The place of architecture in the empire of technique

professional networks and projects in the Pan-American Congresses of Architects (1920-1930)

Abstract

The present article intends to identify the professional projects elaborated by american architects and debated in the Pan American Congresses of Architects between 1920 and 1930. The realization of the Congresses indicates the transnational necessity of professional legitimation and allows to understand how a place for architecture –and for the american architect – was forged in the debate about technocracy. The construction of these political architectures was based on strategies that aimed to relate architecture, city and culture through politics. The implementation of this agenda has, in turn, consolidated a pan american professional network from which ideas flowed.