The Concept of Architectural Criticism: Historical Developments and Types

This paper reviews the three key periods of architectural criticism in the West: the emergence of architectural criticism in the Age of Enlightenment, its development, and its flourish and decline. It highlights French art criticism as the birthplace of architectural criticism, initially containing extensive, illustrated descriptions of significant works for students. It then moved on to the proliferation of knowledge and education the public taste as its goals. Over decades, architectural criticism alternated between serving the interests of capitalism and the construction industry and socio-political activism. With the emergence of academic criticism in American universities, architectural criticism fundamentally transformed into a self-referential and fell into decline.