"Theory is something one does not see" (Hans Blumenberg) - this sounds mystic and irritating: is not theory what affords us a concsious, rational (reasonable and reflected) and communicable manner of thinking and seeing? The important architects all have more or less clear ideas about what they are doing. They are masters of what is happening in their time. This course provides an introduction in architectural theory. Thereby, we will be concerned also with the question of what theory is capable of, how it is often an impertinence, what it is being accused of, and what is being expected from it.
We will depart from a selection of texts that have proved to be imporant for architectural theory throughout the 20th century. We will read them as stage plays and number works, in which concepts that are central to architectonic thinking - like structure, system, element, form, style, metrics, magnitude, proportion, module, partition, generalization, specification, criterium - are being dramatized in various manners. We will be thinking about the stakes of such stage plays: Where is the action and what is happening? With such questioning we can get familiar with different articulations and organizations of these powerful concepts, without commiting ourselves to any one school in particular (as for example analytics, cybernetics, pragmatism, constructivism). Any of those render graspable, in particular manners, the technical capacities that characterize a particular a time (by rationalizing the power of what counts as possible). They all formulate thereby, inevitably, also a particular stance towards what counts as irrational and impossible in a particular time (by symbolizing, and constraining, these capacities). We will learn how to place key texts in their historical context - this is how we can exercise ourselves in learning how to think architectonically.
The aim of this course is to help the students in developing and relating vivid ideas with words such as "structuralism" or "poststructuralism", "modern" or "postmodern", "historical", "classical" or "original" - words that often come along in today s discourses as rather empty (jargon) or clumsy (dogmatic). What are words, such as "epoch", "canon", "program", "type", "grammar", "rule sets", capable of? Why are we inclined to like certain ones better than others? What are the preassumptions when speaking of "systems theory", "technology" or "ontology", or "authority", "expertise", or "authorship"? What are the promises of words such as "dispositiv", "facticity" or "paradigm" ?
Program (provisional):
All texts are provided for you on TISS, in the weekly pdf readers .
16. März 2018 (12:15-14:00 Uhr):
Einführung. Architektur und Theorie
QUARTIERE
René Girard, “The Origins of Myth and Ritual”, in: Violence and the Sacred (John Hopkins UP, 1977) pp. 89-118.
Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author" in Image-Music-Text (Hill&Wang, 1977).
Michel Serres, "The Secret of the Sphinx", in: Statues, Second Book on Foundations (Bloomsbury, 2015)
Kate Nesbitt, "Introduction" in: Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture, (Princeton, 1996).
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Autorität", "Mass" und "Narration" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Koolhaas - “The Generic City”
Koolhaas - “Junkspace”
Loos - “Ornament und Verbrechen”
Kipnis - “Forms of Irrationality”
23. März 2018 (12:15-14:00 Uhr)
Theorie und Universalität (Zahlenwerke und das Labyrinthische)
QUARTIERE
Jocelyn Godwin (ed.), The Harmony of the Spheres - The Pythagorean Tradition in Music (Inner Tradition Press, 1993) (selected sources)
Hans Blumenberg,"Das Lachen der Thrakerin" in Das Lachen der Thrakerin: Eine Urgeschichte der Theorie (Suhrkamp, 1987)
Carroll William Westfall: Architecture, Liberty and Civic Order (University of Notre Dame, 2015), Chapters 1, 2, 3 (pp.1-38)
Michel Serres, "Introduction" und "Paris 1800", Michel Serres ed., Elemente einer Geschichte der Wissenschaften (Suhrkamp, 1998). (pp.1-16; 422-454).
Aus Propyläen Technikgeschichte (Bd. 1): „Kommunikationstechnik“, „Prometheus: Wandlung eines Mythos“, „Die Theorie der Techné“ und „Die Entstehung der Mechanik“
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Ganzes/Teil" und "Gesetz/Gesetzmässigkeit" und aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Mirandola - “Über die Würde des M.”
Flasch - Das Buch der 24 Philosophen
20. April 2018 (12:15-14:00 Uhr)
Europa und Humanismus
QUARTIERE
Ovid, Metamorphosen (Kapitel 14, "Europa").
Gustav Schwab: Sagen des klassischen Altertums (Kapitel 6, "Europa").
Massimo Cacciari, "The Geophilosophy of Europe" in The Unpolitical, On the Radical Critique of Political Reason (Fordham, 2009).
Rodolphe Gasché, "Which Earth?" In: Geophilosophy: On Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's What Is Philosophy? (Northwestern UP, 2014).
Pier Vittorio Aureli, "The Geopolitics of the Ideal Villa" in The Possibility of Absolute Architecture (MIT Press, 2011) (37 S.)
Rosi Braidotti: Europe and the University, A Concerned Statement. (Video Lecture, 15 min, ATTP youtube channel).
Harry Francis Mallgrave (Hrsg.) Architectural Theory, An Anthology, Vol.1 (Blackwell, 2006): “Renaissance and Baroque Ideals”.
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Das Absolute", "Gesellschaftsvertrag" und "Die Nation" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Eisenman - “Diagram of the Original Scene”
Tafuri - “Historical Project”
Corbusier - “Towards a New Architecture”
Moholy-Nagy - “The New Vision”
27. April 2018 (12:15-14:00 Uhr)
Adäquatheit und Architektur - Baukunst, Profession, "Zweckmässigkeit"
QUARTIERE
Gunther Fischer, "Erstes Buch Kap.I-III" in: Vitruv Neu (Birkhäuser, 2012),
Jay Kappraff, "Musical Proportions at the Basis of Systems of Architectural Proportion both Ancient and Modern,", in: Kim Williams, Michael J. Ostwald (eds.) Mathematics and Architecture from Antiquity to the Future (Birkhäuser, 2015).
Paul Benoit, "Algebra, Commerce and Calculation", in Michel Serres (ed.), Elemente einer Geschichte der Wissenschaften (Suhrkamp, 1998).
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Abbild" und "Mimesis" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Boullé - “Architecture, Essay on Art”
Gropius - “New Architecture of the Bauhaus”
Hillier - “What is Arch. adding to Building”
Semper - “Practical Aesthetics”
4. Mai 2018 (8:15-10:00 Uhr)
Wissenschaft und Globalisierung
QUARTIERE
Geof Bowker, "Manufacturing Truth: The Development of Industrial Research", in Michel Serres (ed.), Elemente einer Geschichte der Wissenschaften (Suhrkamp, 1998).
Walter Benjamin, "Über den Begriff der Geschichte", in: Illuminationen (Suhrkamp, 2001 [1920-1940]).
Vera Bühlmann, "Chronopedia I: Counting time" in Mathematics and Information in the Philosophy of Michel Serres (Bloomsbury, 2018 forthcoming).
Harry Francis Mallgrave (Hrsg.) Architectural Theory, An Anthology, Vol.1 (Blackwell, 2006): “The German Style Debate”.
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Arbeit" und "Abstraktion" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Heidegger - Zeit des Weltbildes
Gropius - “Einleitung Intern. Architektur”
Koolhaas - “Bigness”
Krier - “The Reconstruction of the City”
Marinetti - “The Futurist Manifesto”
St. Elia - “Manifesto of Futurist Architecture”
Venturi - “Theory of the Ugly and Ordinary”
18. Mai 12-14:00 Uhr
Mathemata. Struktur und Lernbarkeit
QUARTIERE
Clara Silvia Roero "Relationships Between History of Mathematics and History of Art", (59-67) in Kim Williams, Michael J. Ostwald (eds.) Mathematics and Architecture from Antiquity to the Future (Birkhäuser, 2015)
Vladimir Tasic, "Introduction" and "Ch.1, Around the Cartesian Circuit" in Mathematics and the Roots of Postmodern Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 3-6;7-19.
Niels Bandholm, "The Celestial Key: Heaven Projected on Earth" in Kim Williams, Michael J. Ostwald (eds.) Mathematics and Architecture from Antiquity to the Future (Birkhäuser, 2015)
Harry Francis Mallgrave (Hrsg.) Architectural Theory, An Anthology, Vol.1 (Blackwell, 2006): “French Classicism”.
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Fortschritt" und "Ontologie" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Filarete - “Dedication and Book 1”
Vitruv - “Preface”
Hillier - “Social Logic of Space”
Alberti - “On Ciphers”
Duchamp - “Notes”
25. Mai 2018 (12:15-14:00 Uhr)
Das Gnomon (Sonnenuhr) und die Artikulation. Encryption, Form und Key
QUARTIERE
Indira Kagis McEwen, “Anaximander and the Articulation of Order”, in Socrates’ Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings (MIT Press, 1993).
Michel Serres, "Das Gnomon" in Michel Serres (ed.), Elemente einer Geschichte der Wissenschaften (Suhrkamp, 1998).
Susanne K. Langer, "The New Key” and “Symbolic Transformation” in Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art (Harvard, 1996 [1957]).
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Friede" und "Möglichkeit" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Eisenman - “Towards Form in Architecture”
Malewitsch - “Gegenstandslose Welt”
Mies v. Rohe - “The Artless Word”
1. Juni 2018 (12:15-14:00 Uhr)
Anstoss, Nachahmung und Abbild
QUARTIERE
James J. Williams, "Foreword to: Rene Girard, I See Satan Fall like Lightning" (ix-xxiii), in Rene Girard, I See Satan Fall like Lightning (Orbis, 2001).
Rene Girard, "From Mimetic Desire to the Monstrous Double" in Violence and the Sacred (John Hopkins UP, 1977) (143-167)
Michel Serres, "Das Quasi-Objekt" in Der Parasit (Suhrkamp, 1987).
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Säkularisierung", "Gesellschaft" und "Öffentlichkeit" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Semper - “Comparative Theory of Building”
Neufert - “Data”
Schlemmer - “Mensch und Kunstfigur”
Buckminster Fuller - “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth”
8. Juni 2018 (12:15-14:00)
Rechteck und Kreis: Rationalität und Irrationalität
QUARTIERE
Cathrine Goldstein, "Stories of the Circle", in Michel Serres (ed.), Elemente einer Geschichte der Wissenschaften (Suhrkamp, 1998).
Indra Kargis McEwen, "The Body Beautiful" in:Vitruvius: Writing the Body of Architecture (MIT Press, 2003).
Horst Rittel - “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning”, Policy Sciences, 4:2 (1973:June).
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Form/Materie", "Natur" und "Wissen" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Corbusier - Modulor Preamble
Van Eyck - “Team 10 Primer”
Banham - “A Home is not a House”
15. Juni 2018 (12:15-14:00 Uhr)
Parallelogram: System und Programm
DATEN-QUARTIERE
Massimo Cacciari, "The Project" in The Unpolitical, On the Radical Critique of Political Reason (Fordham, 2009).
Manfred Tafuri, "Introduction: The Historical Project" in The Sphere and the Labyrinth (MIT Press, 1987).
Gerard O ́ Regan, “History of Programming Languages” in A Brief History of Computing (Springer, 2008)
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Das Fremde", "Zufall" und "Qualität/Quantität" aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Rossi - “Analogical Architecture”
Hillier - “Space is the Machine”
Alexander - “A city is not a tree”
Terzidis - “MultiEpiLog”
Hovestadt - “Genealogy of the Printable”
Code: Diskretion und Kontinuität im Typischen
QUARTIERE
Michel Serres, Thumbelina. The Culture and Technology of Millennials (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
Mario Carpo, "Variable, Identical, Differential" in The Alphabet and the Algorithm (MIT Press, 2011).
Ludger Hovestadt, "A Phantastic Genealogy of the Printable" in Vera Bühlmann, Ludger Hovestadt, eds., Printed Physics (Birkhäuser, 2012).
BEGRIFFS-SPEKTREN
"Technik", "Zivilgesellschaft" und "Kultur", aus Enzyklopädie Philosophie, Hrsg., Hans-Jörg Sandkühler, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2010.
REDEN
Mitchell - “Building Descriptions”
Lynn - “Probable Geometries”
Superstudio - “The Continuous Moment”
Terzidis - “Capturing the Elusive”
Terzidis - “Otherness”
Hovestadt - “Elements of a Digital Architecture”
