The principle that a new building should be designed in active relation to what already surrounds it, respecting or deliberately playing against the scale, materials, street line and character of its neighbors, rather than being conceived as an object indifferent to its site. It became an explicit teaching doctrine at Cornell University in the early 1960s under the historian Colin Rowe and his students, and it underlies both ordinary historic district design review and the knowing quotation of nearby buildings in postmodern work.
Facts
Concept Domain Formulated YearThe commonly cited start of Colin Rowe's Cornell studio teaching that formalized contextualism as an explicit doctrine. FAQs
Is contextualism the same as vernacular architecture?
No. Contextualism is a design doctrine that a new building should relate to its surroundings; vernacular architecture is the local, architect-free building tradition itself.
Contextualism, formalized as a teaching doctrine at Cornell University in the early 1960s under historian Colin Rowe, holds that a new building should be designed in active relation to what already surrounds it, respecting or deliberately playing against the scale, materials, street line and character of its neighbors. Vernacular architecture is the body of local building traditions, made from local materials by local builders without architects, refined by generations of use. A contextualist design can respond to a vernacular streetscape, but contextualism is a design intention applied to new work, not the vernacular tradition itself.
Connections
Associated With
Editorial link from the concept to a related style, element, milestone or figure; no citation attached
Influenced
Postmodern architecture's knowing quotation of neighboring buildings and streetscapes draws directly on contextualist doctrine.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Influenced By
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
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