Rationality Without Reason

A critical examination of the rational turn in postwar West German architecture

Postwar West German architecture experienced a "rational turn" characterized by a dramatic push toward ideals of optimization, economy, and accuracy based in calculation. Analyzing how architects reckoned with the political and cultural legacy of fascism and were driven by the desire to quantify and manage unpredictability in the human environment, Rationality Without Reason shows how they translated their design and production methods into numbers through protodigital technology and computational processes.

Daniela Fabricius examines architectural practices within the wider context of the shifting intellectual and cultural landscape as rationalism devolved between the student movements of 1968 and the reign of postmodernism in the 1980s. Showing how rationalism's limitations and contradictions became increasingly apparent, she demonstrates how the intensity of these approaches ultimately led to a form of rationalism devoid of reason. Fabricius explores how the development of increasingly autonomous systems and formalist methods strayed from important economic, social, and ethical concerns and impeded the potential for developing more liberatory forms of architecture.

Using case studies involving the Ulm School for Design and the research-based work of Frei Otto and Oswald Mathias Ungers, Rationality Without Reason traces how debates around scientific thinking evolved throughout the Cold War era and offers a critical look at the utopian promises associated with supposedly rational systems of knowledge. Through an interdisciplinary approach steeped in archival research, Fabricius highlights how the logic of quantification is bound to be unsustainable without serious ethical considerations.

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