Visions and Agendas in Architecture

This subject introduces students to a body of theories and polemics for architectural design and spatial practice formulated from the post-war period to the present. Figures such as Le Corbusier, Minnette de Silva, Reyner Banham, Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi, Atelier Bow Wow, Bernard Tschumi, Beatriz Colomina, Diller and Scofidio, Yasmeen Lari, Jane Rendell, Robin Evans, Greg Lynn, Katie Lloyd Thomas, Muf, Teddy Cruz, Eyal Weizman and Sasha Costanza Chock are introduced and examined. This subject covers a history of efforts to theorise a progressive spatial and design agenda in modern society. It explores urgent topics that have been central to discussion in the long 20 th Century and are still open to debate today: how to define architecture and practice; the demands of the environment, the Anthropocene and sustainability; the role of media and technology; the place of the body, the senses and subjectivity; changing understandings of materiality; and design for social justice. This subject provides an academic basis for critiques in design practice – in the teaching and learning spaces of design studios and beyond. Based on critical and historical reading, it invites students to speculate on new agendas of design and spatial thinking for our time and to understand the complexities of these topic areas.