4.607
Thinking about Architecture - In History and At Present
Instructor: Mark Jarzombek
Office: 10-303A
Phone: 617-258-8440
mmj4@mit.edu
Units: 3-0-6
Level: H
This class will be constructed as a lecture-discussion, the purpose being to engage important theoretical issues while simultaneously studying their continuing historical significance. To enhance discussion, there will be three debates to be held in class. Each student will be required to participate in one of these debates. Each student will also be required to write three short papers. Class participation is essential and will be factored into the final grade.
The course will portray the history of theory neither as the history of architectural theory exclusively, nor as a series of prepackaged static pronouncements, but as part of a broader set of issues that with an active history must be continually probed and queried. The sequence of topics that will be introduced will not be absolutely predetermined, but some of the primary issues that will be addressed are: pedagogy, professionalism, nature, modernity and the Enlightenment. Classroom discussions and debates are intended to demonstrate differences of opinion and enhance awareness of the consequences that these differences had in specific historical contexts.
