Debate on the papers of Session 1 93
We are always borrowing from other f ields, but it is our responsibility to build our
domain knowledge, and I heard very little today about the domain of knowledge in
architecture.
Christian Fröhlich, Graz, Austria
Sorry, what is the domain?
Rivka Oxman, Haifa, Israel
The domain is architecture. I mean, design is not just about innovation. Do you accept
any design as long as it is innovative? I mean, architecture has a lot of knowledge in it
and a lot of responsibility.
Christian Fröhlich, Graz, Austria
Yes, but what do you mean? Which knowledge do you mean? In terms of teaching and
experimenting?
Rivka Oxman, Haifa, Israel
No. If you go back to the history, Palladio created a body of knowledge which was suit-
able to his period, and if you go back to the French school, the same. Even if we talk
about architects, does Libeskind, who designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, belong
in our discourse? Does Eisenman belong in our discourse?
Christian Fröhlich, Graz, Austria
Of course.
Rivka Oxman, Haifa, Israel
Libeskind belongs in our discourse here? I do not think so.
Carmella Jacoby-Volk, Rishon LeZion, Israel
Why not? Why do you think he does not belong here.
Rivka Oxman, Haifa, Israel
Because he belonged to post-modernism and in my opinion, the whole process of doing,
the whole process of composition, the whole notion of composition, has been lost in the
digital age. The fact that we are dealing with technology actually characterises the type
of architecture we create. And I think that this should be one of our goals. It is not just
a tool. I mean of course other architects can model, can build their projects using the
tools, but the tools do not contribute to a unique architecture. And if media and tools
and technology today contribute to a new architecture that could not be made before,
then please stand up and say something about it.
Sean Hanna, London, United Kingdom
Yes, we will have a response to that.
Vana Tentokali, Thessaloniki, Greece
In my opinion you raised two questions. The first was, what about architecture? Is it