Abstract
The IT-rooted idea of “open source” and its derivatives in architecture, have been analysed from historic viewpoint and with respect to wider cultural context, as well as with regard to the specific present-day phenomenon of a drift of notions and ideas that had originated inside IT business, then became widespread in popular culture and eventually have been implemented in architectural design and theory. Based on a bibliography survey, the milestones of “open source architecture” have been recognised and arranged chronologically. Moreover, the bibliography survey aimed at collecting numerous past reflections, remarks and opinions relevant to the subject matter, and to merge such a vast cloud of critical thoughts into a “critical framework to define open source architecture”. After all, we conclude that, in spite of its two-decade evolution and development, “open source architecture” have still been sort of subculture; namely, architectural subculture.