Speculation as a Framework of Architectural Thinking and Making

 “ architecture not in the mechanical art of construction, but in the liberal art of speculation.” Dodds 

The practice of the architect might be considered analogous to the activity of a carpenter since they both utilize ‘making’ as a tool. Alberti firmly distinguishes those two practices in the preface of De re aedificatoriai 1450. As Dodds states, Alberti proposes “architecture not in the mechanical art of construction, but in the liberal art of speculation.” (1992: 77). The term speculation as Dodds interprets as a basis for architecture is intricately carved throughout the paper by examining the role of speculation in relation to ‘thinking and making’. Thinking is the essential tool for the ‘future making’ as Tim Ingold states in the introductory sentence of “the art of inquiry” chapter in the book titled “Making: Anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture”. The architect of Ingold’s is similar to Doods’s, since he depicts architecture as a mode of inquiry more than a means of building. The architect examined in the paper is at the intersection of Ingold’s craftsman and theorist, who ‘makes through thinking’ and ‘thinks through making’ and specifying speculation as a tool for critical designing. There are many ways of depicting what is speculative and what might be the potential of it, as Golub (2016) depicts speculation is a discursive practice that takes ‘critical’ a step forward since it visions a possible future. The study indicates SF (speculative fabulation) as a tool for possible world-making as introduced by Donna Haraway. By examining the existing condition of the landscape constituted by determined tumuli, a shift in perception is aimed.

In the process of the disciplinization of architecture, studies aimed at understanding the nature and scope of architecture have not only focused on materiality but have also attempted to theorize who “the architect” is. In one of these studies, Alberti attempted to distinguish between the architect and the artisan, “grounding the architect's activities not on the mechanical art of construction, but on the liberal art of speculation” (Dodds, 1992: 77). This paper intricately examines the act of speculating to reveal its role concerning ‘thinking and making.’ Thinking, as Tim Ingold (2013) states in The Art of Inquiry, is an essential tool for ‘future making.’ Thus, the architect examined in this paper stands at the intersection of Ingold’s craftsman and theorist—one who ‘makes through thinking’ and ‘thinks through making’—while positioning speculation as a tool for “re-embodiment in creative/ critical practices”.

 There are multiple ways to conceptualize speculation and explore its potential. As Golub (2016) suggests, speculation is a discursive practice that takes ‘critical’ thinking a step further by envisioning possible futures. The project “SF Stories”, examined Tumuli located in Ankara as a case study, demonstrating how SF (speculative fabulation), as introduced by Donna Haraway (2016), functions as a tool for possible world-making while giving insights into the process of speculation by offering a framework structured around 3 stages : (1) archiving (episteme), which gathers foundational knowledge; (2) understanding, which critically analyzes and contextualizes it; and (3) world-making, which translates insights into speculative futures.