Convivium 11.13.09 (topic)

CONVIVIUM is a salon-style gathering intended to promote lively discourse regarding problems and topics central to the discipline of architecture. SESSION 2 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 7:30 – 9:30 pm Miller Heller House 122 Eddy Street, Collegetown This semester, CONVIVIUM examines the question HOW IS ARCHITECTURE LOCATED? In so doing, we will explore the ways in which external conditions circumscribe the discipline, and come to bear on its epistemological, pedagogical, and practical modalities. SESSION 2 will reconsider architecture’s pedagogical intentions in light of recent economic turmoil, shifts internal to the discipline, and outmoded institutional structures. We will begin by screening a TED talk by Liz Coleman, president of Bennington College in VT, who radically restructured the curriculum there and makes the case for a socially engaged and activist liberal arts education. Following this, Dagmar Richter, chair of the architecture department, will discuss some of her research and thinking on pedagogical models and methodologies. Our conversation will unfold into a careful and critical evaluation of learning today. SUGGESTED READINGS 01 Studio Culture Policy (2009) 02 Redesign of Studio Culture: A Report of the AIAS Studio Culture Task Force (2002) 03 Prosthetic Theory: The Disciplining of Architecture (Mark Wigley, Assemblage, 1991) http://www.cornell-convivium.blogspot.com/