The Architectural Community and the Polis: Thinking About Ends, Premises, and Architectural Education (original) (raw)

Historically, one purpose of architecture is pragmatic, and concerns the interests of particular communities that are patrons of architecture. A second purpose is formal, and concerns standards of excellence within the architectural community. And a third purpose---civic purpose---is similar to the others in that it too refers architectural ends to a community; but it differs in that the community with which it is concerned, the city, is rarely if ever the direct patron of architecture. This difference therefore requires some further consideration of just what kind of community the city is, and the nature of the city's purposes.