Arch.Uth Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Arch.Uth UTH.gr Ελληνικά
SPECIAL THEORY AND CRITIC TOPICS ON ARCHITECTURE AND ART: Historicity as past and as heritage. Explorations, expulsions and references of the concept in the architectural and urban quests of the 20th and 21st century.
ΘΚ0710, THEORY AND CRITICISM,
Elective at semester(s) 5, 7, ECTS: 3
Cognitive Fields (2005/36/EU): History and Theories.
Generic Competences: Ability to work autonomously, Ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment, Capacity to generate new ideas (creativity), Commitment to conservation of the environment, Ability to promote free, creative and inductive thinking.

  "Understanding and interpretation before designing. The importance of boundary and communal space," could be an alternative, shorter title for this course.The course has as a starting point the traditional architecture of a village as it existed and continues to exist long before the 19th century and how the architecture and life of the village evolves until today. The aim of the course is the analysis of life in the village and the understanding of a series of spaces that continue to occupy architecture even in Greek cities today. What should the young architect know today, apart from the building footprint in the structure of a space as compact and cohesively tied as a village? How does he analyze and understand in depth an existing situation? How do you perceive continuity, historicity as past and heritage? Theoretical tools of interpretation are given through different approaches, so that tradition / heritage and architecture can be understood as practices traditionally used to connect humans with community, place, religion and environment. Finally, the questions will be extended regarding the perception of community, public and semi-public space and how it affects the habits and use of public spaces in modern Greek cities today.    

 

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Evaluation

Nowadays, both private and public descriptions of property, globally, are presented as rigid, as elements of separation and autonomy. At the same time, we are moving towards a modern way of living based on sustainable development. However, humans and their daily life are not yet the center of the complexity of architecture, which is strongly connected to social life, the qualities of space and the environment. In this course students will understand the relationship between traditional life and the complexity of architecture, place and environment. The way of life that emerges through the above relationships and the understanding of the places that date back from the distant past - where the experience becomes routed - contribute to a healthy and integrated way of life, as it is created by private and public life. Students will be equipped with tools for understanding and interpreting local tradition in modern life. They will see different scales, spaces, materials and situations, which do not correspond to an architecture characterized by form and fashion, but which highlight its social and ethical function as an essential record of tradition in relation to man, place and its environment.

SUBJECT

  The course begins with a study of a village in the Cyclades highlighting a series of continuities and perceptions that describe the customs and places of the village even today, a place where dry stones still define the rural landscape, the structure of the village and  property. Students will develop a relationship with tools for understanding and interpreting the structure of the village through the existing architecture, the construction of the village and the daily life of the villagers. Spatial, social and ethical boundaries will emerge through texts and narratives about the village, through different public and communal spaces, the structure of the house, the influence of religion and the daily practices of the inhabitants within the complexity of the village landscape.

Through different spatial and social situations, the course will highlight: a. the structure of the community, b. the perception of public / communal spaces, c. the perception of boundaries of private spaces d. the importance of participation in these spaces e. the way that historicity concerns both construction and habit in space, in a place and that both are heritage. The course will use excerpts from stories, contracts, maps, photos and videos so that the students can build their understanding on different issues of the village life.

The course also aims at a deep understanding of the village, the different materials used over time, the places where the daily life  unfolds. In addition, the course will explore how this heritage of spaces, habits and perceptions influence till now the perception and use of public spaces in the modern Greek city and how it coexists with the modern way of life.

ASSESSMENT

  Students during the semester will choose to analyze and present within 10 minutes a text related to the topic of the day. Also they will submit two assignments and a small archive which will be based on the research they will do during the two assignments.   Assignment 1: The first assignment will be submitted in the middle of the semester and will be a preparation for the next one. It will consist of 1500 words and will concern a building, either an outdoor or indoor space related to a specific activity, or a neighborhood or even a threshold. Students are asked to write about the historicity, the materials, the use of this space, also how the place is used in modern life and what is  life and daily habits that surround it. There will also be a presentation and discussion on the date of submission.   Assignment 2: This assignment will be submitted at the end (instead of exams) and will be 2500 words. Students are asked to write a story about a village that they have the opportunity to visit often and which they know very well. The narrative can be real or imaginary and reveal  places, materials, traditions, habits, perceptions and the life that unfolds in the village today. This work will be accompanied by a map showing the routes mentioned in the story. There will also be a presentation and discussion at the end of the semester. File: The file will be complementary to each task. In it students are asked to record what they see, hear, smell and touch, ie in this file they can record what they see (various scales, boundaries or coexistence of historical and modern space, vegetation or not, mobility of people or cars ), to record or describe sounds, to talk about materials or the sense of materials they do not know, to talk about shadows and light, the sense of air or noise. And whether all these affect or compose the space they have chosen.   The above assignments will be submitted digitally until the date that has been set and will be presented in the room. These assignments aim to benefit from the weekly knowledge that students acquire. Also develop through observations and discussions, knowledge related to areas, buildings, objects, spatial and social boundaries, landscapes or monuments presented in the course.     Evaluation Participation and text analysis - presentation: 15% Assignment 1 - November 24 deposit: 30% Assignment 2 - deposit at the end of the semester: 40% Archive - end of semester deposit: 15%  

COMPULSORY BIBLIOGRAPHY

 De Certeau, Michel, translated by Rendall, Steven, The Practice of Everyday Life, (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles California, London 1984).

Leatherbarrow, David, Topographical Stories, Studies in Landscape and Architecture, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004)

 Γιαννίση, Φοίβη, Κωτιόνης, Ζήσης, (eds), Η Κιβωτός: παλαιοί σπόροι για νέες καλλιέργειες, 12η Διεθνής Έκθεση Αρχιτεκτονικής Μπιενάλε της Βενετίας 2010, Εθνικοί Επίτροποι: Φοίβη Γιαννίση, Ζήσης Κοτιώνης

Μανωλίδης, Κώστας, Kαναρέλης, Θεοκλής, Η διεκδίκηση της υπαίθρου. Φύση και κοινωνικές πρακτικές στη σύγχρονη Ελλάδα , (Εκδόσεις Ίνδικτος, 2009) 

INDICATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Greek bibliography

Βιδάλη Μαρία, Γη και Χωριό. Τα εξωκκλήσια της Τήνου. Εκδόσεις Futura και Δημοτική Επιχείρηση Δήμου Εξωμβούργου, Τήνου, 2009

Δουκελλής, Παναγιώτης, επιμέλεια, Το ελληνικό τοπίο. μελέτες ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και πρόσληψης του τόπου, (Εκδόσεις Εστία, Αθήνα, 2005)

Κασίμης, Χ.  – Λουλούδης Λ. (επιμέλεια), Η ελληνική αγροτική κοινωνία στο τέλος του εικοστού αιώνα, (Αθήνα: Εκδόσεις Πλέθρον/ Εθνικό Κέντρο Κοινωνικών Ερευνών, 1999)

Εμπεδοκλής, Περί Φύσεως, εισαγωγή, μετάφραση, σχόλια ‘Α. Λάλου, Π. Σκαρσουλή, (Αθήνα: Εκδόσεις του Εικοστού Πρώτου, Όψεις / 7, 1999)

Λαμνάτος, Βασίλης, Οι μήνες στην αγροτική και ποιμενική ζωή του λαού μας, (Αθήνα – Γιάννενα: Εκδόσεις “Δωδώνη,’’ 1987)

Α’ Το Εληνικό Λαικό Σπίτι, Φροντιστηριακαί  Εργασίαι, Εθνικός Μετσόβιον Πολυτεχνείον, Έδρα Αρχιτεκτονικής Μορφολογίας και Ρυθμολογίας, Τακτ. Καθηγητής Π.Λ. Μιχελής, Εκδοσις Ε.Μ. Πολυτεχνείου, (Αθήναι, 1960)

Παπαδόπουλος, Α., Χατζιμιχάλης, Κ., (επιμέλεια και εισαγωγή αφιερώματος), “Η νέα γεωγραφία της Ελληνικής Υπαίθρου,” Επιθεώρηση Κοινωνικών Ερευνών, Τεύχος 25, 2008

 

Bibliography in english 

Crossley, Nick, The Social Body. Habit, identity and desire (Sage Publications, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, 2001).

De Certeau, Michel, translated by Rendall, Steven, The Practice of Everyday Life, (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles California, London 1984).

Leatherbarrow, David, Topographical Stories: Studies in Landscape and Architecture, (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia,2004)

Malpas, Jeffrey, (ed.) Place and Experience: A Philosophical Topography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) 

___________. (ed.), The Place of Landscape, Concepts, Contexts, Studies, (Cambridge, MA, London, England: The MIT Press, 2011)  

Psarra, Sophia, Architecture and Narrative, The formation of space and cultural meaning, (Routledge, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009)

KEYWORDS

traditional architecture, public space, communal space, boundary, understanding, interpretation, perception, narrative