REVOLUTION OR COUNTERREVOLUTION? Nikos Salingaros’ “Theory of Architecture”

The article is the translator’s foreword to the Russian–language edition of Nikos Salingaros’s book “A Theory of Architecture”, which is currently being prepared for publication by the publishing house “Armchair Scientist” (“Кабинетный учёный”, Moscow-Yekaterinburg). Since this book summarizes Salingaros’ many years of scientific research, what is said here applies to all of his work. According to the translator, Salingaros’ theory, which challenges established ideas today, can only be seen as revolutionary in the context of modern design approaches. However, if we consider that these approaches, at one time, (i.e., about a hundred years ago), revolutionized design by rejecting the centuries-old experience of traditional architecture, then Salingaros’ proposals may seem rather conservative and counterrevolutionary. The uniqueness of the book “A Theory of Architecture” lies in its ability to identify, substantiate and summarize the thousand-year-old, unwritten fundamental rules based on the imitation of natural patterns, that have guided architects for centuries both by intuition and tradition. Thus, it links the idea of mimesis - the ancient principle of “imitating nature”, offering architects a reliable tool for creating adaptive (i.e., corresponding to human nature) architecture, not related to a specific style or trend.