The seminar introduces to the concept of space in modern architecture, focusing on two aspects: historical and critical. The course provides historical and intellectual mapping of the concept of space through the discussion of texts of architectural theory in the twentieth century, including the genesis of this concept. The critical aspect of the course develops understanding of architecture in a broader cultural context (such as philosophical thinking, theory and history of art).
Thematic units:
" Modern architecture and space: introduction to the concept of space in modern architecture (Collins, Forty, Zevi)
" The very beginning of the concept: the emergence of architectural space and a search for identity within architecture
Enclosed space (Semper, Berlage); Enclosure or shelter; Wright's "destruction of the box" and flowing space
" Modernism and space: its discourse on space and its preconditions
A new understanding of space (Schindler, De Stijl, Moholy-Nagy, Mies van der Rohe)
Le Corbusier: from the Enlightenment dream of "transparency" to "Ineffable Space"
" Architectural critique of modernist concept of space and return of the notion of place
From phenomenology and existentialism to architectural space (Van der Laan)
The concept of place (Norberg-Schulz)
Deconstruction: from Derrida's spacing to a different place (Tschumi)
" A reflective and critical approach to the concept of space
(Arnheim, Casey, Foucault, Lefebvre, Vidler)