Primarily, these chats were a MANIFESTO in the making.

– ‘Cedric Price Talks at the AA’ (1989)

This essay explores the role of verbal discourse in the production of architectural theory. Although printed text has been the privileged medium of architectural theory, speech and writing continue to be deeply interdependent, even in a society increasingly dominated by literacy. A public lecture, for example, although spoken, is often mediated through writing, whereas a personal letter, which though written, is spoken-like in many respects. This is all the truer today with instant text messaging and chat rooms, since such forms of writing can be likened to face-to-face conversations. If ‘talk’ remains therefore fundamental to human experience and communication, how to take into better account architectural theory’s orality? How might its consideration reframe architectural theory’s critical autonomy? If architectural theory may be understood also as a process, how might dialogue play a critical role in its formation? The discourse of the British architect Cedric Price provides a relevant case study to address these questions. Price often referred to his lectures as chats: casual open-ended conversations implying the participation of his audience. Indeed Price actively engaged architectural theory not only in what he wrote or said, but also through the proximity and interaction he developed with his interlocutors. Through a discussion of the social, political and aesthetic values of Price’s orality, this essay demonstrates how the formation and dissemination of architectural theory may exceed the hegemonic regimes of institutionalised discourse.