OASE 108. Ups & Downs. Reception Histories in Architecture

What is good, less good, or bad architecture? This issue of OASE examines how shifting appreciations, for very diverse reasons, can function as a productive misunderstanding, and as a lever to advance architectural criticism and pry thinking about architecture from every possible canon or from the straitjacket of assumed certainties. Architectural history can be read not only as an accumulation of buildings and designs, but also as a pendulum swing between appreciation and disapproval of projects, oeuvres and positions, driven by diverse arguments. In addition to the 'traditional' overview works, reviews in trade journals and criticism in magazines, other media increasingly play a role, such as weekend supplements of newspapers, social media, newsletters, political arenas, and forums where architecture is cultivated. Oeuvres and projects are subject to 'the issues of the day', to waves of appreciation by the public and critics. That makes it opaque at times what good, less good or bad architecture is.