EMERGING IDENTITY OF ARCHITECTURE: CHALLENGING THE EXISTING (original) (raw)

This essay does not deny the idea that there is a pattern within architecture, which produces superficial facades driven by consumerism, but attempts to highlights the emerging identity of ‘social’ Architecture, focusing on the South African context. Social architecture as discussed in this essay refers to architecture challenging architectural convention, such as exploring insitu community participation and developing the informal milieu. Anthony Wards states: What is called social architecture is the practice of architecture as an instrument for progressive social change. It foregrounds the moral imperative to increase human dignity and reduce human suffering . . . [architecture] is ‘‘nothing but social’’, yet its social practice has both supported and reinforced existing social hierarchies and has operated mostly as a mechanism of oppression and domination. ‘‘Social architecture’’ . . . challenges structures of domination and, in the process, calls capitalism itself into question’ (Jones & Card, 2011)"