Histories and Politics of Architecture

Teacher(s)

Lampariello Beatrice; Ledent Gérald;

Language

English

Content

Architecture is political. It is political because it carries within it a particular vision of the world. It is political because it shapes social relations. It is from these angles that the course examines our present, marked by a permanent state of crises (ecological, economic, crises of meaning, social, etc.).
Its objective is to look into the past and the immediate present in order to understand:

• how architects have taken a stance in times of crisis, either through visionary projects (built or unbuilt), or through grounded, practical and realistic approaches,
• how architecture, taken in a broad sense (from furniture to housing and up to the territorial scale), is never neutral and conveys a worldview while shaping social relations.

The course spans the centuries from the modern era to today and explores the following questions:

• utopias and spatial determinism,
• the relationship between capitalism and social housing,
• surveillance through space,
• the modernist dream of the democratization of space,
• alternative narratives of the city,
• radical habitats,
• and alternative materials for new ways of living.

Teaching methods

Each session will alternate between a lecture (ex cathedra) and discussions with the students. Visits, film screenings or text readings, organised at the beginning of each session, will serve to introduce the topic.

Evaluation methods

The course assessment will take the form of:

• an oral exam during the exam session,
• a group drawing assignment which will be presented orally during the session.

During the exam, students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts addressed in the theoretical lectures and their ability to develop a concise critical argument based on them.
Intermediate submissions will be organised during the year in order to guide the students’ work. These will not be graded, but submitting them will be a necessary condition in order to take the exam.
If generative Artificial Intelligences (AI) are used, they must be used responsibly and in accordance with the principles of academic and scientific integrity. This implies that any person using generative AI in a manner that does not comply with what is stated in the course description of the teaching unit concerned will be committing an irregularity within the meaning of art. 107 of the RGEE (non-personal production by the student in the context of an evaluation).

Faculty or entity

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