Craftsmanship: in the pursuit of things well–made

As a commonly misunderstood topic, craftsmanship is often seen as a primarily anachronistic act that fails to play a meaningful role in contemporary culture. However, as many critics have recognized, craftsmanship suggests a way of working that extends beyond manual labour as an attitude towards work. As an attitude, craftsmanship can be reevaluated as a process which results in the pursuit of things well-made. To investigate this position, different viewpoints towards the process of craftsmanship are discussed from which a set of strategies are anticipated. These strategies have then been applied to an existing building in order verify which methods can be generalized and which remain specific. Through four unique design interventions an expressive, material based architecture is developed that appropriately responds to the buildings’ original craftsmanship. Through this new perspective craftsmanship can be brought to life as both a valid and valuable way of working in contemporary architecture.