The Power of Theory

Joan Ockman and Mary McLeod Interviewed by Michaela Janečková and Rostislav Švácha

For most Czech architects, theory of architecture is invisible. It’s not taught in schools, and maybe that’s one of the reasons it often gets mistaken for history. In the US, where Joan Ockman and Mary McLeod come from and teach, theory has gained a firm position within the university curriculum since the 1960s. It also became part of the work of renowned architects; for example Peter Eisenman – to name but one – whose reputation was not only due to the buildings he designed but also to his inspiring theoretical texts. Ockman and McLeod were asked about the relationship between architectural theory and practice, and thinking about this relationship in the last fifty years, by Michaela Janečková and Rostislav Švácha – the man who stresses he’s not a theorist but an architecture historian.