1 - How to Connect a Building to its Place

Frampton claims that for architecture to remain a critical practice, it must both remove itself from extensive use of advanced technologies as well as resist the tendency to regress into the architectural forms of the pre-modernized world. By doing this, architecture "has the capacity to cultivate a resistant, identity-giving culture.

To create an architecture that has a connection to place, Frampton proposes we follow the strategies of Critical Regionalism. The key is to "mediate the impact of universal civilzation with elements derived indirectly from the peculiarities of a particular place". One must create architecture that is separate from the typical manifestations of world culture. This means getting away from the exotic forms that have been made possible and even typical by advancing technologies.

To create an architecture that is regionalized, it is best to take inspiration from the natural elements inherent to a region, such as topography, climate, and local light. Regarding topography, it would encourage placelessness to bulldoze a site so one could build from a flat base. One should terrace the ground and build into it, and in doing this the architecture would be acknowledging the history of the site, it would embody "its archaeological pst and its subsequent cultivation and transformation across time". By building this way, fundamental elements of the site are incorporated into the architecture in a way that is not overt or distasteful. Frampton dispises the air conditioning. He hates it because it is applied everywhere and it makes the climate of the place basically irrelevant. Frampton advocates attention to the behavior of climate and light, and the appropriate incorporation of the favorable elements of these into a building with natural techniques. By this i mean building massing to optimize wind conditions or top lit galleries with a system to filter direct sunlight. In this way, users of the architecture will appreciate the behavior of the natural elements of a place, and therefore have a regionally specific experience.