Comparison of Aldo Rossi's The Architecture of the City (1966) with Christopher Alexander's The Timeless Way of Building (1979) in the Context of the Concept of Permanence in Architecture

Abstract

Postmodern historicism debates that emerged in the architecture of the 1960s and 1970s have led to the questioning of the concept of ‘permanence’ in architecture on the modern and postmodern sides of architecture. Permanence in architectural theory is also a concept that theorists have formed different views and approaches on during this period. Aldo Rossi and Christopher Alexander, two architects have been influential in modern-postmodern discussions with their works and books they have written. Rossi and Alexander are among the important figures who have influenced the
architectural community with their views on permanence. Both these architects have thought about how to be permanent in architecture in a wide range of ways, proposed methods and made criticisms.
When Rossi's “The Architecture of the City” (1966)“ and Alexander's “The Timeless Way of Building” (1979) are examined, it is seen that the concept of ‘permanence’ in architecture is tried to be understood by considering different approaches in both texts. In defining permanence, Rossi speaks of
a subjective permanence to its region, which puts the experiences and culture of society at the forefront. Alexander, on the other hand, states that permanence is a texture and this texture is found in the same way everywhere regardless of region, belief or culture. In this article, the concept of “permanence” as an intersection point in the texts of Rossi and Alexander, which are unique with the ways of perceiving and interpreting architecture, is comprehensively considered and the two subjective and objective extremes of permanence are comparatively defined.