U D 384M / ARC 327R / 386M Seminar
Tues 3:30 – 6:30pm, WMB 5.102
Open to all ARC and U D students
Liang Wang: liang.wang@utexas.edu
This research seminar explores three interconnected topics: the superblock, housing, and the collective imaginaries embedded in their socio-spatial constructs. The seminar has three main objectives: first, to analyze the concept of housing through critical lenses such as typology, density, and socio-political practices; second, to establish an essential understanding of the relationship between the superblock and the city by examining their architectures and narratives across different geographies and cultures; and third, to re-engage with housing and the superblock as a cultural and political project of the city, imagining alternative forms, representations, and epistemologies.
Classes will explore various conceptual facets of the superblock, such as the conception of space and scale, urban form and architectural type, form and abstraction, modernism and modernity, ideology and everydayness, and utopia and imagination. At the same time, “housing as typology” will be foregrounded as one of the richest representations of the city—its history, culture, and imaginaries. The notion of “housing as collective,” constituting multiple forms of existence and mediating between individuals and the city, as well as between conditions of publicness and domesticity, will also be carefully studied. In addition, the seminar will explore how contemporary designers and scholars are re-engaging these concepts to reimagine new possibilities for urban housing, the superblock, and the city.
As a research-based seminar, the class will equally invest in history (through reading and discussion), research (through case studies and analysis), and reinterpretation (through representations and narratives). Class sessions will include lectures, discussions, work sessions, and presentations. In addition to weekly reading discussions, each student will take on a two- part research project as their final assignment. Students are expected to actively contribute to a collective, open, and exploratory environment. Basic drawing and representational skills are required for the class.
