The task of architecture

Literature does not generate literature... ideologies do not create ideologies... superstructures do not engender superstructures... They are developed not through ‘parthenogenesis’, but by the intervention of the masculine element, which is history, the revolutionary activity that creates a ‘new man’, that is, new social relationships. Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks, Notebook 6, Section 64 As outlined in the opening editorial, the first supplement of the series of six that form this second anthology of The Journal of Architecture’s output, covering the period from 2004 to 2013, falls under the aegis of the practice of architecture and the production of its structures. Indeed, the majority of the essays selected for inclusion in this special issue focus on the relationship between architecture (as both a discipline and a form of agency) and the subject matter informing its concrete articulation—on the ground as it were. Michelangelo Sabatino’s ‘Heat and light thematised in the Modern Architecture of Houston’ (JoA 16:5 2011) examines a range of professional answers to the conundrum of combining architectural identity with modern technology and difficult regional climatic conditions. Avigail Sachs’ ‘Marketing through Research: William Caudill and Caudill, Rowlett, Scott (CRS)’ (JoA 13:6 2008) delves into the marketing strategies put in place by the Texan CRS (already featured in Sabatino’s essay) to promote not only the firm’s design achievements but also its attitude towards ‘research’. Through such analysis, Sachs is able to highlight the specific cultural and economic circumstances that either facilitate or undermine the effectiveness of the message produced. While unintentionally contributing to overplay CRS’s presence in this publication, my own account of CRS’s professional evolution—‘Capital gains and architectural losses: the transformative journey of Caudill Rowlett Scott (1948–1994)’ (JoA 11:2 2006)—attempts to establish a connection between the organisational structure of an architectural firm and the characteristics of the building markets it seeks to serve. In the process, the discussion ends up shifting on to the natural limits of architectural practice as a financial, profit-making enterprise. Hadas Shadar’s ‘The Linear city: linearity without a city’ (JoA 16:5 2011) reconfigures this relationship between practice and enterprise on political and ideological grounds, when describing the planning of two linear towns in Israel—Arad and Ir HaBesor. In comparing the new settlements with the British towns that provided a reference, Shadar reflects on the aspects determining the technological, environmental and developmental strategies eventually chosen. 493