Trajectories in contemporary architectural theory in Latin America.

Abstract

The theory of architecture today is redefined based on the contemporary world issues. The delimitation of disciplinary autonomy, responses to climate imbalances, interaction in exercises of community social order, participation without discrimination of gender, age, or ethnicity, the action of interdisciplinary and multigenerational collective groups, immersion in digital environments, are posing challenges around the current formulation of architectural theory. In the scenarios of current Latin America intellectual discussion, questions arise: how are the proposals and advances of architectural theory in the continent considered? Is it possible to establish characteristic theorical guidelines or trends? Who are the theorists, schools or identifiable groups? What are the centers of thought where theories are formulated? The notion of architecture, throughout the 21st century, has shifted from the closed, canonical sphere of disciplinary autonomy, expanding its field of action, its scales, over environments, geographies, territories, landscapes, communities. Hermeneutics, as a method of interpreting signs, has provided alternatives that adapt to the particularities, permanence, and changes of architecture and its theoretical environment. The significance of local architecture for communities and territories can be interpreted from localized hermeneutics. Rather than applying general hermeneutics, in the investigation of Latin American architectural theory, it is possible to propose a localized, focused, approach to sharpen the interpretation of the continental ethos, highlighting the particularities and sensitivities of local environments and communities.