Hatherley does so by referencing a politicised leftist modernism as a potential „index for ideas“. In his books „Militant Modernism“ and „A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain“ he is reestablishing a „sense of possibility“ in a political and architectural climate defined by the very absence of any apparent alternatives. Frohn, in his design work with FAR, seeks to unearth and play with what he calls archtecture’s „deep structures“. His practice is committed to unearthing architecture’s foundations which is by definition destabilizing and opens up pathways for a new criticality.
In their conversation Frohn and Hatherley will exploit their individual perspectives in order to deepen the discussion on the following issues:
Can one have a global practice that still responds to the specifics of local conditions in the same way that Brutalism constituted a very specific English form of Modernism?
Can architecture be employed in a more transgressive manner in order to disrupt pre-conceived notions of appropriate/acceptable aesthetics? What meaningful design strategies can be found to move beyond an architecture „desperately trying not to offend“?
What are today’s criteria for the success and failure of an architectural project? What promises can an architectural practice be charged with; can a building have affect beyond a client-architect relation? Can architecture replace or repair bad politics?
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