ARCH-871GP Architecture, Philosophy, and Fiction

3 Credits

Architecture, philosophy, and fiction converge at the intersection of worldbuilding. Even the smallest architectural construct potentiates a world unto itself, housing myriad actors and new ways of living. Every philosophical lens builds the world anew, giving us a rare glimpse of the extraordinary underlying the ordinary. Every speculative fiction re-imagines the world through alternative scenarios and creative visions. This course is an exercise in analyzing historical precedents, critical tensions, and theoretical potentials of worldbuilding in architecture (Filarete's Sforzinda, Le Corbusier's Modulor, Price's Fun Palace, Constant's New Babylon), philosophy (Daoism, Spinoza, Navajo cosmology, Bateson), literature (Epic of Gilgamesh, More's Utopia, Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Lem's Solaris), and cinema (Stalker, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Dune). Throughout the semester, each student will develop their own worldbuilding project in parallel layer by layer, addressing a wide range of weekly topics including cosmology & astrophysics; space & time; geography & climate; biotic & abiotic life; ethics, theology, politics; culture, economy, technology; and most specifically, aesthetics, art, and architecture.