CICA member Hélène Jannière has published the book “La critique architecturale, un espace disputé: Critiques, architectes et opinion publique France 1953-1977” (Pur Editions, 2025) with the support of the HCA Research Unit of Rennes 2 University.
Is architectural criticism a matter for the public affair or is it reserved for specialists? Today’s debates on architecture and urban development rarely reach beyond expert circles: this book confronts this question, tracing the changes in French architectural criticism from the 1950s to the 1970s. It examines a space traversed by multiple tensions and analyzes the controversies surrounding the specificity of architectural criticism, the skills required for its practice and its effectiveness. Focusing on France in the second half of the 20th century, the book situates the national debates are set in a broader time frame and international context, from the 1920s to the threshold of the 1980s. It examines the workings of criticism by looking at the players involved – architects,historians and art critics – their intellectual trajectories and their professional organizations. For the first time, it scrutinizes the place of architecture within the congresses of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), and traces the genesis, in the late 1970s, of CICA, the International Committee of Architectural Critics. What role did architecture and urban planning critique play in the face of irreversible trans-formations in the French urban landscape and the country’s modernization? This book explores the different registers of architectural criticism, using the case studies of the grands ensembles and urban development in Paris. It reveals its interplay with social and political criticism of the urban environment. Ultimately, the book offers a really new reading of the relationship between architectural criticism and public opinion.
To acquire or find more about the publication in the link below:
Jannière Hélène – La critique architecturale, un espace disputé
