OASE 83 / Commissioning Architecture

Architecture is realized by a combination of parties, among which there are architects who react to their clients. Despite the attention paid to well-known examples, such as Truus Schröder, architecture is nevertheless often regarded and explained on the basis of the considerations of the architect that are embodied in the object and the ideas that are developed within the designing discipline.
This issue of OASE is about the commissioner’s influence on the way in which buildings or urban ensembles take shape. This is a historiographic revision: it turns out that clients often have creative impulses themselves, and their social outlooks have influenced the development of architectonic cultures. Commissioners who explicitly regard their work as a contribution to the culture of building and the sustainable development of urban societies also speak out. In an age when both clients and architects must reflect on their role and responsibility, a re-reading of the history of architecture from the perspective of the commission is more than necessary.