McGill University School of Architecture ARCH 626 Critical Design Strategies Winter 2018

Transcription

1 McGill University School of Architecture ARCH 626 Critical Design Strategies Winter 2018 Wednesday 14:35 17:25 Room MDHAR 207 Instructor David Theodore ; office hours; casual or by appointment Room 301, Macdonald-Harrington Building Calendar Description Arch 652 Architecture: Study of specific contemporary design practices with particular reference to their affinities with the development and current role of architectural criticism, art, literature, and philosophy. Course Objectives The object of this course is to teach students two different research procedures, the background research that informs design, and the design research that provides the primary generator (Jane Darke) or guiding principle (Bryan Lawson) for design. The contrasts between these two approaches will be assessed through critical reading, writing, and active participation in seminar discussions. By the end of the course, students should be able to: 1) identify a primary generator for their own work; 2) distinguish between background research, knowledge production, and design research; 3) discuss design methods, tools, and techniques in relation to key issues in contemporary architecture and urbanism, including their political and theoretical implications. Together, these three objectives will constitute for each student a critical design strategy. Requirements i) Seminar participation: 10%. Attendance, while being mandatory, does not constitute marks for participation. ii) Assignment #1: 750 1,000-word paper (not including footnotes and bibliography, if applicable) on journals (see below for assignment details). The paper is due through MyCourses before class on 14 February, and each student will present Page 1 of 6

2 their paper in class that day. iii) Assignment #2: 750 1,000-word paper (not including footnotes and bibliography, if applicable) on a recent scholarly monograph (see below for assignment details). The paper is due through MyCourses before class, on 13 March, and each student will present their paper in class that day. iv) Assignment #3: 2,000-3,000 word paper (not including footnotes and bibliography, if applicable) outlining your critical design strategy (see below for assignment details). Late Policy Grades for late work will be penalized at one grade level per day. For example, work graded as A but handed in in one day late will receive a A- ; work graded as A but handed in two days late will receive a B+. Ethics Please note that all projects dealing with human subjects require ethics review and approval before research can begin. For more information, see: If you have questions, please see the Director of the School of Architecture. McGill Policy Statements The following two statements must be included in all course outlines, in keeping with various Senate resolutions: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see for more information). (Approved by Senate on 29 January 2003.) In accord with McGill University s Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. (Approved by Senate on 21 January see also the section in this document on Assignments and evaluation.) "In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change." Page 2 of 6

3 Schedule and Readings This schedule and list of required reading are subject to change. Suggested readings. For those who want an overview of architectural research: Murray Fraser, Design Research in Architecture: An Overview (Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2013). Ray Lucas, Research Methods for Architecture (London: Laurence King, 2016). David Wang and Linda N. Groat, Architectural Research Methods, 2 nd ed. (Hoboken: Wiley, 2013). Sophie Stévance, Serge Lacasse, Research-Creation in Music and the Arts: Towards a Collaborative Interdiscipline (New York: Presses de l Université Laval, Routledge, 2013). For those who want an overview of architectural history and theory: C. Greig Crysler, Stephen Cairns, Hilde Heyne, ed., The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory, (London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2012). K. Michael Hays, ed., Architecture Theory since 1968 (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1998). Neil Leach, ed., Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory (New York: Routledge, 1997). Kate Nesbitt, ed., Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory, (Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996). Joan Ockman and Edward Eigen, ed., Architecture Culture, : A Documentary Anthology (New York: Rizzoli, 1993). Required readings. Week 1 10 January 2018 Welcome General discussion Session planning Week 2: 17 January 2018 RESEARCH CREATION Bryan Lawson, Review of Design Research in Architecture, Design Studies 36 (2015): Abigail C. Durrant, John Vines, Jayne Wallace, Joyce S. R. Yee, Research Through Design: Twenty-First Century Makers and Materialities, RTD 2015 website, throughdesign.org/2015 Owen Chapman & Kim Sawchuk, Research-Creation: Intervention, Analysis and Family Resemblances Canadian Journal of Communication, 37 (2012) Page 3 of 6

4 Jeremy Till, Architectural Research: Three Myths and One Model, Building Material 17 (2008): 4 10 (online at jeremytill.net). Week 3: 24 January 2018 (TOWN HALL) DISIPLINE/AUTONOMY/FIELD Jeremy Till, Architecture and Contingency, www. eld-journal.org vol.1 (1). K. Michael Hays, Critical Architecture: Between Culture and Form, Perspecta 21 (1984): David A. de Vaus, Research Design in Social Research (London: Sage, 2002): chapter 1. Stanford Anderson, Profession and Discipline: Practice and Education, in The Discipline of Architecture, ed. Andrzej Piotrowski and Julia W. Robinson (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2001), Week 4: 31 January 2018 Student-led seminar #1 Week 5: 7 February 2018 Student-led seminar #2 Week 6: 14 February 2018 Assignment #1: Journal presentations 1,000 words; hand-in and presentation Week 7: 21 February 2018 Student-led seminar #3 Week 8: 28 February 2018 Student-led seminar #4 March 7 NO CLASS (Reading week March 5-9) Week 9: 13 March 2018 Assignment #2 Book presentations 1,000 words; hand-in and presentation Week 10: 20 March 2018 Student-led seminar #5 Week 11: 27 March 2018 Student-led seminar #6 Week 12: 4 April 2018 Student-led seminar #7 Week 13: 11 April 2018 Assignment #3 Critical Design strategy Page 4 of 6

5 2,000-3,000 words; references in Chicago style Assignment #1: Journal/Book presentations This exercise has two objectives: 1) to introduce the class to the variety of current formats and trends of published architectural research; 2) to stimulate critical and systematic reading of secondary literature. The essay should be no more than 1,000 words (not including footnotes and bibliography, if applicable), double-spaced. It should be a critical synopsis of the themes, arguments, and issues of the last one to two years of publication of a journal chosen from the list below. The essay should also convey your understanding of the critical aspect or relevance of the journal s articles as they relates to the questions posed in the class or to your particular research interests. We will distribute assignments to journals over the first two classes. 1. JAE 2. JSAH 3. San Rocco 4. Cabinet 5. Grey Room 6. Log 7. Avery Review 8. Journal of Architecture 9. Design Issues 10. Harvard Design Magazine 11. AA Files 12. Volume 13. Lotus 14. Perspecta 15. Praxis: Journal of Writing and Building 16. AD Assignment #2 Journal/Book presentations This exercise has two objectives: 1) to introduce the class to the variety of research expertise available at McGill (and, more broadly, in Montreal); 2) to stimulate critical and systematic reading of secondary literature. The essay should be no more than 1,000 words (not including footnotes and bibliography, if applicable), double-spaced, it should contain a) a summary of the argument; b) an explanation of what (or who) the author is reacting against; c) an explanation of what (or who) the author is aligning themselves with; d) an outline of possible critiques or unresolved problems; e) and finally, the conveyance of your understanding of the critical aspect or relevance of the reading as it relates to the questions posed in the class or to your particular research interests. You ll have to get your book choice approved by February 14 th. Page 5 of 6

6 1. Gabriella Coleman, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous (New York: Verso, 2014). 2. Jacob Levy, Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom (Oxford; Oxford UP, 2015). 3. Mary Hunter, The Face of Medicine: Visualising Medical Masculinities in late Nineteenth-Century Paris (Manchester: Manchester UP, 2016). 4. Tobias Rees, Plastic Reason: An Anthropology of Brain Science in Embryogenetic Terms (Oakland: U of California P, 2016). 5. Allan Greer, Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits (Oxfordx: Oxford UP, 2005). 6. Matthew Hunter, Wicked Intelligence: Visual Art and the Science of Experiment in Restoration London (U of Chicago P, 2013). 7. Angela Vanhaelen and Joseph P. Ward, eds. Making Space Public in Early Modern Europe: Performance, Geography, Privacy (New York: Routledge, 2013). 8. Joseph Straubhaar, Jeremiah Spence, Zeynep Tufekci and Rebecca G. Lentz, Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender, and the Digital Divide in Austin (Austin: U of Texas P, 2012). 9. Jonathan Sterne, MP3: The Meaning of a Format (Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2012). 10. L. Kinvin Wroth and Hoi L. Kong, (eds.) NAFTA and Sustainable Development: The History, Experience and Prospects For Reform (New York: Cambridge UP, 2015). 11. Brian Lewis, British Queer History: New Approaches and Perspectives (Manchester: Manchester UP, 2013). 12. Eduardo Kohn, How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human (Berkeley: U of California P, 2013). 13. Kirsten Anker, Declarations of Interdependence: A Legal Pluralist Approach to Indigenous Rights (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014). 14. David Davies Philosophy of The Performing Arts (Oxford: Blackwell, 2011) 15. Brian Massumi, Ontopower: War, Powers, and the State of Perception (Durham: Duke UP, 2015). 16. David Howes and Constance Classen, Ways of Sensing: Understanding the Senses in Society (Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2013). Assignment #3 Critical Design Strategy This final essay should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words (not including footnotes and bibliography, if applicable), double-spaced. It should contain a) a summary of the argument; b) an explanation of what (or who) the author is reacting against; c) an explanation of what (or who) the author is aligning themselves with; d) an outline of possible critiques or unresolved problems; e) and finally, the conveyance of your understanding of the critical aspect or relevance of the reading as it relates to the questions posed in the class or to your particular research interests. Page 6 of 6