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    OASE90

        • OASE 90
        • What is Good Architecture?
        • 2013

        Abstract
        Many problems in today’s architecture world would vanish if every once in a while it was clearer what is meant by good architecture. The ‘crisis of criticism’, for instance, is a symptom – seldom recognised as such – of the impossibility of knowing (or daring to know) what good architecture is. The assumption, critical in itself (and certainly useful), that each architecture project has to be judged anew each time has led everyone to unquestioningly assume that there is no values model for architecture. It has also ensured that the last models for evaluating architecture (modernism and postmodernism) are been followed merely by perversions (supermodernism, retromodernism, etcetera) or by ideals made into science (sustainability, mathematical models and regionalism). Nevertheless, it is impossible to work with architecture – in design, theory or history – without making assumptions about criteria for quality. Just because a unique values model no longer exists does not mean that different values models cannot exist side by side. This issue of OASE uncovers and makes explicit the assumptions underlying these models, by posing the simple question ‘What is good architecture?’ in different ways and have it answered by people whose ‘main occupation’ is architecture.  Of course the question of good architecture cannot be answered unequivocally and definitively. But simply because a question is certain to have an infinite number of answers does not mean it should not be asked. This issue of OASE can be like a banquet at which each guest selects something entirely different from the menu in a well-reasoned and forthright way – and so keeps the architecture party going.
    1. 23/10/2024
      Call for Abstracts OASE 122

      Ecological Pedagogies / Written by Janna Bystrykh, Bart Decroos, Jantje Engels, Sereh Mandias, Elsbeth Ronner / Deadline 1 December 2024

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    2. 06/10/2024
      Call for Submissions

      Geert Bekaert Prize for Architecture Criticism

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    3. 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.

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    4. 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.

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    5. 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.

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    6. 21/02/2023
      Call for Abstracts OASE 117. Village Variations

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    7. 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.

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

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    9. 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

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    10. 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.

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