• OASE 79
        • The Architecture of James Stirling 1964–1992
          A Non-Dogmatic Accumulation of Formal Knowledge
        • 2009

        Abstract
        OASE 79 is devoted in its entirety to the architecture of the British architect James Stirling (1926–1992), who played a prominent role in the architecture discourse of the 1980s due to his striking buildings from the 1960s and ’70s. His architecture, for which he was awarded the third Pritzker Prize in 1981, was praised by critics as emblematic of the British New Brutalism, while his later work is read as the clearest testimony to the transition from modernism to postmodernism. However, because Stirling’s architecture was elevated to being an icon of specific architectural movements, the interest in his work waned as soon as a newer discourse claimed people’s attention. Besides losing its topical relevance, the enduring significance of his oeuvre was called into question. With the benefit of a few decades of hindsight, OASE is looking back at the architecture of James Stirling and shedding new light on its potential relevance to today’s architecture debate. This monographic issue detaches the oeuvre from the era in which it was created in order to re-examine it as ‘literal architecture’, an architecture that reveals its intentions in the way it is materialized and experienced as space and form. On the basis of short essays, primarily by practising architects, as well as longer reflective articles, Stirling’s oeuvre is reinter¬preted as a continuous exploration of the language of architecture. Complemented by a selection of projects that are presented using original architectural drawings as well as recently shot photographs by Bas Princen, OASE 79 investigates the architecture of James Stirling as a coherent but non-dogmatic accumulation of formal knowledge.
    1. 21/11/2023
      call for conversations OASE 118

      Rationalism Revisited

      This Call is written by Justin Agyin, Bart Decroos, Christoph Grafe. The deadline is 17 December 2023.

      Read more

    2. 11/11/2023
      call for abstracts OASE 119
      1. Review of Jean-Louis de Cordemoy's Nouveau traité de toute l'architecture in Mémoires pour l'histoire des sciences & des beaux-arts, September 1706

      Book Reviews
      From Words to Buildings
      In this issue of OASE, the history of the architectural book review is outlined through case studies. This Call is written by Christophe Van Gerrewey and Hans Teerds. The deadline is 20 December 2023.

      Read more

    3. 06/03/2023
      BK Talks on 16 March 2023 about 'Design with Soil: Urbanizing the living surface'

      On 16 March 2023 the TU Delft will host a debate inspired by OASE 110.

      Read more

    4. 21/02/2023
      Call for Abstracts OASE 117. Village Variations

      Read more

    5. 31/01/2023
      Now available: OASE 113. Authorship

      What does the author’s ‘owning’ of a project mean? And does this sense of ownership still prevail in contemporary architecture culture? Other more open forms of cooperation and co-creation are emerging alongside the concept of individual singular authorship.

      Read more

    6. 02/12/2022
      Presentation OASE 112 on 8 December 2022 in Rotterdam, NL

      Read more

    7. 24/11/2022
      Call for Abstracts OASE 116
      1. Carmen Portinho in front of the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (source: Wikimedia Commons)

      ‘The Architect as Public Instellectual’
      Deadline: 23-12-2022

      Read more

    8. 15/10/2022
      Now available: OASE 112. Ecology & Aesthetics

      Through a series of concrete projects, the contributions in this issue explore the field of tension between architectural aesthetics and issues of energy, technology and materiality. Ecological practices in architecture must not only be effective in providing solutions, but inevitably raise questions of beauty, affection and perception as well.

      Read more

    9. 23/05/2022
      Call for Abstracts OASE #115. Interferences: Migrating Practices in Europe

      Call for Abstracts OASE #115 about “Interferences: Migrating Practices in Europe”, written by Justin Agyin, Kornelia Dimitrova, Christoph Grafe and Bernard Colenbrander. Deadline is June 19, 2022. Read the full text of the OASE #115 Call for Abstracts in the PDF.

      Read more

    10. 20/05/2022
      Now available: OASE 111. Staging the Museum

      Museums stage public encounters between visitors, objects and stories. This is not limited to a tour through the exhibition spaces, it starts already with monumental or ‘tresholdless’ entrances.

      Read more

    11. More news …