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RADICALLY UNFINISHED/ “NEW TYPE” Architecture of decay and care. A study on architecture after the crisis, the return of the concept of the craftsman and the ethics of reuse .

Baknis Christos

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Summary

This thesis investigates a new architectural sensibility emerging in response to global crisis, cultural fatigue, and environmental collapse. It examines how architects today are moving away from modernist utopias and digital spectacles toward a model grounded in reuse, collective authorship, humility, and spatial care. The study calls this formation the “New Type”: a post-iconic, process-driven, community-rooted approach that works not with vision, but with leftovers. Drawing from the concept of Junkspace by Rem Koolhaas and the sociocultural posture of Normcore articulated by K-HOLE, the thesis identifies an emerging aesthetic of spatial invisibility: buildings that adapt, evolve, and embed themselves into their contexts. It builds upon the work of thinkers like Richard Sennett, Bruno Latour, and T. Papaioannou, weaving theory with architectural practice. Ten contemporary case studies are examined in detail: the Cineroleum (Assemble Studio), Mémé (Lucien Kroll), Monterrey Housing (Alejandro Aravena), dot Architects & Fuminori Nousaku (Japan), Petralona House (Point Supreme), and the micro-urbanism of Atelier Bow-Wow. Through comparative analysis, the thesis proposes a taxonomy of practice: The Improvisers, The Enablers, and The Observers. Ultimately, the thesis argues that in a world defined by precarity and overproduction, architecture must shift from invention to stewardship. The New Type is not a style, but a stance: one that turns from the monumental to the minor, from spectacle to substance, and from the future to the care of the present.

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