For a historiography of collaboration: Architecture as a collective venture

Abstract

In the field of historical studies about Chilean architecture, the consolidation of historiographical tools of traditional stylistic periodization and characterization –basically materialized in monographs on works and movements– has been associated to the predominance of the notion of individual authorship, where the figure of the architect appears frequently studied only related to his/ her biographical data. Architecture is seldom presented as a collective practice where diverse agents take part. By discussing some aspects of local historiography, and particularly the one on colonial architecture, we will attempt to advocate for the interest of thinking architecture from the viewpoint of valuing community.