Theory of Architecture : contemporary issues

lbarc2141  2020-2021  Bruxelles Saint-Gilles

Theory of Architecture : contemporary issues
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information below is subject to change, in particular that concerning the teaching mode (presential, distance or in a comodal or hybrid format).
3 credits
30.0 h
Q2
Teacher(s)
Claeys Damien;
Language
French
Main themes
  • Critical review of recent theories
  • Demonstration and testing of sequencing and materiality for conceptual ideas relating to architectural procedures
  • Siting contemporary work in relation to the classical tradition, modern and post-modern approaches
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 Specific learning outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to
  • recall the concepts covered during the first years of study and deepen their thinking on architecture in relation to current society.
  • analyse the theoretical and spatial issued raised by contemporary architecture since 1950.
  • place this analysis in the framework of different schools of thinking which have contributed, since the post war period, to a critical reinterpretation of modern language and its theoretical foundation.
  • develop architectural criticism and self criticism to understand architectural works, particularly contemporary ones.
Contribution to the learning outcomes reference network:
Build knowledge of architecture
  • Be familiar with and analyse the discipline's basic references
  • Develop knowledge and become an active participant in the learning process
Make use of other subjects
  • Seek out other approaches, exchanges of views and ways of enhancing thinking about architecture
  • Bring all this back to the original discipline
Use the technical dimension
  • Observe and assess the main construction principles that give architecture a formal, material and temporal dimension
Make committed choices
  • Make links between different methodological and epistemological perspectives
 
Content
  1. Introduction - de l'arbre au réseau
  2. Le contexte - lieu(x)
  3. L'éthique - biomorphisme, anthropocène et seconde nature
  4. La fonction - besoins fondamentaux et existenzminimum
  5. La politique - concepteur démiurgique
  6. L'utopie - histoire des futurs possibles
  7. Le regard - théâtre du monde
  8. L'échelle - discontinuité de représentation
  9. La connaissance - de la bibliothèque au cloud
  10. Le numérique - virtualisation de l'enveloppe
  11. Le sacré - temple et tombeau
  12. Des concepts nomades I - ensembles et structures
  13. Des concepts nomades II - systèmes
Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Lectures of 2 hours, each week.
Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

A written exam including:
  1. multiple-choice questions: general assessment of passive knowledge acquisition
  2. an open-ended question: assessment of active understanding of knowledge
Faculty or entity
LOCI


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Architecture (Bruxelles)
ARCB2M
3