The seminar will consist of a series of collective readings of selected texts.

The seminar will consist of a series of collective readings of selected texts.

Advanced Research Methods in the History and Theory of Art and Architecture

Corrective historiographies for architectural research

Advanced Research Methods in the History and Theory of Art and Architecture

Advanced Research Methods in the History and Theory of Art and Architecture

Corrective historiographies for architectural research

The seminar will consist of a series of collective readings of selected texts.

This seminar avails itself of the complexities and richness of pre-1850 literary sources on architecture to explore and discuss some fundamental methodological questions: who writes about architecture and art, and why? What is a legitimate historical source? How can we gain access to it? How do we develop an at once historical and critical approach? How does mediation generate interpretation? Etc.

Some say that there are two ways to write about architecture: to look at ‘discourses full of objects’ or, conversely, at ‘objects full of discourses’. This doctoral seminar course radically explores the second approach by focussing on the ordinary ‘things’ that buildings are made of (e.g. toilets, elevators, but also bricks, or carpets) and extrapolating general concepts from them.

What new readings of architecture emerge when the objects of research are not the ever-changing «heroes», «pioneers» or the «key buildings», but instead a series of «things» like the various network of expertise, systems, and objects that at the same time shaped our built environment? The seminar will focus on the overlooked «anonymous» objects of history.

In this seminar, we will examine the impact of a select group of international organizations in conjunction with the utilization (and at times, voluntarily or involuntarily mis-use) of media of development.The seminar revolves around 5 key topics, each representing central media in development: Reports & Bulletins, Manuals & Model Houses, Exhibitions & Films, Correspondence, and Headquarters.

Most religions assign certain spaces and objects a degree of sacrality. The actions surrounding sacrality reflect social and political hierarchies, gender codes, material practices, and economic realities. This seminar aims to critically understand the roles and functions assigned to architecture within the complex and often conflictual context of the sacred.

This seminar begins with the premise that the modern built environment has been shaped in relation to migration, diaspora, and displacement. In this class, we will explore the ways in which settlement and migration are enacted in relation to one another, tracing the ways in which architectural knowledge is created alongside transience, marginalization, and domestic insurgency.