|
|
|
Welcome to a new era in the dissemination of ideas about
architecture.
The appearance in 1485 of the first printed architectural book, Alberti's De Re Aedificatoria marked the beginning of the era of architectural books as we still know them. The invention of the architectural magazine some four hundred years later was a second event of revolutionary import in the history of architectural literature. The appearance now of an electronic journal of architecture, part and parcel of an ongoing proliferation of such journals in many fields, has the potential of being an occurrence no less influential.
But just as Alberti's book could do no more than crack open for architects a door to the new publishing possibilities of the fifteenth century, this first issue of Architronic obviously can only begin in the smallest way to realize the potential that electronically distributed periodicals now holds for the dissemination of architectural theory, criticism, history, and designs. It is therefore not in a spirit of retrospection but of anticipation than we recall the momentous appearance of Alberti's book by declaring as a theme of this issue,
"De Re Aedificatoria."
This theme does more than just pay homage to the original work of that title (which, incidentally, exactly like this journal first appeared without illustrations). It calls attention to the very broad range of subjects in architecture which the editors of this journal will welcome and a reasonably rich selection of which they trust readers will find represented here.
Architronic has been conceived as a vehicle for (ideally) the immediate sharing of research results and critical views of potential interest to architects, architectural historians and theoreticians, architectural educators and students, and others interested in understanding the built environment and the modes of its transformation.
In order to function successfully, Architronic itself must be shared, and feedback relative to its contents must be returned to all its readers.
So please enjoy Architronic, please share Architronic, please respond to Architronic, and please contribute to Architronic.
The future of architecture now belongs to all of us.
Alfred Willis
Material appearing in Architronic may be distributed freely by electronic or any other means, providing that any such distribution is without charge (unless for purposes of cost recovery by interlibrary loan services) and that Architronic is acknowledged as the source. However, no article may be reprinted in any publication without the explicit written permission of the author(s). This statement must accompany all distributions of Architronic, whether complete or partial.