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THEORETICAL SWEEP MODERN ARCHITECTURAL THEORY: A HISTORICAL SURVEY 1673-1968 By Harry Francis Mallgrave. England: Cambridge University Press. 2005 £70
Mallgrave's achievement in trying to sum up the development of architectural theory from the Enlightenment to the revolutions of 1968 is staggering in its sweep, compass and sheer competence. He starts with Claude Perrault's 1763 edition of Vitruvius, as the first architectural example of the use of théorie. (It was a translation of the Roman author's ratiocinatio, which was one of the two pillars of architecture - the other being fabrica, making.)
Mallgrave stresses that 'a history of theory is different from a history of architecture': the stress is on ideas, 'and some major architects have had only a small effect on the course of theory whereas some minor architects have had a large impact'. He is concerned 'to hold on fast as theory evolves through its many guises until at last it reveals its true identity'. I have reservations about the true identity of any theory ever being revealed,...