Confronted with issues, whose (socioeconomic) causes cannot be resolved through the modification of the built environment, architectural interventions may often inadvertently aid the reproduction of the problems they seek to resolve. In eliminating symptoms of social inequality, alienation and marginalization, architecture can legitimize the social order out of which they arise. In such situations, architects’ attempts to concern themselves with narrowly practical concerns are insufficient even to their own aims, and in order to properly address the issues facing it, architecture must simultaneously operate as a vehicle for social critique and political emancipation. In the work of philosopher Slavoj Žižek, a critical-emancipatory intervention corresponds to an emphasis of a constitutive tension and discord (“the gap”) within what is commonly perceived as a stable, neutral background. Critique strives not to explicitly reveal existing problems. Instead, it reveals an inherent inconsistency within an implicit, ideological fantasy of order and harmony that allows us to naturalize these problems. Consequently, the critical-emancipatory potential of architecture resides not in its programmatic content nor in its representational image, but in its capacity to disrupt the reassuring affective texture of ideology. Critique resides in a formally subtle (concerning architecture in its narrowest definition as an affective structure), yet politically radical shift in how problems of everyday life are interpreted and processed; re-introducing a minimal sense of disquietude that is both critical and emancipatory. The disquietude, that marks an absence of a fantasy of order and harmony, can, paradoxically, only be sustained as a product of a formally (representationally) ordered and harmonious appearance. The critical-emancipatory disquietude is not a compromise of the order and harmony, but rather a reflection of its uncompromisingly egalitarian nature.

The contradiction between architecture&rsquo / s &ldquo / autonomy&rdquo / , its existence as an entity with its own &ldquo / disciplinary specificity&rdquo / - and its social &ldquo / engagement&rdquo / , its involvement in culture, ideology and economy, has been the subject of numerous discussions in architectural discourse, initially in Europe and later in North America. It is argued in this thesis that although &ldquo / autonomy&rdquo / and &ldquo / engagement&rdquo / seem contradictory to each other, architecture&rsquo / s &ldquo / critical status&rdquo / is rooted in this contradiction. Autonomy is regarded as one of the essential sides of architecture&rsquo / s dual position. This suggests that the in-between, or in Stanford Anderson&rsquo / s terms, &ldquo / quasi-autonomous&rdquo / status of architecture can only be sustained through its existence as an entity that has a certain degree of autonomy. Autonomy is an agent for architectural discourse to isolate architecture from its involvement in the external reality and increase awareness within the discipline by concentrating on its specific knowledge. Autonomy aids architecture to pretend to be &ldquo / detached&rdquo / while in reality it is &ldquo / engaged&rdquo / . To focus on the autonomous dimension of architecture, to search for architecture&rsquo / s own intrinsic qualities, helps to produce knowledge within the discipline and provides a &ldquo / critical distance&rdquo / for architecture to resist any &ldquo / external authority&rdquo / . Thus this thesis intends to explore the potentials of the conceptualization and problematization of &ldquo / autonomy&rdquo / in architecture and its employment as a critical tool by architectural discourse to re-assess architectural practice. The private house projects designed by Boran Ekinci in Turkey are exemplified and utilized for the re-conceptualization of the term and enable the transfer of the discourse related with autonomy to the local context where the issue hardly gained a popularity. By doing so, both the appreciation of autonomy in general and reappreciation of architecture in Turkey are aimed.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo desenvolvido nesta Tese de Doutorado trata da análise crítica da estética dos conceitos: forma, tectônica, funcionalidade, semiótica e afetuosidade, no âmbito da arquitetura, no programa de museus de arte contemporânea e centros culturais. Os museus de arte contemporânea e centros culturais, estudos de caso, selecionados para nossa Tese de Doutorado foram inaugurados na década de 1990. Como segue: Centro Cultural Jean-Marie Tijibaou (Nova Caledônia, França), de Renzo Piano; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Naoshima (Japão), de Tadao Ando; Museu Guggenheim Bilbao (Espanha), de Frank O. Gehry; Museu de Arte Contemporânea Fundação Serralves (Portugal), de Álvaro Siza Vieira; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (Brasil), de Oscar Niemeyer; Fundació Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Espanha), de Richard Meier; Museu de Arte Contemporânea Carré d'Art de Nimes (França), de Norman Foster; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Lyon (França), de Renzo Piano; Centro Cultural Consonni (Espanha), ausência de um arquiteto autor do projeto. Tanto os estudos de caso como os arquitetos, autores dos projetos, são considerados de destaque no panorama da arquitetura internacional erudita contemporânea. Os teóricos que forneceram a fundamentação conceitual deste estudo multidisciplinar são, em primeiro lugar, o Professor Catedrático Luiz Felipe Baêta Neves Flores (Transdisciplinaridade) além da Professora Catedrática Maria Luisa Amigo Fernández de Arroyabe (Ócio Estético) e ainda, os também importantes, Manuel Cuenca Cabeza (Ócio Humanista), Charles Jencks e Gonçalo Miguel Furtado Cardoso Lopes (Crítica de Arquitetura), Jesús Pedro Lorente, Chris van Uffelen e Roberto Segre (Museus de Arte Contemporânea). / The study developed in this Thesis Doctoral presents a critical and aesthetics analysis of the concepts: form, tectonic, functionality, semiotic and affectivity, in view the rchitecture, in the contemporary art museums and cultural centers program. The contemporany art museums and cultural centers, case's studies, selected for our Thesis Doctoral were opened during the years ninety, as follows: Jean-Marie Tijibaou's Cultural Center (New Caledony, France), of Renzo Piano; Naoshima's Contemporary Art Museum (Japan), of Tadao Ando; Bilbao's Museum Guggenheim (Spain), of Frank O. Gehry; Foundation Serralves' Contemporary Art Museum (Portugal), of Álvaro Siza Vieira; Niterói's Contemporary Art Museum (Brazil), of Oscar Niemeyer; Barcelona's Fundació Museu d'Art Contemporani (Spain), of Richard Meier; Nimes' Contemporary Art Museum Carré d'Art (France), of Norman Foster; Lyon's Contemporary Art Museum (France), of Renzo Piano; Consonni's Cultural Center (Spain), absent an architect author of project. The case's studies as well as the architects, authors of the projects, are outstanding in the international theoretical panorama of contemporary architecture. The theorists who have offered the fundamental conceptual for this multidisciplinary study are mainly the Full Professor Luiz Felipe Baêta Neves Flores (Transdisciplinarity), the Full Professor Maria Luisa Amigo Fernández de Arroyabe (Aesthetics Leisure) and also the equally important Manuel Cuenca Cabeza (Humanist Leasure), Charles Jencks and Gonçalo Miguel Furtado Cardoso Lopes (Critical Architecture), Jesús Pedro Lorente, Chris van Uffelen and Roberto Segre (Contemporary Art Museums).

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo desenvolvido nesta Tese de Doutorado trata da análise crítica da estética dos conceitos: forma, tectônica, funcionalidade, semiótica e afetuosidade, no âmbito da arquitetura, no programa de museus de arte contemporânea e centros culturais. Os museus de arte contemporânea e centros culturais, estudos de caso, selecionados para nossa Tese de Doutorado foram inaugurados na década de 1990. Como segue: Centro Cultural Jean-Marie Tijibaou (Nova Caledônia, França), de Renzo Piano; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Naoshima (Japão), de Tadao Ando; Museu Guggenheim Bilbao (Espanha), de Frank O. Gehry; Museu de Arte Contemporânea Fundação Serralves (Portugal), de Álvaro Siza Vieira; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (Brasil), de Oscar Niemeyer; Fundació Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Espanha), de Richard Meier; Museu de Arte Contemporânea Carré d'Art de Nimes (França), de Norman Foster; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Lyon (França), de Renzo Piano; Centro Cultural Consonni (Espanha), ausência de um arquiteto autor do projeto. Tanto os estudos de caso como os arquitetos, autores dos projetos, são considerados de destaque no panorama da arquitetura internacional erudita contemporânea. Os teóricos que forneceram a fundamentação conceitual deste estudo multidisciplinar são, em primeiro lugar, o Professor Catedrático Luiz Felipe Baêta Neves Flores (Transdisciplinaridade) além da Professora Catedrática Maria Luisa Amigo Fernández de Arroyabe (Ócio Estético) e ainda, os também importantes, Manuel Cuenca Cabeza (Ócio Humanista), Charles Jencks e Gonçalo Miguel Furtado Cardoso Lopes (Crítica de Arquitetura), Jesús Pedro Lorente, Chris van Uffelen e Roberto Segre (Museus de Arte Contemporânea). / The study developed in this Thesis Doctoral presents a critical and aesthetics analysis of the concepts: form, tectonic, functionality, semiotic and affectivity, in view the rchitecture, in the contemporary art museums and cultural centers program. The contemporany art museums and cultural centers, case's studies, selected for our Thesis Doctoral were opened during the years ninety, as follows: Jean-Marie Tijibaou's Cultural Center (New Caledony, France), of Renzo Piano; Naoshima's Contemporary Art Museum (Japan), of Tadao Ando; Bilbao's Museum Guggenheim (Spain), of Frank O. Gehry; Foundation Serralves' Contemporary Art Museum (Portugal), of Álvaro Siza Vieira; Niterói's Contemporary Art Museum (Brazil), of Oscar Niemeyer; Barcelona's Fundació Museu d'Art Contemporani (Spain), of Richard Meier; Nimes' Contemporary Art Museum Carré d'Art (France), of Norman Foster; Lyon's Contemporary Art Museum (France), of Renzo Piano; Consonni's Cultural Center (Spain), absent an architect author of project. The case's studies as well as the architects, authors of the projects, are outstanding in the international theoretical panorama of contemporary architecture. The theorists who have offered the fundamental conceptual for this multidisciplinary study are mainly the Full Professor Luiz Felipe Baêta Neves Flores (Transdisciplinarity), the Full Professor Maria Luisa Amigo Fernández de Arroyabe (Aesthetics Leisure) and also the equally important Manuel Cuenca Cabeza (Humanist Leasure), Charles Jencks and Gonçalo Miguel Furtado Cardoso Lopes (Critical Architecture), Jesús Pedro Lorente, Chris van Uffelen and Roberto Segre (Contemporary Art Museums).