INSTRUCTOR: Chu
UA Pratt Institute School of Architecture

This seminar is about change and transformation in architecture. It will address the genetic logic of change, mutation and transformation of architectural ideas as well as the emergence of novelty from the vantage point of the contemporary situation. As such, it frames these ideas within the context of history, which serves as the pre-condition for the evolution of ideas and thus constituting the cultural space of experience, in relation to the horizon of expectation concerning the future. In other words, what is at stake is the futurity of architecture: the potential for the construction of possible worlds: the Not-yet as well as a radical conception of the New. The term radical, in mathematics, means pertaining to the root, and in this instance, it can be interpreted as pertaining to a root cause in whatever or whichever context something is situated or understood. This consequently led to a paradox: how can the New be related to the root cause?

The underlying premise is that any INFUSION of the truly creative dimension in architecture occurs, at the most signifi cant level, at the intersection of possible pasts and possible futures thereby injecting novelty into the fabric of the status quo. Where and when novelty can and could irrupt into a given situation is a question that is undecidable and indiscernible. It may or may not be a condition that is latent, i.e., an untapped reservoir of possibilities within a given sitation but the emergence of novelty is a truly creative moment in processes that lead to the becoming of an architectural reality. The event of this creative interruption by the force of novelty is, in essence, an exercise in the radical conception of freedom.

At any given time in any given society, the conditions of possibility for architecture are driven, to a great extent, by the complex mix of forces derived from belief systems, the economy (situated both within its local as well as global setting), socio-political determinants, technological innovations and, above all, existential aspirations that are more or less operative within that society. This complex array of forces loosely frame the prevailing paradigm that establishes and governs what forms of architecture are possible and what kinds are not or deemed irrelevant.

The following set of ten questions therefore is

pertinent to the question of change:

1. How does change or novelty occur within the field of architecture? In other words, what are the forces that motivate and constitute the set of pre-conditions that gradually or abruptly triggers the infusion of germs, which eventually lead to innovation, development and emergence of novelty within a culture?

2. How does change relate to history and, specifically, to the discursive formation of architectural ideas as well as those that are outside of the discipline of architecture?

3. Is there a radical conception of freedom in architecture? If so, how does it relate to the general concept of freedom? Are they consonant?

4. Some say there is nothing new under the sun. Therefore, is there such a thing as a radical conception of the New, one that has never occurred or came into the sphere of thought before, possible?

5. What is an inconsistent multiplicity as opposed to a consistent multiplicity where the truly other, which novelty is, is generally thought of as an ontological exclusion?

6. Is there such a condition as ‘pure reserve’ understood from an ontological perspective? If there is, what are its implications?

7. What is time and its relation of architecture?

8. Is there such a thing as archaeology of the future?

9. What are the possibilities for the conception of a multi-temporal condition for architecture?

10. Last but not least, what is modal space – the ontological space of pure possibilities?

Undoubtedly, these are philosophical questions but they are ideas pertaining to the cultural life of architecture and the architecture of life. This seminar will discuss these issues and how they relate to both theory and practice of architecture.

A reading list encompassing philosophers from the ancient to the contemporary – ranging from the first philosopher in the West named Thales to the contemporary French philosopher Alain Badiou – will be given. Each student will be required to present two constructions for the class:

1. A multimedia presentation for the midterm.

2. A paper on a relevant subject to be chosen and determined by each student based on her/his interest pertaining to the subject of change, transformation and the emergence of novelty in a given situation.