Marginal Theory. Restoring Poiēsis in Architecture
Marginal Theory. Restoring Poiēsis in Architecture

Summary/Abstract: The paper attempts to explore the margins in architecture in terms of theory, not as a theorization of the concept, but as an approach to a marginal theory - marginal, because, although meaningful to architecture in our times, it is still away from the mainstream: the poetics of architecture. There’s no lyric utopianism in it; as a matter of fact, it calls upon the Greek poiēsis as creative process. In this key, the text follows possible contemporary echoes in a critical inquiry of two peculiar architectural writings, arising from different times – the Renaissance and the present – but having a common feature – reinforcing the value of “making”: Filarete’s Trattato di Architettura (around 1464) and Christopher Alexander’s Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth (2012). Both writings – “construction diaries” of an ideal citadel and a college campus – address poiēsis, mimesis and praxis, as creative process, creative interpretation and practical life in the attempt of building living environments. Restoring poiēsis in architecture lies within the act of creation itself, questioning the idea of wholeness and the condition of the architect in relation to partners, beneficiaries and towards profession itself.

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