ARCHITECTURE +/ SPATIAL THEORY
Course Description:
In this course we will explore various theories that help us makes sense of and justify specific conditions within architecture, its relations, and discourse as a cultural activity since the “end” of Modernism. If we take as a premise that architecture matters because it spatially and materially negotiates the desires and values of a milieu, it is imperative for us as architecture students to then learn to analyze how to make sense of these negotiations within a feedback loop of theory and practice. To this effect, we will learn how the built environment and its representations help us gather meaning from and makes sense of the world, its events, and relationships, while facilitating meaningful experiences. We will draw on theories of space and representation from various fields that architecture has long been in contact with, including geography, urban studies, sociology, and media studies. Space here is conceived of in multiple ways from abstract to concrete, planned to produced, imagined to materialized, and relational to discrete.
In this course we will explore various theories that help us makes sense of and justify specific conditions within architecture, its relations, and discourse as a cultural activity since the “end” of Modernism. If we take as a premise that architecture matters because it spatially and materially negotiates the desires and values of a milieu, it is imperative for us as architecture students to then learn to analyze how to make sense of these negotiations within a feedback loop of theory and practice. To this effect, we will learn how the built environment and its representations help us gather meaning from and makes sense of the world, its events, and relationships, while facilitating meaningful experiences. We will draw on theories of space and representation from various fields that architecture has long been in contact with, including geography, urban studies, sociology, and media studies. Space here is conceived of in multiple ways from abstract to concrete, planned to produced, imagined to materialized, and relational to discrete.
