Ma cc semester1 brief

3.0 Critical Context Migrant Narratives.

From the Topological Atlas Project by Dr Nishat Awan Image from: http://www. topologicalatlas.net/hotglue/ mn_exhibit/

18/10/17 - 10/01/2018 OVERVIEW The MA Architecture and MA Interior Design courses allow you to develop your practice systematically in both project work and writing. Each semester you will be asked to undertake a specific research and writing task. As you move through the course, the research and writing should become increasingly connected to, and embedded in, your project work.

Critical context teaching across both MA courses is comprised of three components, one per semester. In semester one, we will hold a series of literature seminars, in which we will read texts that explore theories of interactivity, design, nature and the environment.

These are intended to help you to position your practice and will serve as a grounding for your research and studio work throughout the course. Following the seminars, you are asked to prepare and submit a ‘literature review and position statement’. This should take the climatic conditions you are researching for your ‘climates brief’ as a starting point of inquiry, building on the presentations you have already given. The literature review should give an overview of your field, outlining the main arguments and your position in relation to them. Your position statement should set out the theoretical concerns and issues you seek to address in your studio work this year, and how it responds to the literature in this area.

The literature review and position statement in semester one, is followed by the Research Thesis in semester two, in which you will conduct a detailed research project, written as a 6000 word thesis. The agenda for this research is set by you, it should follow the insights gained through the literature in semester one and should also be developed in conjunction with your studio practice. The final cultural context component in semester three concerns the development of your Research Folio. This is a concise and coherent document that explains your research agenda, how this is manifest in your practice-based research, specifically your final studio project. The three critical context units across the year are intended to help you establish a knowledge base and framework, from which you will be able to situate your own ideas. You will be introduced to each of the critical context units at the outset of each semester.

Success in Critical Context will depend on you actively engaging with the seminars, reading extensively, visiting projects and exhibitions and studying closely the projects that you select as objects of study for your literature review and thesis. The learning hours for this unit suggest that you should be spending on average 20 hours per week - think of that as 2-3 hours of reading, research and writing per day. These activities should be supplemented by visiting, drawing and discussing texts. You should anticipate some intensive writing towards the end of each semester.

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UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Interior Architecture & MA Architecture // 2017-18

SEMESTER 1 CARC 7001 & CIND 7011 This semester is structured around thematic, student-led seminars. You will be responsible for becoming knowledgeable of the content of the weekly reading (available on MyUCA), and prepare comments and contributions for group discussion.

Your asignment is to prepare and submit a literature review and position statement of 3000 to 4000 words in length. This should draw on the class readings in addition to your own research to construct a rigorous reading of concepts, work and theories of design, nature and the environment. Your submission should use clearly defined terms and reference critical and analytical frameworks.

To prepare your literature review and position statement you should follow the suggested structure in the guide provided on myUCA (teaching materials). Your assignment should be illustrated and fully referenced using the UCA Harvard System. You should consider the graphic design of your literature review and position statement, and are encouraged to explore the relationships between text, image and diagram.

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This unit runs from the introduction on 18/10/2017 until submission on the 10/01/2017.

SEMESTER 1 TIMETABLE 18.10.2017 10.00 08.11.2017 10.00-13.00

Introduction to the Unit. MA Studio Space.

Literature Seminar 1 - The Natural Contract MA Studio Space.

The text for this seminar, The Natural Contract, is a key text by the French philosopher Michel Serres, who over 20 years ago argued that climate and ecological changes are forcing us to reconsider our relationship to nature. We have chosen this text to help us explore what this relationship is, how it is culturally defined (or subject to cultural difference) and therefore discuss how ideas about how we relate to nature might influence approaches to design.Please read in advance of the session: Serres, M. 1995. Chapter- ‘The Natural Contract’ in The Natural Contract. Translated by Elizabeth MacArthur and William Paulson. Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press.

Pp. 27-50 In preparation for the seminar you should think about: 1. What are the main arguments being put forward? Do you agree with them?

2. What is meant by ‘the natural contract’?

3. Is the understanding of our relationship to nature that Serres discusses cultural? Is it specifically European? What might other cultural understandings of nature be?

4. What do you find of interest in the text that you had not considered before?

5. How might ‘the natural contract’ change how we approach design?

You should also look at the work of artists who have engaged with this text in their projects, in particular Ursula Biemann and Paulo Tavares in their collaboration ‘Forest Law’. See the following links: https://creativeecologies.ucsc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/196/2015/10/BiemannTavares-Forest-Law.compressed.pdf https://www.geobodies.org/art-and-videos/forest-lawLiterature

08.11.2017 14.00-16.00

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Library Session: Building a bibliography & understanding sources Library Quiet Room, with Ian Badger

UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Interior Architecture & MA Architecture // 2017-18

15.11.2017 10.00-13.00

Literature Seminar 2- Companion Species MA Studio Space.

A number of recent works in the humanities and social sciences have critiqued Western culture and theories as being ‘anthropocentric’. This text has been chosen to discuss this idea, to prompt a conversation about what a non-anthropocentric approach to design might be, and to discuss why it might be important in developing design in the field of ecology and environment.

Haraway, D. 2016. Selection from Chapter 1 of Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Pages 15- 29.

You should also look at the work of artist Natalie Jeremijenko in, Katherine Carl and Natalie Jeremijenko interviewed by Linda Weintraub (2015), ‘Curator – Anthropologist / Ethnographer – Artist’ in Ethnoscripts 17 (1): 198-217 Available here: https://journals. sub.uni-hamburg.de/index.php/ethnoscripts/article/view/812/794 (Please read the interviewers introduction and the interview on the right hand column only) In preparation for the seminar, think about:

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1. What does ‘companion species’ mean?

2. What might it mean to speak of ‘companion species’ in design?

3. What kind of responsibility does or should the designer have to other species?

4. How can a designer take responsibility? How can a designer understand or get to know another’s needs if they cannot communicate them through speech?

5. Please bring TWO questions of your own to pose to the group.

22.11.2017 10.00-13.00

Literature Seminar 3 - Visualising climate and environment MA Studio Space.

A key claim by artists and designers working with issues of environment and climate change is that their work ‘raises awareness’. This text has been chosen to help us discuss and critique this claim, and to help us re-consider the role of art and design in engaging the public in environmental issues which might often seem isolated or ‘far away’.

Please read the following texts: Gabrys, J. 2014. ‘Powering the digital: from energy ecologies to electronic environmentalism.’ In Richard Maxwell, Jon Raundalen, Nina Lager Vestberg eds. Media and the Ecological Crisis. New York and London: Routledge. Pp. 3-18. Available here: http://www.jennifergabrys.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Gabrys_ElecEnviron_ MediaEcol.pdf In advance of the sessions please consider the following: 1. Do artists and designers have particular responsibilities regarding the awareness of issues of environment and climate change? What might these be?

2. What experiences (sights, sounds, smells, exhibitions, art pieces, new items...) have shaped your own understandings of climate and environment?

3. In what ways has experiencing a different urban environment prompted you to reconsider your ‘home’ environment?

4. How successful do you think the three projects presented in this article are?

5. Please bring TWO questions of your own to pose to the group.

22.11.2017 14.00-16.00

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Library Session: Developing critical reading Library Quiet Room with Ian Badger and Steve Dixon Smith

UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Interior Architecture & MA Architecture // 2017-18

29.11.2017 10.00-13.00

Literature Seminar 4- Interaction Design MA Studio Space.

Usman Haque is a designer and researcher whose practice is concerned with interactive architecture systems. In this text, he introduces some of the key terms in interactive art and architecture, such as what is meant by ‘interaction’ as well as ‘open source’ and the distinction of public and private domains.

Haque, U. 2007. ‘Distinguishing Concepts: Lexicons of Interactive Art & Architecture.’ In Bullivant, L. ed. 4D Social: Interactive Design Environments. London: Wiley. Pp. 25-31.

Available: http://www.haque.co.uk/papers/distinguishing_concepts.pdf In preparation for the seminar you should think about the following: 1. How does Haque define interaction?

2. How do you think ‘interactive’ design might change our idea about the role of the user and the designer?

3. What is meant by open source? What are its implications for design?

4. What do you undertsand by the concept of the commons?

5. How might ideas about design presented here relate to our previous discussions about nature, species and climate?

6. What questions do you have about this text? (Please bring TWO for discussion)

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06.12.2017 10.00-13.00

5 - Engaging with Climate Change & Climate Justice MA Studio Space.

While the climate is changing there is broad recognition that not all people are equally responsible for these changes, nor equally effected by them. We have chosen these two texts to help us disucss the social implications of working with a changing climate, and how we might engage with these issues in our projects.

Klein, N., 2015. Introduction to This Changes Everything. Capitalism versus the climate.

London: Penguin. Pp. 1-30.

Beck, U. 2010. Chapter ‘Social Inequality and climate change’ in Mostafavi, M. & Doherty, G. Ecological Urbanism. Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Baden: Lars Müller Publishers. Pp. 106-109 You might also look at the work of the artist Amy Balkin. See: Balkin, A., 2015. ‘Public Smog’ in Davis, H. and Turpin, E. eds., Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environments and Epistemologies (Critical Climate Change). London: Open Humanities Press. Pp. 341-346. Available here: http://openhumanitiespress.org/ books/art-in-the-anthropocene In reading these texts you could consider: 1. What is meant by justice and climate justice? Is justice different from fairness or equality? In what ways?

2. What experiences do you have, or examples do you know of, of climate injustice?

3. How might these be represented? How might design engage with, or try to address this example?

4. How important is bodily experience or spatial experience in understanding these issues?

Does it bring something other than visual representation?

5. Please bring TWO questions of your own to pose to the group.

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06.12.2017 14.00-16.00

Library Session: Reviewing and editing your writing MA Studio Space, with Ian Badger and Steve Dixon Smith

13.12.2017 14.00-16.00

Library Session: Tutorials MA Studio Space, with Ian Badger and Steve Dixon Smith UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Interior Architecture & MA Architecture // 2017-18

Acoustic Ocean by Ursula Biemann Image from: https://www. geobodies.org/art-and-videos/acoustic-ocean

SUBMISSION 10.01.2018

Your literature review and position statment must be submitted between 10h00 and 16h00 on 10th January 2018. You should submit one bound paper copy to the Campus Registry and upload one digital copy (word document) via Turnitin on myUCA. The paper version should be submitted with a completed copy of the University’s standard Plagiarism Disclaimer Form [available from the Campus Registry]; the form must be handed in, if not it will be counted as a non-submission. The cover should identify your name as well as Unit code number, word count (excluding references) and the date.

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AIMS The aims of this unit are: A1.

To introduce you to academic research and issues in research methodologies.

A2.

To present a relevant body of knowledge on contemporary issues in

architecture, fine art and design, mapping key tropes in a critical context.

A3.

To foster independent enquiry and research.

A4.

To provide appropriate support and guidance on methods for the

expression of ideas, argument and conclusions at postgraduate level, in

written and verbal forms.

A5.

To encourage sound intellectual interrogation and debate and create a

culture of open exchange and discourse on a cross-disciplinary basis.

A6.

To provide an orientation to the library services.

LEARNING OUTCOMES On satisfactory completion of the unit you will have: LO1. Demonstrated how established techniques of research and enquiry are

used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline.

LO2. Demonstrated how to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them.

LO3. An ability to critically examine theoretical texts and to understand the

context of their production.

LO4. Demonstrated how to recognise and conceptualise methodological and

theoretical problems in your own practice and that of other practitioners.

LO5. Knowledge of a range of theoretical discourses key to the production and

interpretation of contemporary visual art & architecture LO6. An ability to present sophisticated, supported and coherently structured

arguments respecting academic conventions of writing and presentation.

LO7. Demonstrated how to use library services and information technology to

support the development of a research proposal.

LO8. An ability for independently motivated and directed research and self management of assignments 5

UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Interior Architecture & MA Architecture // 2017-18

REFERENCES Suggested Additional Readings: Chaplin, S., and Stara, A., eds., 2009. Curating Architecture and the City. AHRA critiques series. London: Routledge Dunne, A, 2006. Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, & Critical Design, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Fox, M., and Kemp, M, 2009. Interactive Architecture. Princeton University Press.

Hubbard, P., ed., 2011. Key Thinkers on Space and Place . London: Sage. Second Edition.

Leach, N., ed., 1996. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory. London: Routledge.

Lloyd-Thomas, K., ed., 2006. Material Matters: Architecture and Material Practice.

London: Routledge.

Macy, C. and Bonnemaison, S. 2003. Architecture and nature: creating the American landscape. London & New York: Routledge Morton, T., 2013. Hyperobjects: philosophy and ecology after the end of the world.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Morton, T., 2016. Dark ecology: for a logic of future coexistence. New York: Columbia University Press.

Muick, P.C., 1994. The Ecological City: Preserving and Restoring Urban Biodiversity.

Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

Olgyay, V. et al., 2015. Design with climate: bioclimatic approach to architectural regionalism. (New and expanded edition ed.) Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Rawes, P. ed., 2013. Relational Architectural Ecologies. Architecture, Nature and Subjectivity. Abingdon: Routledge.

Rendell, J. et al, eds., 2007. Critical Architecture. AHRA critiques series. London: Routledge.

Taylor, M., and Preston, A., eds., 2006. I.n .t imus: Interior Design Theory Reader.

London: J. Wiley and Sons.

Taylor, M., ed., 2013. Interior Design and Architecture: Critical and Primary Sources.

London: Bloomsbury.

Todd, J. and Todd, N.J., 1993. From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design. (2nd edition edition ed.) Berkeley, Calif: North Atlantic Books,U.S. Turner, F., 2006. From counterculture to cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the rise of digital utopianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Van der Ryn, S., 2014. Culture, architecture and nature: an ecological design retrospective. London ; New York: Routledge.

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Individual bibliography In addition to the above you are expected to identify and develop specific reading and research sources of your own. Students will develop a bespoke bibliography depending upon the focus and scope of their literature review and position statement (task 1).

Ian Badger is the Learning Librarian for the School of Architecture. Contact him to make a research appointment: tel 01227 817370, email ibadger@ucreative.ac.uk The University Library provides comprehensive visual arts and design resources. Visit the library on campus, online via myLibrary on myUCA, or at http://community.ucreative. ac.uk/library. You can reserve selected materials across the five sites, on campus or online from home.

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UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Interior Architecture & MA Architecture // 2017-18