural practice; this position granted him influence within a network of urban theorists who shaped the urban discourse of the late 20th century. A defining moment occurred in the 1980s with the IBA 87 exhibition in Berlin. This event provided a platform for Ungers’ ideas to permeate the architectural community. Architects like Aldo Rossi, Peter Eisenman, John Hejduk, and Rem Koolhaas, who were working on adjacent projects, diverged from the rules of the competition and proposed innovative systems, fed by Ungers concepts. The architectural visions and methodologies that Ungers pioneered remain highly relevant today as cities grapple with a multitude of challenges. By revisiting Ungers’ groundbreaking concepts and approaches, contemporary urban planners and architects can find valuable insights and inspiration to address the pressing issues facing our cities in the 21st century.

The essence of technology and its relationship to professional practices and human activities is a troubling question in the age of our algorithmic civilization. The close and systematic relationship between technology, architecture, and culture has mutated to levels of dependence not seen in human history. This article attempts to reveal the nature of the multiple relationships that link technique to architecture, design, and the didactics of the architectural project. We can only draw up a historical balance sheet of architecture, which is becoming more and more spectacular and difficult to include in a current with recognizable stylistic features if we grasp its intimate relationship with technical and technological effervescences. Architectural discourse can only be erected as a theory if it aspires to universality, and in this, it can only stand on the solid and lasting foundations of technology. Currently, the question of the use of Digital technologies and the involvement of artificial intelligence in architecture brings back the debate on theories and dogmas that have always marked its history and theory, such as style, proportion, ornament or skin, and double skin. It even calls into question the future of this profession. It becomes surprising to grasp the extent to which architecture has revolved for centuries around the wall, the roof, and the supporting posts, making it seem that architecture can only proclaim itself as such through these elements. The paradigm shifts of project design that become parametric combined with changes in CNC manufacturing modes all this to reconfigure historically the modes of development and realization of the architectural project. This essay attempts to conceptualize this historic breakthrough to measure its impact on the entire ecosystem of the construction sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Arquitectura (1657-0308) is the property of Universidad Catolica de Columbia, Facultad de Arquitectura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Architectural Journal / Jian Zhu Xue Bao is the property of Architectural Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article describes the themes and structure of the monograph by A. V. Bokov. It features the innovative searches in Soviet architecture. The author unites them by the concept of ‘visionariness’. The analysis of the profession combines real practice and informal architecture, drawing and free artistic expression. The article emphasizes the author’s innovative views on architectural education such as MArchI and children’s studios.

The four small publications summarise the long-standing publishing practice of the journal PROJECT BAIKAL. The history, topics, staff and authors of the journal are presented. The texts emphasize the importance of the journal for discussing topical problems of modern urban planning, practice and theory of architectural design, history of individual styles, activities of architects and preservation of urban architectural monuments.

Copyright of Architectural Journal / Jian Zhu Xue Bao is the property of Architectural Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Architectural Journal / Jian Zhu Xue Bao is the property of Architectural Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Architectural Journal / Jian Zhu Xue Bao is the property of Architectural Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Hipogrifo: revista de literatura y cultura del siglo de oro is the property of Hipogrifo: revista de literatura y cultura del siglo de oro and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This work studies the obstacles and difficulties that stand up in front of the teaching of the architectural project and front of creativity under the aegis of digital technology. It questions the closing of the algorithm fieldin front of most architects and designers. It sheds light on cerebral functioning, which underlies creativity in its relationship with novelty in the era of digital disruption. Different insights on the technological inflection points reconfiguring our daily lives and our productivity for good or worse are called upon. We will highlight the intergenerational gap that currently characterizes the relationships linking students from a netocratic society to teachers with knowledge of practices deemed historical or even dated. Based on discoveries in neuropsychology, we then attempt to demonstrate how this discrepancy is at the center of the framework of any didactic approach focused on creativity. The essay conceptualizes the digital practice to include it under axioms able to contain its diversity and richness to become transmissible and teachable. Novelty is undeniably linked to creativity. Understanding the brain function that gives rise to novelty is a step toward understanding human creativity. Founding a conclusive pedagogy for a didactic architectural project cannot be established in a misunderstanding of the cognitive processes behind any creative act. Let's give an overview of how it works for some neuropsychologists.

This paper concentrates on architectural epistemology, which has been dominated by Western intellectualism for a long time. Consequently, those “non-Western” built phenomena often occupy two positions in the global theoretical map. Whilst one is being subordinated in a Western-centric context, the other is being isolated from such a context. Both forms, however, display either the surfaced or twisted meaning of such a subject. Such innocence and misunderstanding, I argue, are imposed by a binary knowledge system rooted in the West. I intend to seek an alternative and adaptative way of achieving an understanding. The rising geopolitical significance of Asia and its role as the 2020 global pandemic’s origin draw attention to the region – not only empirically, but also theoretically. In this paper, I suggest to engage and problematise postcoloniality in contemporary architectural theory. I shall discuss a comparative analysis amongst architecture and urbanism strategically observed in Singapore and Taiwan with a critical literature review. I contend that a theorisation of the postcoloniality of architecture in urban maritime Asia suggests a new épistémè which, through a view from historical materialism, transcends the limitations noticed in current global scholarship of architectural theory.

In recent years, architectural interactions have become the center of many important reflections. However, there is little agreement on the subject. Some authors consider architecture to be about its relations with human and nonhuman agents. Others consider that buildings have an autonomous presence, which transcends all their interactions. These approaches are generally seen as incompatible. Although at the heart of the debate is the role of relations in architecture, their nature is not addressed. The discussion could gain clarity by recognizing the differences between them. In this paper, we propose a classification of architectural interactions, which may help to better inform further discussion on the topic. A closer look at architectural relations reveals that autonomy and relationality are not opposing, but complementary, aspects.

There is a trend to roof over the courtyards of historical palaces and similar great buildings with an eye to conservation or to expanding their range of functions. This tendency is being popularized by major architects and barely a voice is raised against it. However, from the viewpoint of theory and heritage, such actions are not to be recommended. In line with some international documents on cultural heritage, several architectural, perceptual and functional arguments show that, in order to preserve the cultural authenticity of courtyards, it would be advisable to avoid covering them. A courtyard is by definition an open space. Covering it, even with an apparently harmless glazed roof, radically affects its architectural essence and how it is experienced. Hence, such projects should not be accepted in a generalized and uncritical manner. It is best for courtyards to be left as courtyards, not as rooms with skylights.

Addressing the complex legacies of the past in architectural education and built constructions, calls for a reconsidering of the principles of architectural design and conservation. The current challenges of housing, sustainable development and heritage adaptation present huge dilemmas for architects. Yet today architects are only by exception trained to detect heritage values prior to drafting their interventions for adaptive reuse or upgrading. To this day, Western architectural thinking is influenced by the Vitruvian triad Firmitas, Utilitas and Venustas, and the truncated maxim ‘Form Follows Function’ as disseminated by the protagonists of the Modern Movement. These established a divide between the design for new-build and the care of already existing buildings. This divide is marked by the two Charters of Athens: the 1931 Carta del Restauro adopted at the First International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments, and La Chartre d’Athènes presented by Le Corbusier as a result of the 4th CIAM Congress on the Functional City (1933). This paper attempts to bridge the identified divide by adding the idea of ‘Dignitas’ (dignity) as an equal virtue to the Vitruvian triad. Though not new for itself, this concept may aid to raise awareness of architectural dignity in extant buildings.

Humans have always sought to grasp nature's working principles and apply acquired intelligence to artefacts since nature has always been the source of inspiration, solution and creativity. For this reason, there is a comprehensive interrelationship between the philosophy of nature and architecture. After Charles Darwin's revolutionary work, living beings have started to be comprehended as changing, evolving and developing dynamic entities. Evolution theory has been accepted as the interpretive power of biology after several discussions and objections among scientists. In time, the working principles of evolutionary mechanisms have begun to be explained from genetic code to organism and environmental level. Afterwards, simulating nature's evolutionary logic in the digital interface has become achievable with computational systems' advancements. Ultimately, architects have begun to utilise evolutionary understanding in design theories and methodologies through computational procedures since the 1990s. Although several studies about technical and pragmatic elements of evolutionary tools in design, there is still little research on the historical, theoretical and philosophical foundations of evolutionary understanding in digital architecture. This paper fills this literature gap by critically reviewing the evolutionary understanding embedded in digital architecture theories and designs since the beginning of the 1990s. The original contribution is the proposed intellectual framework seeking to understand and conceptualise how evolutionary processes were defined in biology and philosophy, then represented through computational procedures, to be finally utilised by architectural designers. The network of references and concepts is deeply connected with the communication between natural processes and their computational simulations. For this reason, another original contribution is the utilisation of theoretical limits and operative principles of computation procedures to shed light on the limitations, shortcomings and potentials of design theories regarding their speculations on the relationship between natural and computational ontologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work studies the obstacles and difficulties that stand up in front of the teaching of the architectural project and front of creativity under the aegis of digital technology. It questions the closing of the algorithm field in front of most architects and designers. It sheds light on cerebral functioning, which underlies creativity in its relationship with novelty in the era of digital disruption. Different insights on the technological inflection points reconfiguring our daily lives and our productivity for good or worse are called upon. We will highlight the intergenerational gap that currently characterizes the relationships linking students from a netocratic society to teachers with knowledge of practices deemed historical or even dated. Based on discoveries in neuropsychology, we then attempt to demonstrate how this discrepancy is at the center of the framework of any didactic approach focused on creativity. The essay conceptualizes the digital practice to include it under axioms able to contain its diversity and richness to become transmissible and teachable. Novelty is undeniably linked to creativity. Understanding the brain function that gives rise to novelty is a step toward understanding human creativity. Founding a conclusive pedagogy for a didactic architectural project cannot be established in a misunderstanding of the cognitive processes behind any creative act. Let us give an overview of how it works in the eyes of some neuropsychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista 180 is the property of Revista 180 and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Architectural historiography deals with understanding and explaining architectural practices (and their results and products) as they have been realized through history. To do this, the architectural historian should acquire a historical understanding of the knowledge on which the architectural practices had been based. According to a knowledge classification model proposed by Harry Collins, the sociologist of science, the concept of ‘somatic knowledge’, is a kind of tacit knowledge. This concept can be applied to architecture and regarded as a kind of knowledge upon which the architectural practice is based. In the historiography of somatic knowledge in architecture, obtaining historical evidence is the most crucial methodological obstacle; because this knowledge is inexplicable, and its evidence is not clear. Each piece of evidence can only be seen when the historian asks questions about it based on his/her preconceptions. Thus, the prior somatic knowledge acquired through practical architectural experience is highly likely to affect the discovery and interpretation of the evidence of historical somatic knowledge. The question is, therefore, about the ways in which this prior knowledge makes its marks. In this paper, an epistemological idea of the ‘Web of Belief’ is considered for answering this question. According to this idea, the architectural historian acquires new beliefs about the past agents’ somatic knowledge through three ways: recalling personal somatic memory, replicating the past somatic experiences, re-enacting them, and making inductive hypotheses based on his/her somatic expectation. When each of these newcomer beliefs enters the architectural historian’s web of belief, they may be confirmed by his/her prior somatic beliefs, may be rejected, or may turn into non-beliefs. The new belief intervenes in the historian’s understanding of historical practices if accepted in the architectural historian’s web of belief and given it a new coherence.

The article deals with the relationship between city, territory, and democracy, starting from the results of an international research, which investigated the peculiar forms of the crisis of the notion of Public in those territories that are marked by a long-date conflict between the state and mafia crime. The research questions areframed onto a perspective arguing that the territory is an elective place to read the traces built throughout the relationship between communities and illegal powers. Those questions have posed the need to investigate the set of confiscated assets by claiming the need for architectural design intervention, aiming at the spatial, linguistic, and symbolic transformations without which their transition to commons cannot be said to be fully accomplished. Referring to the municipal area of Palermo, the architectural design studios faced the background scenario constituted by the almost two thousand cases (a very underestimated number) registered by the National Agency for Seized and Confiscated Assets, and relating to the forms of the Public in a context in which democracy is en panne, where the presence of anti-democratic forces that are not only antagonistic to the state but aim to replace it, is not the exception but the rule. Until its conclusions, the paper deals with the reciprocal feeding relationship between research and design studios and concludes by opening new paths, at the crossroads between the updating of the themes of the droit à la ville and spatial justice, which look at the project as a device for emancipation.

Does a theory of architecture exist? If so, what does it involve? Researching and analysing what has already been implemented? Refining methods and matrices based on practice? In other words, is the theory secondary? The debate about this has been going on for many years and even centuries. But today, in the age of robots and computers, the question of architectural theory takes on a new meaning. As the development of technology accelerates all practical processes – from design approval to the construction of objects in material, when million cities appear on an empty place in five years, and single buildings – in a fortnight, the practice of architecture more closely resembles a cross-country race. One can assume that the practitioner behind the wheel is increasingly in need of a theorist, a navigator who follows the road on a map and charts the course of the journey. Or do the theories in this race follow the findings and insights of the practitioners? In this issue of the journal, we have collected several contemporary views on architectural theory. These views are heterogeneous and often do not agree with each other. The map on which the route of architectural development is travelled is pieced together from scraps, sketches and fragments of accurate but outdated plans and outlines. But we have no other map, and we will have to improve the theory and its connection with the practice right on the move. It is noteworthy that the news section also touches upon the theme of the issue: it opens with the jubilee exhibitions of Maria Nashchokina, a well-known theoretician and historian of architecture, and Andrey Bokov, a prominent practitioner and theorist.

In recent years, architectural interactions have become the center of many important reflections. However, there is little agreement on the subject. Some authors consider architecture to be about its relations with human and nonhuman agents. Others consider that buildings have an autonomous presence, which transcends all their interactions. These approaches are generally seen as incompatible. Although at the heart of the debate is the role of relations in architecture, their nature is not addressed. The discussion could gain clarity by recognizing the differences between them. In this paper, we propose a classification of architectural interactions, which may help to better inform further discussion on the topic. A closer look at architectural relations reveals that autonomy and relationality are not opposing, but complementary, aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Architectonics & Architecture / Építés - Építészettudomány is the property of Akademiai Kiado and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The research presented aims to investigate the theoretical work of the American architect, Robert Venturi, starting with the question: what was his dreamlike, imaginative, and creative world composed of? What role did the images that populated it play out and how were they transformed? From European explorations, through the book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, to the realization of Mother’s House, the study seeks to shed light on the evolution of theoretical thought through the observation from the images that Robert Venturi selected for himself, and which thus constitute themselves an archive of the visual and spatial research he conducted. It is thus from the images collected or taken that an attempt has been made to reconstruct the connection between visual perception, image, and theory.

Architectural historiography deals with understanding and explaining architectural practices (and their results and products) as they have been realized through history. To do this, the architectural historian should acquire a historical understanding of the knowledge on which the architectural practices had been based. According to a knowledge classification model proposed by Harry Collins, the sociologist of science, the concept of 'somatic knowledge', is a kind of tacit knowledge. This concept can be applied to architecture and regarded as a kind of knowledge upon which the architectural practice is based. In the historiography of somatic knowledge in architecture, obtaining historical evidence is the most crucial methodological obstacle; because this knowledge is inexplicable, and its evidence is not clear. Each piece of evidence can only be seen when the historian asks questions about it based on his/her preconceptions. Thus, the prior somatic knowledge acquired through practical architectural experience is highly likely to affect the discovery and interpretation of the evidence of historical somatic knowledge. The question is, therefore, about the ways in which this prior knowledge makes its marks. In this paper, an epistemological idea of the 'Web of Belief' is considered for answering this question. According to this idea, the architectural historian acquires new beliefs about the past agents' somatic knowledge through three ways: recalling personal somatic memory, replicating the past somatic experiences, re-enacting them, and making inductive hypotheses based on his/her somatic expectation. When each of these newcomer beliefs enters the architectural historian's web of belief, they may be confirmed by his/her prior somatic beliefs, may be rejected, or may turn into non-beliefs. The new belief intervenes in the historian's understanding of historical practices if accepted in the architectural historian's web of belief and given it a new coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of VAD: Veredes, Arquitectura y Divulgación is the property of Alberto Alonso Oro and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract This paper is part of a study that plans to extract the characteristics of an architectural theory by the architect Jun Itami (1937–2011), based on all accessible texts from his writings throughout his life. According to this study, three major concepts constitute his architectural theory: 【Joseon period】, 【Korea】, and 【Contemporary Japan】. In this paper, three of the four concepts constituting 【Contemporary Japan】, namely, 《Nature》, 《Human spirit》, and 《Cities》are examined. Each item is further divided into subitems and sequentially examined for clarifying the following points. Within 【Contemporary Japan】, as industrialization and internationalization occur, spatial and temporal boundaries are eroded, and daily life changes day by day along with 《Architecture》; humanity has become increasingly isolated from 《Nature》, 《Architecture》, and 《Cities》. Itami approaches 《Nature》, 《Human spirit》, and 《Cities》 from his own perspective while presenting his awareness of issues relating to 《Cities》and examining the relationship between 《Nature》 and 《Architecture》 from various angles.

In 1679, René Ouvrard published a pamphlet about the relationship between musical harmonies and architectural proportions called Architecture Harmonique, ou Application de la Doctrine des Proportions de la Musique à l'Architecture. The pamphlet presents a normative system of correlations between musical harmonies and architectural proportions, based on an analogous understanding of hearing and vision. Ouvrard claims that the system is infallible. In this paper, evidence regarding problems associated with Ouvrard's normative system based on the correlations between musical harmonies and architectural proportions presented in Architecture Harmonique is showcased, implying that the system to a certain extent is fallible. Based on the argument, the problems are made possible by Ouvrard's philosophical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architects often see their own homes as experimental workshops, where personal ideas about architecture and living can be tested at full scale, without needing to compromise with clients. Many lavishly illustrated coffee-table books present the homes of renowned architects, yet surprisingly little research has been done from a critical or theoretical perspective. In this article, architectural historian Anna Ingemark sheds light on how one of modernism's most influential architects, Le Corbusier chose to stage his life. Looking closely at two of his own, personally designed homes provides insight into a personal sphere - far removed from the grandiose projects and radical visions he launched - and the dreams he came to realise. The two salient examples are his apartment at Rue Nungesseret-Coli in Paris from 1934 and the Cabanon, his holiday home on the Riviera from 1952. In the case of Le Corbusier, we also have a unique collection of material in the form of his personal statements, helping us to understand his perception of home and living. Ingemark begins with the following questions: What is the relationship between Le Corbusier's attitudes to architecture and the design of his own homes? How did he express his ideas visually and materially? What qualities did he focus upon? And what functions did his homes fulfil - were they creative havens, full-scale models of modernist ideal dwellings, or stages for a radical architect's persona? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GRID - Architecture, Planning & Design Journal is the property of GRID - Architecture, Planning & Design Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Filosofía (0185-3481) is the property of Universidad Iberoamericana Cuidad de Mexico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Writing the architecture survey remains one of the biggest challenges in the field. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western scholars usually followed a synchronic approach (literally “with-time”) and described Chinese architecture without reference to its development and evolution over time. Although synchrony (attention to a particular moment in time) is not incorrect in principle, it is all too often attached with a negative connotation. A possible reason is that Liang Sicheng, and the generations after him, have understood all facets of synchrony as expression of the old dichotic worldview that once glorified Europe and deprived Asia of its history (non-historical timelessness) as formulated by the German philosophers Hegel and Herder and codified in Fletcher’s and Fergusson’s authoritative textbooks. Challenging the previous misconception of the generalization of synchronic textbooks, the paper attempts to examine the multiple facets of synchrony and identify the writing style of Börschmann’s Chinesische Architektur, the prime example of the German-language survey on Chinese Architecture. In doing so, the paper hopefully can provide basis and arguments in defense of the work, presenting a reconciliation to the biased, subjective presentation of Chinese architecture once afflicted with prejudices and misapprehensions. The paper values Börschmann’s Chinesische Architektur as a distinguished work different from other synchronic writings through its pioneering, value-neutral and formal approach.

The article aims to discuss the ambiguity of the need concept in architecture, and reasons for the existence of several strategies for dealing with need as an ontological and epistemological basis for architectural design. The paper systematizes the conceptualizations of need in architecture, provides a comparative analysis of its various interpretations and explains the differences between ideological, philosophical and theoretical viewpoints. A variety of meanings are analyzed using the author’s concept of “paradigms of socio-architectural knowledge”. Five platforms of social knowledge can be distinguished in architectural theory, each of which relies on its own understanding of human beings and sees the content of human existence in its own way. Considered through the prism of the paradigms, different visions of the concept of need find their logical and methodological explanation. Each paradigm gives its own answer to who or what is the bearer and exponent of the need, and procedures for identifying needs in design. The paper presents “stairs of needs” as a metaphor, ordering the range of possible actions of the architect in relation to the needs of the client - from obstruction and conscious deformation to satisfaction and phenomenological embodiment.

The European Court of Justice is in Luxembourg since 1973, in a group of buildings constructed and transformed little by little over the last 50 years. At the heart of what has become an urban complex, stands the original courthouse, the work of architects Jean-Paul Conzemius, François Jamagne and Michel Van der Elst. In 2008, the architect Dominique Perrault restructured the palace and extended it by enveloping it with an “architectural ring”. This article presents, firstly, the original structure, a unique example of metallic architecture from the end of the 20th century by explaining the principles of its composition and its construction, its spatialities and its materialities as well as its symbolic qualities. It then proposes a reflection upon the 2008 intervention and the ring that led to a redesign of the palace’s architecture. Finally, it shines a light on the promising innovation introduced by its label as “Outstanding Contemporary Architecture”, namely the possibility, through the label’s sliding 100-year period, of superimposing the theories and practices of architectural creation and conservation.