Open AccessMultiple Authorship: The Collaborative Production of Knowledge in the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition (1965–2020)
Author(s) -
Cathelijne Nuijsink
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ra. revista de arquitectura/revista de arquitectura
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 2254-6332
pISSN - 1138-5596
DOI - 10.15581/014.23.174-189
Subject(s) - genius , competition (biology) , architecture , style (visual arts) , creativity , production (economics) , set (abstract data type) , sociology , aesthetics , computer science , art history , visual arts , history , art , political science , law , economics , ecology , programming language , macroeconomics , biology
This paper challenges the notion of the heroic genius as driver of invention and development in architectural culture. It considers the production of architectural ideas prior to design as an integral part of the production of architectural projects and takes the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition (1965–2020), a yearly housing ideas competition from Japan, as a tangible case study for exploring notions of multiple authorship. The paper focuses on the editions of the competition judged by Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhaas, and Kazuyo Sejima–who respectively set the provocative themes of “Comfort in the Metropolis” (1988), “House with No Style” (1992), and “The Possibilities of Non- Movement” (1996)–to illustrate how this ideas competition functions as a fruitful dialogue between judge and contestants that produces architectural knowledge collaboratively. At the same time, by de-mystifying the genius of the single “star architect” judge, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing quest to write a more inclusive global history of architecture that reveals voices hitherto silenced.