Genealogy vs. Citation in Architecture: A Critical Tool

Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi, writing for Artribune, explores the role of genealogy in architectural theory, contrasting it with citation. Drawing on Michel Foucault and Friedrich Nietzsche, he argues that genealogy is a critical tool that works inductively from the bottom up, exposing the contingent, material origins of what is often considered natural or universal. In architecture, genealogy opposes grand deductive narratives like Bruno Zevi's reading of modernity as a history of freedom, which simplifies reality to fit a thesis. Instead, genealogy reveals unexpected affinities and 'family resemblances' (Ludwig Wittgenstein) among architects, based on shared practices and mental attitudes rather than explicit theoretical declarations. Puglisi distinguishes genealogy from postmodern citation, which is a declarative gesture (e.g., early James Stirling). He cites Rem Koolhaas as a case where references become metabolized and ambiguous over time, as in Villa dall'Ava. Genealogy, he concludes, exposes architects to complexity and contradiction, showing that we are continuations of many, often contradictory, stories.