Generic Competences: Ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment, Capacity to generate new ideas (creativity), Ability to interact constructively with others regardless of background and culture and respecting diversity, Commitment to conservation of the environment, Ability to demonstrate social, professional and ethical responsibility and sensitivity to gender issues, Ability to be critical and self-critical , Ability to promote free, creative and inductive thinking.
This course focuses on theoretical analyses of architecture and their intersections with architectural practice and the social, cultural and political transformations from the post-war era to this day.
Knowledge, Comprehension, Evaluation
Structured around three larger themes, this course brings students in contact with broader interpretations, theories and understandings of architecture following their development during the last decades of 20th Century, as well as, with more current theoretical discussions, within and beyond architectural theory, research and practice. The first theme focuses on critical analyses of modernism and modernity drawing on various theoretical approaches of the postmodern movement, such as poststructuralism, Marxist/feminist perspectives, cultural and postcolonial theory, science and technology studies. The second theme brings together critical theoretical analyses such as urban studies, human geography, anthropology and critical ethnography to shed light to broader transformations during the ‘globalization’ era and their subsequent far-reaching reconfigurations in the production of space and the priorities in architectural theory and practice. Finally, the third theme sheds critical light to the notion of the Anthropocene – that was used to describe a new geological epoch as a result of human-induced action. Drawing on critical approaches of the previous themes which focused on the recent past, this thematic focus offers ground for theoretical reflections on the past and the future of architecture, towards and beyond the human.
This course does not attempt an exhaustive overview; rather it aims at a selective, fragmentary and critical mapping of contemporary theoretical approaches of architecture. Lectures and parallel interactive activities shed light to the links between theoretical/interdisciplinary discussions with architectural theory/practice and sociopolitical and geopolitical dynamics, with an emphasis on the current predicament, posing crucial questions on the past, present and future of architecture.
Assessment is based on the active participation of students in all course activities: 35% Group work with oral presentation and writing Aanalysis of theoretical texts on course topics through a) live presentation of an audiovisual essay (5 minutes) and, (b) a written review of the texts (approximately 3000 words). 55% Final examination Compulsory written examination at the end of the semester 10% Attendance and active participation in the course In presentations, discussions and other course activities
https://eclass.uth.gr/courses/ARCH_U_229/