CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS, CONDITIONS ISSUE #5/6: THE POLITICS OF ARCHITECTURAL QUALITY

The next issue of CONDITIONS will be a double issue, exploring the politics of quality management in architecture. The Scandinavian countries are all developing national strategies for their architecture politics, and quality in architecture is the buzzword, as something to be strived for at all levels of planning.

The debate on what constitutes quality in architecture is as old as architecture itself. In architecture the notion of quality can be approached on several levels. Building-technical quality standards are becoming more and more dominant, aiming mostly at avoiding mistakes. When it comes to the quality of the architecture per se, there is less agreement than ever before. How can such a contested notion become the main goal in national architecture politics?

In theories of quality management, there are three components of equal importance: quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement. Quality management deals not only with defining quality, but also with the means to achieve it. Who shall define quality in architecture, and how can governments control and implement quality in the building sector?

We are looking for speculative, provocative texts as well as projects exploring the politics of architectural quality.

Send your abstracts to [email protected] by the 21st of June. Deadline for final submissions is the 2nd of August.

Website: www.conditionsmagazine.com