Towards a Dialogical History of Modern Architecture

The book challenges three perspectives on the modern architectural canon: explanations that disregard impacts and effects beyond the North Atlantic (monologic), superficial modifications that simply add "Other" figures to the canon, and views that reject the canon itself. Instead, it recognizes the canon's significance in comprehending architecture, while seeking to uncover its presumed Western-centric integrity through a shift from a monological to a dialogical approach. This approach integrates concepts of identity and Otherness as dialectically articulated and mutually interrelated. In essence, the book's main thesis contends that the canon's historiographic construction overlooked the existence of "Otherness", specifically neglecting the world beyond the North Atlantic nucleus of the West. By examining a global context to comprehend the canon formation, the book proposes a more accurate understanding of the history of modern architecture. Recognizing that this task cannot emanate from a single hegemonic center, it presents the prospect of a coral-type architectural history. This narrative should and could encompass voices from diverse cultures to explore the particular circumstances of the world intertwined with each piece or figure transiently integrated into that canon. As a result, the ideal readers of this book position themselves within multiple settings, keen on engaging in a critical global conversation about modern architectural discourse. It will be of interest to researchers and students of architecture, architectural history, and cultural studies.

Jorge Francisco Liernur, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1946, is an architect. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires and pursued postgraduate studies with Manfredo Tafuri at Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia and Tilmann Buddensieg at the University of Bonn's Institute of Art History. Liernur holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Universidad del Litoral (Argentina). He was the founding dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Studies at Torcuato Di Tella University, where he is currently an emeritus professor and the director of the Master's in History and Criticism of Architecture. Liernur has extensively published on the history of architecture in Argentina and Latin America, exploring their connections with international architecture in books and specialized journals. He co-curated the exhibition "Latin America in Construction: 1955-1980" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has been a visiting professor in various universities globally, spanning America, Europe, and Asia.

1. Preliminary Words: Introduction to the Book 2. Essay 1: Otherness and Canon 3. Essay 2: Controversial Positions: The Center-Periphery Tension in the Work of Manfredo Tafuri 4. Essay 3: Orientalism and Modern Architecture: The Debate on the Flat Roof 5. Essay 4: The Grand Move: How the Smithsons Contributed to the Restoration of Western Europe's Cultural Centrality (1945-1956)