Abstract
Through a Mediationist Theory of Architecture based on Jean Gagnepain’s much wider theory of mediation, this theoretical essay discusses the idea that is referred to here as the architectural fact. Its first section therefore presents the five hypotheses of Gagnepain’s theory of mediation and also the definition of architecture that he has suggested. The second part of the essay provides a more detailed definition of the architectural fact and an explanation of the rational principles of its emergence. It involves a clarification of the fundamental notions of form and formula, key concepts of the Mediationist Theory of Architecture. Deepening our understanding of the architectural fact, the essay’s third section attempts to explain how it arises within the design process. To do so it provides a contrasting study of, firstly, a series of Palladio’s villas, and secondly, the different versions of the Kimbell Art Museum as designed by Louis I. Kahn and his team.