Experiencing a new modernity between theory and practice: Steven Holl in comparison

Abstract

The essay explores the “contamination” of knowledge, through the figure of Steven Holl, by interweaving theoretical reflection and architectural design with the definition of appropriate and innovative disciplinary tools. The new syntax of the relationship between composition and function, tested by Holl, free from codified and prescriptive archetypes, allowed a reflection on the possibility of encouraging new ways of use and multiple functional contamination. By analysing some works, we identify possible “generalizable” themes in the relationship between the project and the τέχνη of “know-how”, even compared to Cedric Price. Critical texts by Luciano Anceschi and Walter Benjamin concur to verify the real essence of some recurrent terms in the contemporary debate.