Statement of Intent

Speculation
Architecture for the most part may only be produced by a creative, intellectual dialectic between imagination and reason. As such, judgments contained within the limits of theory are a fundamental part of the architectural creative process. It is a premise of this course that most architectural propositions are, whether textual or formal, a reflection of some overriding social, political, practical or aesthetic concern. Whether implicit or explicit, most works of architecture are affected to some extent by theoretical concerns that are informed by a broad spectrum of philosoph-ical-ideological assumptions and cultural values.

The term theory as applied to architecture was originally the accepted translation of the Latin term ratiocinatio as used by the Roman architect-engineer Vitruvius to differentiate intellectual from practical knowledge as applied to architectural production. The term however has come to suggest the basis for judging the conceptual and or cultural-ideological com-ponent of architectural design and/or buildings. A number of interpretations have been given to the term architectural theory. Before 1750 most treatises or pub-lished lectures on architecture could be described as textbooks on the subject. Works that may be included in this category are Sebastiano Serlio's The Five Books of Architecture, Palladio's Four Books of Architecture and Leon Battista Alberti's On the Art of Building in Ten Books, among others. After the cultural and technical developments associated with the Industrial Revolution the amount of architectural knowl-edge produced by academic research increased to a level where a complete synthesis became difficult, if not impossible, to contain within any single publication.

We will commence the seminar by positing architectural theory as an element that unifies the opposing worlds of external conditions ['reality'], the object world in Martin Heidegger's terms, assumed to be a-priori condition and ultimately knowable, and its opposite, the landscape of reflection, the internal world of thought. This latter realm encompasses the imagination and the province of interpretation. As previously noted in the description to this seminar, architec-tural theory can be highly specific and prescriptive as well as descriptive and polemical. In the former condition theory specifically answers the requirements of architects seeking instruction to practical tasks and as such theory locates architecture at the level of craft or technique. On the other hand, in more polemical instances, theory is used as a lens to analyze, critique and/or address social, cultural and grammatical-composi-tional endeavors. The idea of theory as specifically applied to architecture raises several questions which we will address in this seminar: How and to what extent does theory affect the production of architecture? Can one readily detect the application of theory in a finished work? Is architectural theory a prescient oracle for the development of form, or an ex post facto justi-fication for built work? Can architecture exist independently of ethical and aesthetic principles?

Objectives - Requirements
An objective of the seminar is to provide students with a broad critical framework from which to work, formulate and address issues related to architectural design, analysis and criticism. As such the seminar requires the active participation of students. We will examine various theoretical posi-tions within such diverse topics as ethics, semiotics, perception, typology and geometry, among others, and their historical evolution. We will analyze these subject-positions and, akin to an archaeological act, uncover implicit ideological intentions and their overall effect on architectural production. Since clues to and notions informing the theory of architecture may reside in texts either peripherally re-lated to or outside of the discipline altogether, at-tention cannot be confined within strictly architectural boundaries. As such interpretations will be drawn from the mar-gins of architectural discourse such as philosophy, urban and critical theory as well as various politico-polemical works. Students will present the various subject-topics and formulate the preliminary framework for discussion. In addition to several analytic-design exercises throughout the semester the students will also undertake individual research projects on some aspect of architec-tural theory which will form the basis for a term paper. These research projects may serve not only as reference points for discussion throughout the semester but clarify the students own theoretical positions and help to formulate a personal philosophy of architecture as well.