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DetailedCourseOutline
CourseIntroduction:
PART1:AnsweringInnocuousquestionssuchas`whatisthedifferencebetweenbuildingand
architecturecouldunsettleourassumptionsaboutarchitecture.Arewerightinexplainingthat
buildingsbelongtotheworldoftheordinaryandarchitecturetotheworldoftheexalted?Whatdoes
closescrutinyofhistoryandtheoryreveal?Aswepursuethisquestionitemergesthatarchitecturehas
alwaysstruggledtodefineitself.Sometimesoutofselfdoubt,sometimestocoursecorrect,and
sometimetostayrelevanttosociety.ObjectiveandstructureThisfirstpartofthecourseinterrogates
howarchitecturehasbeendefinedovertheyearsanditsrelationshiptopractice.Itprobesthe
assumptionsthatunderliethediscipline.Itwouldtakefiveimportanttextsstartingfromtherecentand
popularbookShortIntroductiontoarchitecturebyBallantynetoearliertextspublishedinthe
nineteenthcentury.Thelectureswouldidentifydifferentstreamsofdefinitions,relatethemtopractice
andfindoutwhatthepresentstateis.Thequestionsitwouldtrytoanswerare:havetheposition
changedinthelasttwohundredyearsorarearchitectsonlytinkeringwithentrenchedviews.How
doesIndiantextsandpracticeofarchitecturesitinthiscontext?PART2:Thisseriesoflectures
discussthinkingaboutarchitecture,whereinwemainlyfocusonthenatureofarchitecturalproblem.
Thedefinitionofarchitecturalproblemremainssurprisinglyflexibledespiteattemptstoreduceittoa
singledefinition.Duringthecourse,weinvestigatethenatureofproblemsandthedeliberateand
thoughtfulattemptstoproblemresolutioninarchitecturalthinking.Thecoursebeginswithabroad
sweepoftheknowledgedomaintodiscussseveralinterrelatedideasaboutnatureofproblems,witha
viewtounderstand,problemsandideasaboutdesigninrelationtodisciplinarybindings.Further,we
discussarchitectureasadisciplineandtracethelineagesofarchitecturalthinkingwithina
multidisciplinaryframework.Lastly,wediscusscasestudiesfocussingonthedimensionsofsociety
andculture,environment,andtechnologytounderstandthewaysinwhichproblemresolution
manifestsasdesignmethodology.
WeeklyPlan:
Week1:
Whatisthedifferencebetweenbuildingandarchitecture?
Week2:
ReadingAndrewBallantynesintroductiontoarchitecture
Week3:
Originsofarchitecture:storiesandhistories
Week4:
19thand20thcenturyattemptstodefinearchitecture
Week5:
Indianarchitecturetextsandpractice
Week6:
Consolidationofprofession&ArchitectsonArchitecture
Week7:
Contemporaryanxieties:recentdebatesaboutpragmatismandsocialrelevance
Week8:
Studentpresentations:5minutevideoson`whatisarchitecture?
Week9:
Definingproblemstypesofproblems,rationality,cognition
Week10:
Problemsolvingtypesofproblemsolving,designasproblemsolving
Week11:
Problemsolvingdesignapproaches
Week12:
Architectureasadisciplinetopicsinarchitectureandarchitecturalresearch
Week13:
CasestudiesTBA
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Week14:
CasestudiesTBA
Week15:
CasestudiesTBA
Week16:
.
References/Reading:
PART1AdrianForty,WordsandBuildings:AvocabularyofModernarchitecture,Introduction
chapter.ThamesandHudson,2000.AnandaK.Coomaraswamy,EarlyIndianArchitecture:IV.
HutsandRelatedTempleTypes,(ed)MichaelW.Meister,RES:AnthropologyandAesthetics,No.
15(Spring,1988),pp.526AndrewBallantyne(ed.),WhatisArchitecture,Routledge,2000
AndrewBallantyne,Architecture,Averyshortintroduction,OxfordUniversityPress,NewYork,
2002CharlesCorrea,India:FromaPhilosophyofAges,architecturefortoday,Museum
International,Volume41,issue4,1989,pp223239HazelConwayandRowanRoenisch,
UnderstandingArchitecture,Routledge,Oxion,2005(firstpublishedin1994)RichardWittman,The
HutandtheAltar:ArchitecturalOriginsandthePublicSphereinEighteenthCenturyFrance.
SinclairGauldie,Architecture,OxfordUniversityPress,London,1969SpiroKostof(ed.),The
Architect,Chaptersinthehistoryofprofusion,OxfordUniversityPress,NewYork,1977VincentJ
Scully.Jr,ModernArchitecture,CollegeArtJournal,Vol17,no2,1958PART2HumanProblem
Solving,HerbertSimon,PrenticeHall,1972.TheSciencesoftheArtificial,HerbertSimon,MIT
Press,1996.Thinking,FastandSlow,DanielKahneman,Macmillan,2011.TheGeometryof
Environment:AnIntroductiontoSpatialOrganizationinDesign,LionelMarch,PhilipSteadman,
1974.APatternLanguage:Towns,Buildings,Construction,OxfordUniversityPress,1977.The
SocialLogicofSpace,BillHillierandJulienneHanson,1989SpaceistheMachine:A
ConfigurationalTheoryofArchitecture,BillHillier,1999.
EvaluationMethod:
Assignment1:Weightage:50percentTheclasswoulddivideintogroupsofthreeandwould
producea5minutevideoonWhatisArchitecture?Theycouldinterviewusers,architects,students,
artistsandanyoneelsetheywish.Thefilmhastobeprobing,creativeandcapturemultiple
viewpoints.Studentscanuseanydeicethatrecordamovingpictureandsound.Weightage:50per
centEachstudentwillprepareadesignbriefonachosendesignareaasperinstructionsgivenin
class.Assignment2:Tobeannouncedinclass

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