Architecture Philosophy and Theory
This studio embraces the oft-cited quote ‘we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us’. We use the concept of architectural technicities, to examine the ways that such a reciprocal determination occurs. Avoiding a reductionist approach, we directly link processes of human subjectification and cognition to the very technologies that form and manipulate urban habitats. We examine architectural technicities in order to underline the importance of a transdisciplinary account that acknowledges the complex relation between our technologies and their effects on our subjectification.
Focus and approach
Where different modes of urban development correspond to radically different architectural technicities, we examine how they both result in the production of different urban subjects. To develop in its full potential, the course must open an architectural discourse to philosophy, cognitive sciences and behavioural psychology, neuro-anthropology, media theories and affect-oriented studies.
The studio aims to complement and radically differentiate between architectural and urban methodologies that are based solely on epistemological and typological assumptions. In addition to the application of a problematised architectural thinking, we examine both a novel and a reconceptualised urban subject, one that individuates alongside that which individuates it.
Programme
In order to study architectural technicities, we will use methodological tools and sources from urban and architectural history, as well as references to sociological, economic and geographic concerns. We will also consider diverse philosophical traditions, focusing particularly on philosophies of science and technology. Finally, to determine and provide concrete suggestions on how the future of urban subjects and technicities can be fashioned, we will examine recent developments in cognitive sciences and neuro-anthropology.
Despite its fundamentally open-ended approach, the studio will follow a specific structure that allows experimentation with different conceptual and methodological approaches, anchored in the relationship between habits and habitats, subjects and objects, architectural technicities and environmental manipulations. This requires all participants to have an open and creative mind, a willingness to experiment and develop abductive reasoning, while maintaining an intense schedule of reading, thinking and making.
MSc 2
Staff
Dr. Ir. Heidi Sohn, Dr. Ir. Stavros Kousoulas, Dr. Ir. Andrej Radman, Dipl.-Ing. Robert Gorny
Additional information
Additional information about the projects and student work can be found here.
For detailed course descriptions, please visit the study guide:
MSc 2* (only in spring semester)
* The MSc2 semester of the Architecture track consists of 5 credits of compulsory courses and 25 credits of electives, of which an Architecture approved MSc2 elective design studio. See also the Elective Design Studios page for a full overview of MSc2 Architecture design projects.