Towards an Architectural Anthropology—What Architects can Learn from Anthropology and vice versa. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stender, Marie
• Is Part Of: Architectural theory review. Volume 21:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 27
• Page End: 43
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Architectural anthropology -- ethnography -- fieldwork -- materiality -- methods; Architecture -- Periodicals; Architecture -- Australia -- Periodicals; 720.1
• DOI: 10.1080/13264826.2016.1256333
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1326-4826

Abstract

Abstract : Architecture and anthropology have always had overlapping interests regarding issues such as spatial organisation, forms of human dwellings, and the interplay between social life and physical surroundings. Recent developments in both disciplines make it even more relevant to explore and evolve their overlaps and collaboration. However, there are also challenging differences to take into account regarding disciplinary traditions of, for example, communication, temporality, and normativity. This article explores the potentials and challenges of architectural anthropology as a distinct sub-discipline and outlines its possible theoretical, methodological, and applied contributions. It is proposed that the ambition to understand people in a different way than they understand themselves is key in both disciplines, and that architectural anthropology is consequently not only relevant in studies of vernacular architecture, but also in the contemporary urban environments in which most architects work.