Rationalist Traces

Modern European architecture has been characterised by a strong undercurrent of rationalist thought. Rationalist Traces aims to examine this legacy by establishing a cross-section of contemporary European architecture, placed in selected national contexts by critics including ?kos Morav?nszky and Josep Maria Montaner. Subsequent interviews discuss the theoretical contributions of Giorgio Grassi and OM Ungers, and a survey of Max Dudler and De Architekten Cie.'s work sets out a consistency at one remove from avant-garde spectacle or everyday expediency. In Germany Rationalism offers a considered representation of state institutions, while elsewhere outstanding work reveals different approaches to rationality in architecture often recalling canonical Modernism or the 'Rational Architecture' of the later postwar period. Whether evident in patterns of thinking, a particular formal repertoire, a prevailing consistency or exemplified in individual buildings, this relationship informs the mature work of Patrick Berger, Claus en Kaan Architecten, Carlos Ferrater, Cino Zucchi or Hans Kollhoff. The buildings and projects of a younger generation - Javier Garc?a Solera, GWJ Architekten AG, biq, Andrea Bassi or Beniamino Servino - present a Rationalism less conditioned by a concern to promote a unifying aesthetic. While often sharing a deliberate economy of means, or a sensual sobriety, they present a more oblique or distanced relationship with the defining work of the 20th century.

Andrew Peckham teaches architecture at the University of Westminster in London. He recently published 'Norwich Forum 1998-2001' in the Journal of Architecture.

Charles Rattray read architecture at the University of Edinburgh and worked in practice for a number of years. He teaches at the University of Dundee, is a regular contributor to various architectural journals and is Associate Editor of Architectural Research Quarterly. Recent publications include Modern

Ulster Architecture (Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2006).

Torsten Schmiedeknecht is an architect and currently a lecturer at the School of Architecture at the University of Liverpool. He edited Fame and Architecture (John Wiley & Sons, 2001) with Julia Chance, and An Architect’s Guide to Fame (The Architectural Press, 2005) with Paul Davies.