Turn to the ordinary in contemporary architectural thinking

The paper seeks to clarify the ambiguous relationship between architecture and ordinariness – more specifically how the architecture has been inspired by the ordinary. The reasoning behind this argument is that there are many European architects in whose work it is possible to find clear and successful tendencies towards the ordinary. These architects are not, however, the first ones to adopt this shift to reality, to ordinariness. The architecture which is explored in this paper is of exceptional quality which typically results from a modern understanding of production, tectonic density and strength of compositional. It also demonstrates strong empathy for its local conditions as well as a confident critical approach to the modern avantgarde. It responds to the desire for purity, truth and often affirms a repressed social and cultural reality. Although the architecture itself engages with banal, everyday and secondary, it must be understood that we are dealing with architecture. The difference is significant; there is no conciliation between architecture and nonarchitecture, between art and non-art. If architecture or art shifts towards the ordinary, it maintains its status as architecture or art; when the ordinary attempts to shift towards architecture or art, it can be at most kitsch. The presence of this boundary is immutable. It can be moved, alienated and obscured but never destroyed. Práca sa zaoberá otázkou nejasného vzťahu medzi architektúrou a obyčajnosťou – špecificky architektúrou, ktorá sa opiera o bezvýznamné a obyčajné. Dôvodom pre záujem o obyčajnosť v súčasnej architektúre je skutočnosť, že existujú úspešní európski architekti, v práci ktorých je zrejmý a veľmi úspešný obrat k obyčajnosti. Títo architekti nie sú prví, ktorí sa obracajú k realite, k obyčajnému. Aj keď sa architektúra sama dotýka banálnych, každodenných, sekundárnych vecí, musí byť zásadné, že sa jedná o architektúru. Rozdiel je teda výrazný, neexistuje žiadne zmierenie medzi architektúrou a ne-architektúrou, medzi umením a ne-umením. Táto hranica je prísna a nie je možné jej uniknúť. Hranica medzi architektúrou a banalitou sa môže len posunúť, odcudziť, znejasniť, nikdy však zničiť.