Gesture and Principle: Tectonics as a critical method in architecture

As the building industry becomes more complex (moving from craft to industrialization and into the recent integration of digital technologies), the correspondence of means and ends in architecture tends to blur. Multiple project parties, economies, interests, and an increase of construction layers, installations, and equipment threaten to undermine the primary spatial purpose and quality of architecture as a sensuous enrichment of everyday life. This calls for continuous critical positioning within the field as well as a systematic method for acquiring knowledge about an architectural problem, whether as a student, professional, or architectural researcher. It is the hypothesis of this paper that, in its initial questioning of the task of the Greek tekton (as a masterbuilder) capable of bringing together aesthetics and technique in a given context, tectonic theory has unique potential in this matter. This potential is investigated through a rereading of the development of tectonic theory in architecture, which is done in relation to the present conditions and methodological challenges facing the discipline. As a result, this paper outlines a direction for the repositioning, development, and application of tectonic theory as a critical method in architecture. It does this by establishing a mutual dependency of the notions of ‘gesture’ (which delineates the envisioned and experienced quality of a work of architecture) and ‘principle’ (which delineates the means applied in its realization).