Arch.Uth Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Arch.Uth UTH.gr Ελληνικά
SPECIAL HISTORY AND THEORY TOPICS ON THE CITY AND ARCHITECTURE
ΘΚ0709, THEORY AND CRITICISM, SPECIFIC BACKGROUND
Elective at semester(s) 6, 8, ECTS: 4
Cognitive Fields (2005/36/EU): History and Theories.
Generic Competences: Ability to adapt to and act in new situations and cope under pressure, Ability to make reasoned decisions, Ability to work autonomously, Ability to work in a team, Ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment, Capacity to generate new ideas (creativity), Ability to promote free, creative and inductive thinking.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge, Comprehension, Analysis, Evaluation

The course aims to explore contemporary architects' theories and positions about thinking, designing and representing cities. By raising the interest of the students towards looking at the many contemporary urban issues from different perspectives, the question of urban design is transferred from the proposition of solutions to the formulation of questions. Students will familiarize with problems and opportunities inside the body of the city, with how cities are designed and generated, with the side effects of any processes of urbanization, tackling urgent questions like migration, war, climate changes, democracy, exploitation of the soil, and representation. The aims of the course are the following:

  • Developing a multi-faced reading of the city that could drive towards the formulation of new questions about architecture and urban design
  • Understand the development of architecture and urban design as a discipline that is grounded on a knowledge that span throughout history
  • Developing a critical approach to the analysis of architectural projects in to theoretical, historical and environmental contexts
  • Using notions of history and geography to develop as tool of analysis to extend concepts of time and space
  • Developing a familiarity on consulting texts and images at the same time, and attempt to inform the transition between written theory and the production of images as a critical tool
  • Formulate a theoretical position in form of short written texts and images in order

SUBJECT

The course is structured by the interrelationship between theoretical readings and discussions, analysis of case studies and production of drawings to link theories about architecture and the city to explorations in representation. Today the field of urban design is not simply related to design new portions of city, but it focuses on rethinking, reelaborating and questioning cities and how they have been built until nowadays. As is it well known, cities are no more compact, they have an indefinite territorial extensions, they are in turmoil and in a slow a constant transformation. Objective of the course is to link the comprehension of these many factors and to trigger students towards new formulations.

The course is organized with thematiclectures that will cover different aspects related to the condition of contemporary cities and the role of urban design. Each lecture aims to drive new questions and problematic to a specific fields, with the scope to envision possible and innovative tools to the practice of urban design. At the same time, lectures will be grounded on a literature and historical knowledge as a basic principle to built the discipline. Each lecture will be supported by a collection of textsrelated to the specific subject that students can consult in a way to familiarize with written forms. Extracts form texts and books are considered the base to ground class discussions. Each lesson will start with a discussion about the specific subject as a sort of introduction to guide students into a deeper investigation on a theoretical level. The use of historical precedents and examples from diverse contexts will help to comprehend research themes as global issues.

The link between written text and visualization is considered a critical point to guide towards the ability to build scenarios and visions for the future. For this reason presentations will offer a large range of visual material. Inside this framework, students will work on a written text supported by drawings to test their ability to criticize, to investigate, to collect and to visualize.

ASSESSMENT

Students will work on a specific research theme coordinated by the teacher. The theme will be investigated though the production of a short text supported by images produce by the students themselves as collages. The final product should present a strong critical position about some urban issues that had been discussed in class supported by a short reference bibliography and will be evaluated at the final presentation. The iconographic work will start with a collection of elements, images, photographic, newspaper to set up an archive that may open a new knowledge, and therefore they will be selected and reuse for the graphic work.

The final evaluation will include:

1) Attendance in class, participation in discussions, consultation of bibliography for each lesson during the course: 10%

2) A short Essay that will present a specific and well defined research theme as well as a strong theoretical position that should be well supported by precedents and bibliography: 45 %

3) An iconography that should present the transition from a theoretical stance towards the use of images as a research tool. The use of physical and digital collage is well encouraged: 45%

COMPULSORY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography lesson by lesson:

 

URBAN CONTEXTS

S. Allen, "From Object to Field." [except]. In: AD (Architectural Design)  Vol 67.  May-June 1997.

R. Koolhaas, "The Generic City," Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau, S, M, L, XL. New York: Monacelli Press, 1995, pp. 1238-1264.

S. Marot, "The Reclaiming of the Site." In: James Corner, Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Architecture.New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999, pp. 45-58.

A. Rossi, "The Structure of Urban Artifacts." In: AA.VV, Opposition Books. Oxford, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1989.

Rowe, C.,Koetter, F., Collage City, Cambridge, the MIT Press, 1978

Venturi R., Scott Brown D. e Izenour, Learning From Las Vegas, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1972

 

HORIZONTALISM

I. Abalos, "Verticalism (The Future of the Skyscraper)." In: M. Mostafavi, G. Doherty (eds.), Ecological Urbanism. Zürich: Lars Müller, 2010.

B. Cache, Earth moves: The furnishing of territories. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1995, pp. 5-30.

M. Sitrin, Horizontalism and Territory. [http://www.possible-futures.org/2012/01/09/horizontalism-and-territory/]

P. Virilio, "Paul Virilio and the Oblique. Interview with Enrique Limon." In: S. Allen & K. Park (eds.), Sites and Stations: Provisional Utopias: Architecture and Utopia in the Contemporary City. Lusitania Press:1996.

Viganò, P., Cavalieri, C., Barcelloni Corte, M. (Eds.), The Horizontal Metropolis Between Urbanism and Urbanization,Springer, 2018

 

URBAN RUINS

Micocci, F, "Athens New Ruins. The Extended Horizon of the Contemporary Cities", Horizonte, n.9

McMorrough, J., Ru(m)inations: The Haunts of Contemporary Architcture, Sykes, A. K. (ed.), Construction a New Agends. Architectural Theory 1993-2009, Princeton Architectural Press, 2010, 460-471

Dobraszczyk, P, The Dead City: Urban Ruins and the Spectacle of Decay, London, Bloomsbury, 2017

M. Augé, Le temps en ruines, Galilé, Paris 2003.

 

WASTELANDS, JUNKSPACES AND THIRD LANDSCAPE

G. Clement, Manifeste du Tiers-Paysage, Paris: Editions Sujet/Obje, 2004 [summary].

I. de Sola-Morales, "Terrain Vague," ANYplace.. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995, pp. 118-123.

R. Koolhaas, "Junkspace," October 100, Spring 2002, pp. 175-190.

A. Picon, "Anxious Landscapes: From the Ruin to Rust," Grey Room 1 (Fall 2000): 64-83.

 

POST-CONFLICTURBAN STRATEGIES

Micocci, F. "Envisioning a Post-conflict Tripoli: The inclusive Urban Strategy and Action Plan for Bab Al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen",Footprints, Vol. 10 n. 2

Micocci ,F. "Small Urbanism for Refugees", Monu, n. 27, Autumn 2017

Charlesworth, E. Architects Without Frontiers. War, Reconstruction and Design Responsibility, Oxford, Elsevier, 2006

Bevan, R., The Destruction of Memory. Architecture at War, London, Reaktion Books, 2016

Petti, A., Hilal, S., Weizman, E., Architecture after Revolution, Berlin, Sternberg Press, 2013

Calame, J., Charlesworth, E., Divided Cities. Belfast, Beirut, Mostar, and Nicosia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009

Agamben, G, Homo Sacer. Il potere sovrano e la nuda vita, Einaudi, 1995

 

ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

F. Guattari, The Three Ecologies, translated by Ian Pindar and Paul Sutton. London: The Athlone Press, 2000, pp. 19-45.

S. Kwinter, "Notes on the Third Ecology." In: M. Mostafavi, G. Doherty (eds.), Ecological Urbanism. Zürich: Lars Müller, 2010, pp.  94-105.

M. Mostafavi, "Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now?." In: M. Mostafavi, G. Doherty (eds.), Ecological Urbanism. Zürich: Lars Müller, 2010, pp.  12-53.

McHarg, I., Design with Nature, Wiley, 1995

 

BORDERS

Brenner, N., “Rescaling the Urban Question.” Turan, N., New Geographies n. 0

H. Sarkis, "The world according to architecture." In: L. El Hadi Jazairy (ed.), New Geographies 4. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

S. Sassen, "Scale and Span in a global digital world." In: A. K. Sykes (ed.),Constructing a New Agenda: Architectural Theory, 1993-2009. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010, pp. 168-187.

Baltsatu, O., Can we imagine cross-border cities, Strelka Magazine, 2017 [https://strelkamag.com/en/article/an-we-imagine-crossborder-cities]

 

MEDITERRANEANISM

Abulafia, D., The Great Sea, London, Penguin, 2011

Cook, M., "Mediterranean Thinking: From Netizen to Metizen", Geographical Review, Vol. 89, No. 2, Oceans Connect (Apr., 1999), pp. 290-300

Matvejevic, P., Mediterranean, a cultural landscape,Berkeley, University of California Press, 1999

Ruelle, A., "L'invention de la Méditerranée", Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire, n.32, octobre-décembre 1991, pp. 7-14

Leontidoy, L. The Mediterranean City in Transition. Social change and urban development,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990

New Geographies n.5, "The Mediterranean"

Maki, F., Investigations in Collective Form, St. Louis, Washington University, 1964

Lejeune, J. F., Sabatino, M. (ed.), Moden Architecture and the Mediterranean. Vernacular dialogues and contested identities, Routledge, 2010

 

THE CARTHOGRAPHY OF THE CITY

The Funambulistn.18,"Cartography & Power"

Cosgrove, D., "Charto-City", Abrams, J., Hall, P. (eds.), Else/where: Mapping. New Cartographies of networks and Territories, University of Minnesota Design Institute, 2006

Desimini, J., Waldheim, C., Cartographic Grounds. Projecting the landscape imaginary, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2016

Farinelli, F., Geografia, Torino, Einaudi, 2003

Beelen, Κ., "The Map's critical project." OASE n. 80, On Territories,Rotterdam,Nai Publisher, 2009

Corner, J.,"The Agency Of Mapping", Cosgrove, D.(ed.), Mapping,London,Reaktion Books,1999

Vittorio Gregotti, The Territory of Architecture

David Gissen, The Architecture's Geographic Turn

Xhulio Binjaku, The Issue of Geography

 

ISLANDS AND ARCHIPELAGOS

Aureli,P.V.,The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, Cambridge, Mass,The MIT Press,2011

Hertweck, F., Sébastien Marot, S,A manifesto (1977) by Oswald Mathias Ungers and Rem Koolhaas, with Pieter Riemann, Hans Kollhoff, and Arthur Ovaska, Lars Müller Publisher, 2013

New Geographiesn. 8, "Islands"

San Roccon.2, "Islands"

 

THE PROJECT OF THE CITY

Aureli, P. V., Borra, B., Declerck, J., Mierzwa, A., Tattara, M., Weiss, T., Brussels, a Manifesto: Towards the Capital of Europe, Rotterdam, NAI, 2007

Hollein, H., Everything is Architecture, Bau magazine, Issue 1/2, 1968

Kalach,A.,"The Return to a Lacustrian City." In: C. Spellman (ed.), Re-envisioning Landscape/Architecture. Barcelona: Actar, 2003 pp. 212-221

Mastrigli, G. (ed.), Superstudio. Opere 1966-1978, Milano, Quodlibet, 2016

INDICATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sykes A. K., Constructing a new Agenda: Architectural Theory 1993-2009, New York,Princeton Architectural Press, 2010

Nesbitt, K. (ed.), Theorizing a new agenda for architecture. An Anthology of architectural theory, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996

Larice, M., Mcdonald, E., The Urban Design Reader, Routledge, 2012

Ockman, J., Architecture Culture 1943-1968, New York, Rizzoli, 1993

Avermaete, T., Havik, K., Teerds, H., Architecture, modernity and the Public Sphere, Rotterdam, Sun Publishers, 2009