Theory of Architecture III

Recommended Prerequisites

The student must be attending Architectural Design III simultaneously.

Teaching Methods

Lectures consist on the exposition of theoretical topics and concepts, their various meanings and interpretations in different historical periods and authors. The link between theory and practice through specific examples remains a main concern. Debate is also expected to take place in classes.

Practical classes consist of a set of exercises focused on the topics discussed. Beginning with the first exercise of Architectural Design III, students must develop his own design focusing on each specific topic.

Learning Outcomes

Architectural Theory III explores the principles that inform implicitly and explicitly the architectural practice elaborating on the theory and criticism underlying architectural knowledge and contemporary practice. The central aim of is to foster the relationship between critical thinking and architectural design. The development of theoretical thinking is based on a set of topics and concepts central to architectural theory, discussed in a broad historical context and approaching the the diverse meanings they embodied during that temporal context. Special attention is given to the way in which these concepts are explored in contemporary architecture. It is expected an informed, critical thinking capable of fostering the exploration of architectural design, developing a close relationship between theory and practice.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The syllabus content consists of a set of topics of architectural theory, discussed in their multiple meanings and oriented towards architectural design, such as:

Space

Tectonics

Composition

Proportion

Context

Natural / Manmade

Function

Empatia e Abstracção

Type

Archetype

Representation

Architectural treatises and the codes of the Modern Movement

 

These topics will be explored in practical exercises developed by each student promoting the relationship between theory and architectural practice.

Head Lecturer(s)

Armando Manuel de Castilho Rabaça Correia Cordeiro

Assessment Methods

Continous Assessment
Theoretical or practical synthesis work related with laboratory works: 50.0%
Laboratory works od architectural design (drawing and/or models) developed upon the first exercise o Architectural Design III. Grades will reflect the outcome of the individual research in the exercises developed along the semester, each with equal height: 50.0%

Bibliography

Kruft, Hanno-Walter. History of Architectural Theory from Vitruvius to the Present. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994.

 

Mallgrave, H. Francis. Architectural Theory. Vol. 1: An Anthology from Vitruvius to 1870. Wiley-Blackwell, 2006.

 

Mallgrave, H. Francis. Architectural Theory. Vol. 2: An Anthology from 1871 to 2005. Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.

 

Hays, K. Michael, ed. Architecture Theory since 1968. Cambridge, Mass; London: MIT Press, 1998.

 

Frampton, Kenneth. Studies in Tectonic Culture. The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture.  MIT Press, 1995.

 

Padovan, Richard. Proportion: Science, Philosophy, Architecture. Francis & Taylor, 1999.

 

Le Corbusier. Modulor 2 (La parole est aux usagers) Suite de "Le Modulor 1948". Editions de l’Architecture d’aujourd’hui, 1955.

 

Mallgrave, Harry Francis, and Eleftherious Ikonomou, eds. Empathy, Form, and Space: Problems in German Aesthetics, 1873-1893. Santa Monica: Getty Research Institute, 1994.