Critical Regionalism is not commonly understood regionalism referring to the local architectural tradition, not derived from the archetypal sentiments or from direct opposition to modernism.
Its philosophy roots go back to the of phenomenology of Edmund Husserl developed by French theorist Paul Ricour and its theoretical basis was formulated in the works of Norwegian architect Christian Norberg-Schulz: "Intentions in Architecture" (1963) and "Genius Loci - Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture" (1980), as well as in the essay "Towards a critical-regional" (1983) by Kenneth Frampton, and the book "Archetypes in Architecture" (1987) by Thomas Thiis-Evensen.
The main problem of critical regionalism is to seek answers to the question of Paul Ricour: "How to be modern and to continue the tradition, how to revive an old dormant civilization as part of universal civilization."
Frampton in his essay argues that it is "critical to adopt" universal values of modernism, taking into account the geographical context of the building. Frapton does not want to refer directly to "folklore", but to the climate, light, topography, and "local tectonic form", which should be understood as historical and geographical conditions of the construction industry.
Postmodern debate with modernism is a discussion with abstract functionalism, ie. with international style. The text of Frampton shows that modernism is a dual-layer phenomenon, consisting of some acceptable philosophy of progress (including social and technological issues, as industrialization and standardization), and a formal manner. This manner deprives the architecture of individuality, if it is applied mechanically.
Track of phenomenology in a critical regionalism can be read with an attitude, according to which any form of modernism can be criticized without prejudice, AS IT IS, and not through the prism of sins, for which you may not bear the responsibility.
In this perspective, critical regionalism should be treated as a "reformed modernism" and probably for this reason, the best designs are made by architects from countries far from a universal bustle of big cities, in which - perhaps most important - they have not forgotten that these countries are autonomous region.
There is no critical regionalism without regions - a sarcastic remark for the proponents of globalism.