The article tackles the formation of new architecture features in post-Fordist times. Even since the first industrial revolution began, city images and architectural forms of that time have started reacting to violent changes in both science and technology. In modernism a car and well-developed automobile infrastructure served as symbols of modern urban agglomerations. European, Asian and American metropolies were outdoing one another, trying to exceed further construction limits, achieving even better heights and spans. The 1990s as well as the popularization of new computer and communication technologies led to high networking of physical spaces. Architectural nomenclature was permanently enriched by such terms as e.g. Internet of Things, interactive objects, intelligent buildings as well as parametric or personalized design. The development of the Internet on a global basis accellerated the process of globalization and the transfer of the local capital onto the international market. This, in turn, sparked a crisis in many industrial cities, their architectural infrastructure turned out to be insufficient in order to retain investors – especially because foreign markets promised more benefits and the opportunity to offer lower salaries. Economic structures of many cities underwent a tremendous change. Many industrial agglomerations were plagued by deindustrialization and population decline; therefore, a lot of citizens decided to leave their locations for purely financial reasons. Several projects and scientific disciplines soon experienced the redefinition and permeating of their terms. Terminological evolutions in philosophy and sociology (ACT) initiated in the 1980s were subsequently influencing other fields of study. Architecture soon started enforcing a new, more network-like approach towards urban studies, with point, city-forming bottom-up actions aimed to complete complex, ready top-down plans. When it comes to the buildings themselves, the meaning of some building and construction elements was subjected to redefinition, some were given an entirely new significance, which in turn contributed to the creation of functional hybrids. The article is concluded with an exhibition designed for the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw, which is a research-project experiment devoted to architecture in post-Fordist times and simultaneously constitutes an attempt to define new architectural forms with the help of another work processes.

Artykuł podejmuje temat formowania się nowych cech architektury w erze postfordyzmu. Od czasów pierwszej rewolucji przemysłowej krajobrazy miast oraz ówczesne formy architektoniczne zaczęły reagować na gwałtowne zmiany w nauce i technologii. W okresie modernizmu symbolem współczesnej aglomeracji stał się samochód i rozbudowana infrastruktura motoryzacyjna. Wiodące metropolie z Europy, Azji i Stanów Zjednoczonych zaczęły prześcigać się w przekraczaniu kolejnych limitów konstrukcyjnych, dążąc do coraz większy rozpiętości i wysokości. W latach 90. i rozpowszechnienie się nowych technologii kompueterowych i komunikacyjnych doprowadził do wysokiego stopnia usieciowienia przestrzeni fizycznej. Do nomenklatury architektonicznej na stałe weszły takie pojęcia jak internet przedmiotu, inteligentne budynki, interaktywne obiekty, projektowanie parametryczne czy spersonalizowane. Rozpowszechnienie się internetu w skali światowej przyspieszyło proces globalizacji i przemieszczanie się lokalnego kapitału na rynek międzynarodowy. To z kolei wywołało kryzysy w licznych miastach przemysłowych, których infrastruktura architektoniczna okazała się niewystarczająca do zatrzymania inwestorów w olibczu konkurencyjności rynków zagranicznych i możliwości obniżenia płac. Struktury ekonomiczne miast uległy przeobrażeniu. W dużej części przemysłowych algomeracji rozpoczął się proces dezindustrializacji i depopulacji, zwiększyły się zarobkowe ruchy migracyjne. W dziedzinach naukowych i projektowych nastąpił proces przenikania się i redefinicji pojęć. Zapoczątkowane na początku lat 80-tych ewolucje terminologiczne w filozofii czy socjologii (ACT) zaczęły wpływać na inne dziedziny. W architekturze rozpoczęło się nakreślanie nowego rozumienia urbanistyki, bardziej sieciowego, z punktowymi, miastotwórczymi, oddolnym działaniami, dopełniającymi całościowe plany. W skali budynku zaczęto przeredagowywać znaczenie poszczególnych elementów budowlanych i konstrukcyjnych, niejednokrotnie nadając im nowe znaczenie, tworząc hybrydy funkcjonalne. Artykuł zamyka projekt wystawy dla Muzeum Architektury we Wrocławiu, będącym eksperymentem naukowo projektowym na temat architektury w czasach postfordowskich i próbą definiowania nowych form architektonicznych za pomocą odmiennego procesu pracy.

Multiplicity. Architecture in post-Fordist Times

Abstract

The article tackles the formation of new architecture features in post-Fordist times. Even since the first industrial revolution began, city images and architectural forms of that time have started reacting to violent changes in both science and technology. In modernism a car and well-developed automobile infrastructure served as symbols of modern urban agglomerations. European, Asian and American metropolies were outdoing one another, trying to exceed further construction limits, achieving even better heights and spans. The 1990s as well as the popularization of new computer and communication technologies led to high networking of physical spaces. Architectural nomenclature was permanently enriched by such terms as e.g. Internet of Things, interactive objects, intelligent buildings as well as parametric or personalized design. The development of the Internet on a global basis accellerated the process of globalization and the transfer of the local capital onto the international market. This, in turn, sparked a crisis in many industrial cities, their architectural infrastructure turned out to be insufficient in order to retain investors – especially because foreign markets promised more benefits and the opportunity to offer lower salaries. Economic structures of many cities underwent a tremendous change. Many industrial agglomerations were plagued by deindustrialization and population decline; therefore, a lot of citizens decided to leave their locations for purely financial reasons. Several projects and scientific disciplines soon experienced the redefinition and permeating of their terms. Terminological evolutions in philosophy and sociology (ACT) initiated in the 1980s were subsequently influencing other fields of study. Architecture soon started enforcing a new, more network-like approach towards urban studies, with point, city-forming bottom-up actions aimed to complete complex, ready top-down plans. When it comes to the buildings themselves, the meaning of some building and construction elements was subjected to redefinition, some were given an entirely new significance, which in turn contributed to the creation of functional hybrids. The article is concluded with an exhibition designed for the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw, which is a research-project experiment devoted to architecture in post-Fordist times and simultaneously constitutes an attempt to define new architectural forms with the help of another work processes.