Elective Course
Credits: 3-0-3 (3 semester hours)
Type of Course: Seminar
Instructors: John Peponis
Prerequisites Graduate Standing:
Course Overview: This is a core course for new Ph.D. students; MS and March students interested in architectural research are welcome – there are no prerequisites. The course addresses fundamental questions about theoretical and scientific inquiry that apply to architecture and physical planning as research disciplines. The aim is to discuss how research questions are formulated; also to make explicit and critically reflect upon the assumptions that underpin such questions, theoretical, methodological and practical.
The primacy of description, as a theoretical and methodological question is a central theme of the course. Questions of function, cultural meaning, historic change, social structure, design logic, or aesthetic criticism cannot be systematically approached until we learn how to describe built space, built form, and the patterns of their occupancy and use. Description helps us to identify regularities and these can in turn lead to genuinely theoretical questions and research hypotheses.
Learning Objectives: (See above)
Course Requirements: Over the semester, the format of the course shifts from lectures to seminars. Students are assessed according to written work and contributions to class. The first part of the course discusses the underlying ideas that we use in formulating questions regarding the logic, function, meaning and design of physical space. During the first part, each student is asked to choose a pair of theoretical texts and write a short paper first presenting and then critically comparing and discussing them. This exercise accounts for 30% of the grade.
The second part of the course discusses by example specific approaches to inquiry. Students are asked to choose a pair of articles reporting research and to critically present their questions, premises, methodologies, and conclusions. This exercise accounts for 30% of the grade.
The third part of the course explores in greater detail certain areas of inquiry, depending in part on the interests of the students. Students are asked to write a more substantial paper outlining a research question and the theoretical framework within which it is asked. This exercise accounts for 40% of the grade.