The Agency of Architecture. A Profession between Service and Vision

The ‘making’ of architecture encompasses a multitude of personal and political projects over time. The professional identity of those who make architecture ranges from authors to collectives, from craft to industry, from specificity to universality. As a central issue, the agency of architecture emerged in response to 19th century industrialization and urbanization. It has since resurfaced many times and continues to structure discourses that can embrace form-making, spatial organization or social activism.
The evolution of contrasting professional identities has a long and rich history. How architecture conceptualizes our environment is intertwined with this history. Conversely, external factors shape both the discipline and the profession. Moreover, practice is conditioned by distinct audiences and power configurations. Which socioeconomic and political frameworks, then, determine the agency of architecture? When and where have such frameworks been challenged or effectively altered? The seminar will discuss this dynamic relationship through historic and contemporary examples, while trying to address the very nature of architectural work. 

The class seeks to achieve an understanding of how the professional identity of architects has been historically conditioned: a series of case studies and seminar readings confronts students with issues related to practice and production from the 19th century to the present. This requires addressing social, political and economic contexts, issues that students will also develop at the end of the semester in a short research paper (tesina).

In presence

Lectures followed by class discussions of assigned readings.

Final paper