APH515: What is Architecture: Theory, Practice, and Culture in Contemporary Architecture
Course Description
This course is a general introductory lecture that functions as both a lecture and a seminar. Its purpose is to introduce the Master's level student to the architectural debates, propositions, and theories of the 20th c. and particularly from 1960 to the present. It relies mainly upon primary texts, with secondary texts as supplementary. The texts read are by architects, architectural and art historians, philosophers, cultural theorists, literary and critical theorists and writers. It is designed to give the student of architecture a wide, yet deep understanding of the plurality of theoretical and practical investigations in architecture and the influence of outside disciplines.
Course Objectives
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To gain a broad understanding of the late 20th century theories and practices of architectural design and history.
- To learn the language of architectural history and theory.
- To develop a critical facility for reading theoretical texts and to learn how to discuss the reading within the group format and understand that all questions are valid and useful.
- To posit the history and theory of architecture in the greater cultural and intellectual fabric.
- To understand the larger academic, theoretical, philosophic, cultural, and political debate and how architecture reacts to and against, and affects these polemics.
- To learn how to ask questions and develop a position of your own through writing and critical thinking exercises.
- To identify issues which are important to you in your architectural education and practice.
