History/Theory Electives explore advanced topics in architectural discourse ranging from race and globalism, to cultures of care and resource extraction. The content of the elective options varies from semester to semester.Section Description:This seminar investigates architects who practice within a critique of standard practice models; an acute awareness of climate change; a suspicion of globalization; a disdain for the impacts of “flat world” labor, material supply and environmental impacts; a critical position in regard to environmental justice; and/or an active engagement with decolonization. These positions lead to an exploration of architectural form and production that is often profoundly local in material, construction craft and technique, capacity building and sustainability (environmental, social, economic and cultural). In the hands of the most talented of these architects, these attitudes lead to fresh, elegant, and leading edge architectural works and ideas. These practices provide an insight into a shift of the international conversation around architecture away from Europe and North America (though not excluding them). Among practices we will engage with are Hua Li (China), Li Xiaodong (China), Amateur Architecture Studio (China), Rural Urban Framework (Hong Kong), Tropical Space (Vietnam), Studio Mumbai (India), Anapuma Kundoo (India), Francis Keré (Burkina Faso), Minimo Comun (Paraguay), Elemental (Chile), TALCA (Chile), Atelier Masomi (Niger), Studio Gracia (Mexico), ORU (Mexico), COMUNAL (Mexico), Studio Indigenous (USA), Natura Futura (Ecuador), and many others. Our exploration of “local architecture” will connect to a set of theoretical/thematic issues, as well as to some potent architectural conversations from the past one hundred and fifty years. Among the themes engaged during the seminar are: grappling with ideas of architectural vernacular and tradition; delving into questions and implications of Style (“Isms”); understanding how specific climates and landscapes shape architecture; debating how deep local knowledge can inform contemporary practice; and exploring what challenges, obstacles, and distractions get in the way of productive radically local architecture. While we will be focusing on contemporary practices, we will be delving into the generations of architects that often spanned new independence movements within their own countries, seeking an architecture that broke with the colonizer and yielded both sophistication in the eyes of the world and identity for those at home. These help lay the groundwork for today’s architects and include among others: Lina Bo Bardi (Brasil), Luis Barragan (Mexico), Oscar Neimeyer (early work: Brasil), Pancho Geddes (Mozambique), Guilhem Eustache (Morroco), B.V. Doshi (India), Glenn Murcutt (Australia), and Andresen/O’Gorman (Australia).

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