Defining Architectural Quality

A foundation for the qualitative assessment of architecture.

The essays collected in this unique anthology cover a spectrum of issues that determine the quality of architecture. For example, what exactly is architectural quality? Is it based on physical facts? Is it a matter of cultural context? Does it lie in the eye of the beholder, or is it actually beauty that matters? Do architects’ intentions and ideas provide the keys to a building’s evaluation? Does it rest primarily in its form, or in the ethical attitude it expresses? Or is it just a group of critics deciding these issues among themselves?

While quantitative-technical evaluations of buildings abound internationally, the qualitative assessment of architectural works has so far been lacking. Defining Architectural Quality ranges from general observations and theories to case studies and lays a rigorous foundation for assessing works of architecture.

José Manuel Pozo is an architect and coordinator of the International Conference on the History of Modern Architecture at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, and secretary of the Latin-American Architecture Biennial (BAL). 

Wilfried Wang is a Berlin-based architect and president of the International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA). He is also a Changjiang Distinguished Scholar and a professor at Tongji University’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Shanghai.