Recent developments in architectural discourse mark a radical shift in focus. While such discourse was centered around the theme of criticality and meaning until the beginning of the 21st century, recent emphasis is on efficacy and production. I argue that the two trends are not necessarily mutually exclusive and the locus of architectural creativity lies at the realization that the architectural product is always already a historically determined cultural product.

Professor Baydar will be speaking at the TRANS_ARCH_EDU morning panel on
29 April Wednesday, 10:30
İzmir University of Economics, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design

Prof. Gülsüm Baydar received her Ph.D. degree in architectural history at the University of California, Berkeley. She taught design, history and theory courses at universities in the US, Singapore, Australia and Turkey. She is presently the chair of the Architecture Department at Yaşar University, İzmir. Her work lies at the intersections between architectural and other discourses including psychoanalytical, postcolonial and feminist theories in order to explore the boundaries of the architectural discipline. Her articles appeared in such leading journals as Assemblage, Journal of Architectural Education, Society and Space, Signs, and Gender, Place and Culture. She is the co-editor of Postcolonial Space(s) (Princeton Architectural Press, 1997) and Negotiating Domesticity (Routledge, 2005).