MH4010 Architecture and Critical Theory Syllabus:
MH4010 Architecture and Critical Theory Syllabus – Anna University PG Syllabus Regulation 2021
OBJECTIVES
To introduce the idea of architecture as enmeshed in society and a product of larger sociocultural processes, and not as autonomous object within a hermetically sealed discipline.
To introduce the various interdisciplinary critical theories and explain their interpretation of architecture.
UNIT I INTRODUCTION
Definition of theory – Architectural theory and its nature, purpose and its relation to practice – overview of some traditional architectural theories- context for the rise of more critical theories in architecture – Introduction to Critical Theory- Architecture and Critical Theory.
UNIT II POWER AND GENDER IN ARCHITECTURE
Definition of power- Forms of power- ideas of power and society, power-knowledge- postcolonialism Colonialism in India as a form of dominance- architecture and urbanism of colonialism in India- Indo Saracenic architecture- New Delhi as part of imperial vision- Power in the built environment at various scales- Case studies in the contemporary world- Introduction to the idea of gender and space- Case studies.
UNIT III PLACE AND ARCHITECTURE
Modernity, modern architecture and issues of particularity, place and context – Critical Regionalism and architectures of resistance- Phenomenology in architecture- placemaking.
UNIT IV MEANING IN ARCHITECTURE
Architecture as communication and representation- introduction to linguistic concepts of semiotics, structuralism, post structuralism and deconstruction- debates on modern, postmodern and deconstructivist architecture with reference to these concepts- Conditions of late capitalism- Society of spectacle- Architecture as spectacle and seduction.
UNIT V ARCHITECTURE IN THE AGE OF GLOBALISATION AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Influence of globalisation and digital revolution on architectural processes- global/ regional debates contemporary issues in architecture in India.
TOTAL: 45 PERIODS
COURSE OUTCOMES
CO1 The students would gain an understanding of architecture as an integral production of society as well as engage in critical thinking to interpret architecture
CO2 The students’ awareness through this course would inform their future practice/ research/ teaching
REFERENCES
1. Anthony D. King, Colonial Urban Development, Routledge & Paul, London, 1976
2. Christian Norberg Schulz- Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture, Rizzoli New York, 1980
3. Guy Debord. Society of Spectacle,
4. Harry Francis Mallgrave and David Goodman, An Introduction to Architectural Theory- 1968 to the present, Wiley Blackwell 2011
5. Ian Borden & Jane Rendell,(ed), Intersections, Routledge 2000
6. Jane Rendell, Barbara Penner, Iain Borden, Gender Space Architecture, Routledge, 2000
7. Kate Nesbitt, Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996
8. Kim Dovey, Framing Places: Mediating Power in Built Form, Routledge 1999.
9. Michael Hays (ed) Architectural Theory since 1960,MIT Press, 2000
10. Neil Leach (ed) Rethinking Architecture, Routledge 2000
11. Neil Leach, Anaesthetics of Architecture, MIT Press 1999,
12. Paul Allan Johnson,Theory of Architecture, Routledge 2000
13. Thomas Metcalf, An Imperial vision, Oxford, 2002
14. William J. Mitchell, City of Bits: Space, Place and the infobahn, MIT Press, 1996