The Evolution of Regionalism in Architecture: From the Past to the Present

مطالعات طراحی معماری و شهرسازی زمینه گرا

Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2025, Pages 106-126   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/context.2025.91616.1009

Author

Elahe Zoghi Hosseini^*

Faculty Member, Islamic Azad University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Regionalism, over its extensive presence in the field of architecture, has adopted various approaches, transitioning from form-historical methodologies that emphasized identity towards climatic-phenomenological perspectives. This shift has replaced stylistic, formal, and aesthetic discussions with a focus on social, cultural, ecological issues, and human connections. In the years leading up to the end of the twentieth century and continuing to the present day, regional architectural theory has undergone considerable development and diversification from various perspectives, becoming increasingly aligned with its functional applications. The research explores the theoretical foundations of the subject by examining the perspectives offered by scholars, particularly Alexander Tzonis, Liane Lefaivre, Lewis Mumford, and Kenneth Frampton. It will delve into various forms of regionalism and their different approaches, along with relevant examples, culminating in the presentation of a theoretical model of regionalism perspectives.Therefore, using the method of qualitative content analysis based on the logic of inductive reasoning, from the textual data and architectural experiences mentioned in the research, move and by extracting the hidden concepts in it, gradually reach more abstract levels of regionalism in architecture.The results of studies and analyses of the views of experts and instances of contemporary architecture indicate that today's regionalism approaches aim to mitigate previous dogmatic and restrictive ideologies while enhancing environmental perspectives and leveraging the benefits of sustainable development.

Keywords

Regionalism; Globalization; Local Identity; Architectural Approaches; Sustainable Development

References

1. Abu Hammad, N. & Abu Hammad, M. (2017). Sustainable Design Thinking: Adaptability, Resilience, and Productivity at the Core of Regionally Responsive Architecture. Architecture Research, 7(3): 55-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.5923/j.arch.20170703.01
2. Bechhoefer, W. B. (1990). "Regionalism and Culture in Design Education and Practice." In Culture-Space-History: Proceedings 11th International Conference of the IAPS. IAPS. Ankara, Turkey: METU Faculty of Architecture.
3. Bayzidi Q, Etessam I.(2013) Explanation of Regionalistic Viewpoints & their Evolution in Contemporary Architecture. Naqshejahan; 3 (1):7-18
   URL: http://bsnt.modares.ac.ir/article-2-9498-fa.html. (In Persian).
4. Bayzidi, Q. Etesam, I. Habib, F. Mokhtabad Amrei, S. M. (2017). Globalization & Regionalism in Contemporary Architecture: Interaction or Mutuality, Hoviate shahr, 11(31), 17-30. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17359562.1396.11.3.2.8. (In Persian).
5. Bruno, Z. (1997); "How to look at architecture" ( Garman, F.Trans). Tehran: Shahidi Publications. (In Persian).
6. Canizaro, V. (ed.) (2007). Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity, and Tradition. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
7. Colquhoun, A. (2007). Critique of Regionalism”; “The Concept of Regionalism” in ed. Vincient B. Cenizaro, Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writing.
8. Curtis, William J. R. (1986). "Towards an Authentic Regionalism. In MIMAR 19: Architecture in Development. Singapore: Concept Media Ltd.
9. Dehghani Firouzabadi, J. (2010). Changes in the Theories of Regionalism. Central Eurasia Studies, 3(1), 99-116. (In Persian).
10. Eggener, K. L. (2007). Placing resistance: a Critique of Critical Regionalism. In Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity, and Tradition. Edited by V.B. Canizaro. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 395-407.
11. Fawn, R. (2009). ‘Regions’ and their study: wherefrom, what for and where to? Review of International Studies, 35: 5–34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210509008419.
12. Foster, K. A. (2001). Regionalism, A document report for Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
13. Frampton, K. (1987). Ten Points on Architecture of Regionalism: A Provisional Polemic. Center 3, New Regionalism p. 20-27. New York: Rizzoli.
14. Hettne, B & Söderbaum, F. (2002). “Theorising the Rise of Regionness”, in Shaun Breslin, et al. (eds.) New Regionalism in the Global Political Economy, London: Routledge.
15. Kenneth F. (1983)."Prospects for a Critical Regionalism, Perspecta: The Yale Architectural Journal, 20: 468-491.
16. Khsam Afkan Nezam, E. Navidi Majd, F. (2017). farayand dastyabi be zabạne memari vakonash gera be baster ba bahregiri az barnamehdehi dork. Shabak, 11(3), 89-100. (In Persian).
17. Le, D. V. (2018). Vietnamese Folk Architecture: Regional Architecture based on Climatic Adaptation, The Design Journal, 21(6): 855-862. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2018.1525016.
18. Lehmann, S. (2016). An environmental and social approach in the modern architecture of Brazil: The work of Lina Bo Bardi, City, Culture and Society, 7: 169-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2016.01.001.
19. Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English (1982). Harlow: Longman.
20. Mallgrave, H. F. & Goodman, D. J. (2011). An Introduction to Architectural Theory: 1968 to the Present. Wiley-Blackwell.
21. Mansfield, E. D. & Milner, H. V. (1999). The New Wave of Regionalism, International Organization, 53(3): 589-627. https://doi.org/10.1162/002081899551002.
22. Memarian, Gh. (2013). Basis of architectural design. Tehran: publication of Naghme No Andish. (In Persian).
23. Memarian, Gh. (2013). siri dar mabani nazari memari. Tehran: Gholamhossein Memarian. (In Persian).
24. Mozaffari, A. & Westbrook, N. (2015). Shushtar No’w: urban image and fabrication of place in an Iranian new town, and its relation to the international discourse on Regionalism, Fusion, no. 6, pp. 1-15.
25. Mumford L. (1938). The Culture of Cities, New York: Harcourt, Brace.
26. Neumann, O. (2014). Technology, Context and Science in Architecture, International Journal of Architectural Computing, 2(12): 179-197. https://doi.org/10.1260/1475-472X.12.2.179
27. Nolan, D. B. (2014). Sustainable architecture is best achieved through the concept of regionalism, Original Research Proposal, https://usslide.net/document/sustainable-architecture-is-best-achieved-through-the-concept-of-regionalism.
28. Norberg-Schulz, C. (2000). Architecture: Presence, Language, Place. Milan: Skira.Nye, J. (1968). Introduction. In J. Nye, International Regionalism: Readings (pp. V-XVI) Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
29. Nye, J.S. (1968). International regionalism, Publisher: Little, Brown and Company.
30. Ozkan, S. (1985/2007). ‘Regionalism within Modernism’ In Canizaro, B. (end). Architectural Regionalism. Collected writings on Place, Identity, Modernity and Tradition. Princeton Architectural Press: 103-109.
31. Ozkan, S (2002). Modernity and Tradition, Problem or Potential, Understanding Islamic Architecture, Petruccioli & Pirani, ed. Routledge, London, 85-98.
32. Pallasmaa, J. (2014). Space, place and atmosphere: Emotion and Peripheral Perception in Architectural Experience. Lebenswelt, 4(1): 230-245. https://doi.org/10.13130/2240-9599/4202.
33. Popescu, C. (2008). Linking notions: A reconstructed perspective of identity and architecture. In Peter Herrle, Erik Wegerhoff (eds.), Architecture and Identity, 289-298. Habitat International, Transaction Publishers.
34. Ricoeur, R. (1965). “Universal Civilization and National Cultures, History and Truth Evanston: Northwestern University Press, as cited by Kenneth Frampton in“Towards a Critical Regionalism,» p.21.
35. Salman,M. (2018). Sustainability and Vernacular Architecture: Rethinking What Identity Is. In Hmood (ed.), Urban and Architectural Heritage Conservation within Sustainability. IntechOpen.
36. Shahcheraghi, A. (2014). Paradigms of Paradise Recognition & Re-Creation of The Persian Garden. Tehran: sazman jahad daneshgangi Tehran. (In Persian).
37. Shayan, H., Einifar, A. and Diba, D. (2009). Design Concepts in Alien Context Analyzing Foreign Architects’ Works in Persian Gulf States from the Perspective of Regionalism. Journal of Fine Arts: Architecture & Urban Planning, 1(38), 49-108. https://dor.isc.ac/dor/20.1001.1.22286020.1388.1.38.5.9. (In Persian).
38. Shayan, H. & Kamelnia, H. (2017). Regionalism and challenges of contemporary architecture at the beginning of the third millennium. Architecture and Urban Planning, -(90-91), 10-15. (In Persian).
39. Shirazi, M. R. (2018). Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Iran: Tradition, Modernity, and the Production of 'Space-in-Between, Oxford: Springer, 2018.
40. Shirazi, M. R. (2013). “From ‘Shushtar-No’ to ‘Shahre Javan Community’. Young Cities Research Paper Series, Vol 7. Berlin: T. U. Berlin.
41. Söderbaum, F. (2003). “Introduction: Theories of New Regionalism”, in Fredrik Söderbaum and Timothy M. Shaw (eds.), Theories of New Regionalism: a Palgrave Reader, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
42. Söderbaum, F. (2011), Theories of Regionalism, in: The Routledge Handbook of Asian Regionalism, edited by Mark Beeson and Richard Stubbs.
43. Tzonis, A. & Lefaivre, L. (1981). “The Grid and the Pathway,” Architecture in Greece.
44. Tzonis, A. & Lefaivre, L. (2003). Critical regionalism, Architecture and Identity in a Globalized World, Munich, Berlin, London, New York: Prestel.
45. Tzonis, A. & Lefaivre, L. (2012). Architecture of Regionalism in the Age of Globalization, Peaks and Valleys in the Flat World, Routledge, London.
46. Webster 's New World Dictionary (1988). 3^rd ed. New York.
47. Westbrook, N. & Mozaffari, A. (2015). “A Return to the Beginnings of Regionalism: Shushtar New Town seen in the light of the 2^nd International Congress of Architects, Persepolis, Iran 1974.” In Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand: 32, Architecture, Institutions and Change, 715-725. Sydney: SAHANZ, 2015.
48. Yeganeh, M., Ghanbari, N. and Bemanian, M. (2019). Recognition of Critical Bio-Regionalism Based on the Comparative Study of Critical Regionalism and Bio-Regionalism Indicators. Journal of Environmental Science Studies, 4(2), 1363-1372. (In Persian).
49. Yurmaka, K.(2014). An introduction to design methods, (Bazarafkon, K. Trans.) Tehran: Islamic Azad University Publications, Central Tehran Branch. (In Persian).
50. Zevi, Bruno (1997). The modern language of architecture, University of Washington Press.
51. Zoghi Hosseini E, Diba D, kamelnia H, Mokhtabad Ameri M. (2023). Sustainable regionalism: Reading the sustainability approach in the context of regionalist architecture. jgs. 23(68),:383-402. https://doi.org/10.52547/jgs.23.68.383. (In Persian)