Architecture, Materiality and Climate

This course is taught as part of the Critical and Contextual Studies module.

Over the past two centuries, Western architecture has made universal claims. Modernism promised efficiency, functionality, and universality, relying on now-ubiquitous steel, concrete, and glass. Yet such global ambitions have often overlooked climate, culture, and local knowledge. This course examines the tensions, exchanges, and compromises between the universal and the local in architectural practice, exploring not just forms and materials, but the deeper ethics that shape the spaces we inhabit.

Vernaculars

Texts

Le Corbusier (1923) Toward an Architecture.

Loos, A. (1910) Ornament and Crime. (Published 1913.)

Moholy-Nagy, S. (1957) Native Genius in Anonymous Architecture. New York: Horizon Press.

Piesik, S. (2017) Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet. London: Thames & Hudson.

Rudofsky, B. (1964) ‘Architecture Without Architects’. New York: Museum of Modern Art.

Imports I

Texts

Said, E. W. (1979) Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

Buildings

Nash, J., Royal Pavilion (1823), Brighton.

Exports I

Texts

Home, R. (1996) ‘The Grand Modell of Colonial Settlement’, in Of Planting and Planning, pp. 9–40.

Ridley, J. (1998) ‘Edwin Lutyens, New Delhi, and the Architecture of Imperialism’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 26(2), pp. 67–83.

Buildings

Lutyens, E., Rashtrapati Bhavan (1929), New Delhi.

Exports II

Texts

Cohen, J.-L. (2006) ‘Architectural History and the Colonial Question: Casablanca, Algiers and Beyond’. Architectural History, 49, pp. 349–368.

Buildings

Service de l’Urbanisme (1952) Carrières Centrales, Casablanca.

Le Corbusier (1960) Capitol Complex, Chandigarh.

Imports II

Texts

Frampton, K. (1983) ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance’.

Correa, C. (1991) ‘The Public, the Private and the Sacred’. Architecture + Design, 8(5), pp. 91–99.

Joy, B. (2021) ‘The Tjibaou Cultural Center: Cultural Agent or Political Foothold?’ Places Journal.

Buildings

Niemeyer, O., National Congress of Brazil (1960), Brasília; Cathedral of Brasília (1970), Brasília.

Aalto, A. (1949) Saynatsalo Town Hall, Finland.

Barragán, L. (1976) Casa Gilardi, Mexico City.

Nouvel, J. (1987) Arab World Institute, Paris.

Joy, B. & Nouvel, J. (1998) Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia.

Doshi, B. (1952) Aranya Low-Cost Housing, Indore, India.

Correa, C. (1986) Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, India.

Tabassum, M. (2012) Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Videos

ARTE (2005) ‘Episode 30: The Municipal Centre of Säynätsalo’, Architectures.

Tagore, S. (2019) Louis Kahn’s Tiger City. Documentary film.

Pesquera, C. (2016) Casa Gilardi, NOWNESS.

Modern Architecture and Carbon

Texts

Barber, D. A. (2020) Modern Architecture and Climate: Design Before Air Conditioning. Princeton University Press, ‘Risks’, pp. 24–63.

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