Facing contemporary challenges with a critical perspective

Teacher(s)

Fontaine Christine;

Language

English
> French-friendly

Main themes

This course aims to define contemporary architecture within a broader cultural, theoretical and historical point of view on a large European context. It will consist in an incisive analytical return to recent architectures, positioning of the contemporary with regard to classical tradition, modern and post-modern postures.
The course will focus on three thematic axes:
-architecture & politics
-architecture & contemporary frontline actors
-architecture & critical tools; and how these themes were approached in the 20th and 21st centuries. These lessons from will help us to take a critical position today.
The question of post-crisis management towards a (dys) (u) topical future, the rehabilitation of the heritage of the 20th century and the recognition of the already there, the question of rethinking politics in our democracies in crisis, will all be questions addressed in this course. 

Learning outcomes

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

At the end of this course, the student will be able to recall the concepts approached during the first years of studies and during the seminars and workshops held in blended mobility with European partners. The student will be able to deepen architectural thought in relation to current society and analyze theoretical and spatial issues raised by contemporary architecture since 1950, in order to situate this analysis within the framework of the various currents of thought which have contributed, since the post-war period, to carrying out a critical reinterpretation of modern language and its theoretical foundations. Students will develop architectural criticism and self-criticism in order to understand architectural works, especially contemporary ones.  This course will be held in blended mobility with European partners, through online seminars and workshops in situ. Contribution to the LO repository: Build up an architectural culture Situate its action Mobilize other disciplines Express an architectural approach Make committed choices Also, among the achievements of this Teaching Unit will be the ability to work on a European territory in an international team and in English. The aim of the architectural theory teaching unit is to build up a repository background. However, it refuses to treat archives, books, buildings and plans only as a reservoir of examples, but tries to analyze “historically” and “critically”, that is to say to place these examples in their contexts in order to better approach their deeper meaning. The main objective of this course is to question and (attempt to) understand architecture as a complex phenomenon of an intellectual, physical and social nature, and its meaning, and this through an approach that is rigorously critical.

Faculty or entity

LOCI