Course syllabus adopted 2025-02-09 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).
Overview
- Swedish nameLaboratorium för kritiska studier: värde i arkitektur
- CodeACE386
- Credits5 Credits
- OwnerMPDSD
- Education cycleSecond-cycle
- Main field of studyArchitecture
- DepartmentARCHITECTURE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
- GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail
Course round 1
- Teaching language English
- Application code 17122
- Maximum participants32 (at least 10% of the seats are reserved for exchange students)
- Minimum participants8
- Open for exchange studentsYes
- Only students with the course round in the programme overview.
Credit distribution
Module | Sp1 | Sp2 | Sp3 | Sp4 | Summer | Not Sp | Examination dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0125 Written and oral assignments 5 c Grading: TH | 5 c |
In programmes
- MPARC - Architecture and Urban Design, Year 1 (compulsory elective)
- MPDSD - Architecture and Planning Beyond sustainability, Year 1 (compulsory elective)
Examiner
Naima Callenberg- Lecturer, Architectural Theory and Method, Architecture and Civil Engineering
Eligibility
General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.
Specific entry requirements
English 6 (or by other approved means with the equivalent proficiency level)Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.
Course specific prerequisites
Aim
What is value and how does it relate to architecture? The course aims to form a laboratory of critical thinking around the topic of value in relation to architecture. It is said that architecture can be viewed as a mirror of the collective values of the society in which it is built. Architecture is (re)produced and assessed in relation to multiple set of value systems, ranging from monetary ones to ethical-social ones, where politics, norms, aesthetics and so forth all play a role. Believing that the construction sector and design disciplines must pivot and wholeheartedly engage in current crisis, this course aims to see how we as a field can be rewired to face and repair the state that we are in, using the perspective of value as a vehicle to do so. The course aims to make visible and critically examine the network of values which we as architects operate within and investigate the effect of the same. It aims to do so from three different, but very much connected perspectives, Work, Economy and Culture. These perspectives will give us points of departure for a journey of self-examination, where we will recognize and scrutinize unstated assumptions and deconstruct the embedded value systems of our field and speculate on what this can mean for the future. Lastly, the course aims to train and encourage the students to use source texts as a basis for formulating their individual research projects, standpoints and lines of argument, formatted as a written paper and as a visual representation in the form of a mapping/diagram.Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)
Knowledge and understanding
- demonstrate a critical understanding of how architecture relates to different concepts of value, using theoretical texts as basis for this understanding.
Competence and skills
- The student can formulate an independent standpoint based on arguments laid out in the course literature and other texts, develop this standpoint in an academic text, and appropriately use citation, references, and a bibliography.
Judgement and approach
- critically relate their own writing and arguments as developed in the course to larger issues and debates within architecture and urban design.
- demonstrate an ability to relate knowledge gained within the course to the development of a future professional role.
Content
The course explores value systems from different themed perspectives and consists of a series of lectures and seminars that contextualize and discuss course readings on these topics. With the aid of these seminars, and in dialogue with the instructor, students formulate a topic for their final paper. The students will also be asked to produce visual representations of their research in the form om mappings/diagrams.Organisation
The course description and its context are introduced in an introductory lecture. Learning is structured around reading assignments, seminars and lectures. The main part of the course consists of a number of literature seminars based on a selection of text relating to specific themed perspectives on the general topic. Discussions are carried out both in class and in smaller groups. The production of text will be accompanied with the production of graphic representations, mappings/diagrams, which aims to give support to the research, both in process and communication. The course also contains meetings for individual tutoring. The literature list provides suggestions for further readings, to enhance each student s choice of a theme for the individual assignment.Literature
Petrescu, Trogal (ed), 2017. The social (re)production of architecture: politics, values and actions in contemporary practice. Routledge, London.Space Caviar (ed), 2021. Non-Extractive Architecture On Designing Without Depletion. Sternberg Press.
Gromark, Mack, van Toorn (ed), 2018. Making Effect: Rethinking the Social in Architecture. Actar Publishers, Barcelona, New York.
Frichot, Sandin, Schwalm (ed), 2018. After Effects: Theories and Methodologies in Architectural Research. Actar Publishers, Barcelona, New York.
Harriss, Hyde, Marcaccio (ed), 2021. Architects after Architecture. Alternative Pathways for Practice. Routledge, New York.
Lowenhaupt Tsing, 2021. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton University Press.
Additional literature will be added to this list. Obligatory texts and the literature list as a whole will be introduced more in detail at the start of the course.
Examination including compulsory elements
Examination takes place through:- Compulsory shorter assignments in connection with each literature seminar.
- Compulsory final individual writing task which must be between 2000 and 2200 words and be based on the course literature.
- Submission of a visual representation which accompanies the writing task.
- Active and mandatory participation in literature seminars, presentations and discussions.
The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers about disability study support.