Constructing Culture: A Political Perspective

ABSTRACT

Architecture is generally understood ambiguously: as the balance between “mere” building on the one hand and “artistic” practice on the other. This ambiguity questions the relevance of the cultural aspects of architecture today. This essay develops a cultural perspective upon the field of architecture through a study of the work of the German-American philosopher, Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s writings on works of art and other cultural objects serve to politically challenge both architecture’s artistic practices and “mere” building production. By its inherent durability and contribution to the sensus communis, architecture establishes a stable world in which political life can unfold.

Keywords:

• architecture
• culture
• politics
• Hannah Arendt
• judgment

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hans Teerds

Hans Teerds studied architecture and urban design at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He currently works there as a Research Fellow, addressing public and political aspects of architecture, approached through the writings of the philosopher Hannah Arendt. In 2009 he was a Visiting Research Fellow of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson (NY/USA). He is a member of the editorial boards of the magazines OASE and DASH, co-edited the anthology Architectural Positions: Architecture, Modernity and the Public Sphere (2009) and is co-author of Levend Landschap, Manifest voor stad en land (2012).