Basis for Critical Evaluation of Cultural Buildings

Abstract

Searching for bases for critical evaluation for any building type is a very difficult trend. But, it brings the critical evaluation mechanism to definite controlled rules in a scientific process. The problem becomes more complex in dealing with cultural buildings, as their being is merely linked to emotional and intellectual needs. The article is dealing with this type of buildings as being both recreational and educational, or “Self-Educating Buildings,” such as museums and libraries, as being more educational than recreational, and in “Performance Buildings,” such as opera houses, theaters, as being more recreational than educational. In this article, some criteria are applicable in both types, and some of them are especially applicable for each one. In the first stage the article performs an outline understanding and definition to the first cultural typology, then extracts the critical evaluation bases from this definition, with a brief description to those criteria associated with some examples. The second stage includes a definition to the typology of performance activities, determining the definite critical issues that must be taken in consideration, when dealing with in the second type. The article presents in its finale a diagrammatic comparative application of these issues.