Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Course Overview
Architecture relates to technology in multiple forms, as the organizational basis of society, as production system, as formal inspiration, as mode of temporization, as communicational vehicle, and so on.
Architectural literature is filled with a surfeit of both metaphorical and literal embraces of what architects consider technology: These range from the utopian to the cartoonish, to the faux-philosophical, to the inadvertently religious, often to the seriously deluded. Can architecture’s relationship to technology go beyond the semiotic and the metaphorical? To answer this question, this course will consider what one means by the term technology, and then subsequently some of the key ways in which questions of technology have been absorbed into architectural, and more generally, other forms of cultural (art, cinematic, etc.) practice.
Prerequisites
4.645 Selected Topics in Architecture: Architecture from 1750 to the Present
Grading
Your performance in this class will be evaluated on class presentations, participation, and exams. Your grade will be decided using the following weights:
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Class Presentations, Participation, and Attendance | 30% |
| Two Midterm (take-home) Exams | 40% |
| Final (take-home) Exam | 30% |
Assignments
Class Presentations, Participation, and Attendance
Students are expected to engage the course material by completing readings, producing at least two presentations (with team members), leading and participating in discussion. Students missing more than 2 classes will be docked a grade; those missing more than 3 classes during the semester will receive a fail. Persistent lateness will also contribute to a lowered grade for participation.
Midterm Exams
These will be questions structured by the readings and case studies, prompting short essays.
Final Exam
The final will be structured as above. In lieu of the final exam, students receiving grades of A- or above in the previous midterms, and otherwise in good standing with the professors, may write an individual final paper on a topic of their choosing, in consultation with professors and the teaching assistant. Final Exam / Paper–12 double spaced pages.
