Representing the Collective

By constructing and projecting the collective, architects seek to impart identity. The dialectic of collective form and individual identity is a recurring theme from Città Nuova to Città Analoga, from Delirious New York to New Urbanism. Representing the Collective will look at how the discourse of collectivity is organized in architecture. How does it help the architect establish a hold on the urban imaginary? What role does professional opportunism play in an evolving disciplinary and institutional framework? The course asks if radically different notions of craft, technology and community share a strategic underpinning. Lectures, readings and discussions will illuminate the collective in various cultural contexts, symbolic economies and ideological superstructures.