Experiencing Modernity and Its Limits

Modern architecture has assumed unlimited resources. Modernism promised progress through industrial materials and mechanical systems, relying on cheap fossil fuels for construction and operation. Yet such assumptions have proven environmentally and experientially unsustainable. This term examines the environmental and experiential consequences of modern architecture as well as questions alternatives grounded in energy limitation, adaptive comfort, and long-term care.

Words and Images

This session examines how architects have communicated their ideas on architecture through manifestos, montages, and used media to inform their research.

Texts

Sant'Elia, A. (1914) Futurist Manifesto of Architecture.

Gropius, W. (1919) Bauhaus Manifesto.

Meyer, H. (1928) 'Building', Bauhaus, 2(4).

Archigram (1961-1974) Archigram.

Venturi, R., Scott Brown, D. and Izenour, S. (1972) Learning from Las Vegas. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Tschumi, B. (1976–1977) Advertisements for Architecture.

Tschumi, B. (1976–1981) The Manhattan Transcripts.

Koolhaas, R. (1978) Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. New York: Monacelli Press.

Ungers, O.M. (1982) Morphologie: City Metaphors.

Energy Limits

This session examines how modernist forms depend on fossil fuel energy for both construction and operation. Students will trace the energy basis of modern materials and the thermal failures of early modernism, how air conditioning enabled the International Style's sealed towers and deep floor plans, and how this energy-dependent architecture was globalised, creating a new vernacular dependent on assumptions of cheap, endless fossil fuels.

Texts

Calder, B. (2021) 'Introduction', 'The Beauty of Speed', 'Too Cheap to Meter', 'Today's Great Energy Revolution', in Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency. London: Penguin Books, pp. xi–xxv, 323–444.

LETI (2020) LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide. London: London Energy Transformation Initiative.

Murray, S. (2009) Contemporary Curtain Wall Architecture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 9–63.

Koolhaas, R. and Mau, B. (1995) 'The Generic City' and 'Typical Plan', in S,M,L,XL. New York: Monacelli Press.

Oldfield, P. et al. (2009) 'Five Energy Generations of Tall Buildings: An Historical Analysis of Energy Consumption in High Rise Buildings', The Journal of Architecture, 14(5), pp. 591–613.

Horn, E. (2018) 'Air Conditioning: Taming the Climate as a Dream of Civilization', in Climates, pp. 233–241.

Experiential Limits

Modernism not only promised a universal language but also a universal indoor temperature. This session investigates the design of thermal experiences: sensory perception, cultural and symbolic interpretation, and personal experience.

Texts

Heschong, L. (1979) 'Delight', in Thermal Delight in Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 18–30.

Banham, R. (1969) 'The Well-Tempered Home' and 'A Breath of Intelligence', in The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 93–121, 290–312.

Ábalos, I. (2001) 'Thermodynamic Materialism', in Essays on Thermodynamics, Architecture and Beauty, pp. 220–229.

Temporal Limits

Buildings exist in time. This session investigates how buildings adapt to new uses, change over their lifespans, decay through weathering and age, and become obsolete.

Texts

Brand, S. (1994) How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built. New York: Viking.

Mostafavi, M. and Leatherbarrow, D. (1993) On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Calder, B. (2021) 'Demolition and Waste', in Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency. London: Penguin Books, pp. 400–444.

Abramson, D. (2016) 'Fixing Obsolescence', in Obsolescence: An Architectural History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 79–106.

Sample, H. (2016) 'Introduction', in Maintenance Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 1–20. See also: Beka, I. and Lemoine, L. (2016) 'Koolhaas Houselife'.