Products of Practice: A Critical History and Uncertain Present

This research seminar traces the dynamic dance between the shape of design practice and the society it serves through the lens of the defining media and practical instruments of our time, the “products of practice.” Through an engagement with history, theory, and the mechanics of everyday practice, the course aims to frame structural change within practice and for the role of the architect in society in order to prepare students to innovate, define, and lead future design practice.

Within the cacophony of contemporary media, under the pressures of financial instruments, and with an expectation of artificial intelligence, this practice seminar looks to the past to explore the product of the architect as an artifact of circumstance, framing and projecting practice potentials now and into the future. Critically tracking the development of our practice, we will research design context, instruments of service, and the media of production as cultural and temporal constructs that limit or expand the role of the architect in practice. Our collective goal is an exploration of the relationship between — and the limits of — discipline, practice, and profession to better understand their structural potentials.

Course content will be organized thematically, exploring the origins of contemporary practice and its products at any given moment — from built form to model to drawing to code — as the architect evolved from master builder to author to project manager. Legal and technical issues, client types, and structures of fee and control will be considered alongside cultural impact. Students will develop critical positions on the renewed debate between empirical vs. cultural practice, on mediatic production and instruments of service for single projects vs. systems of design deployment, and rapid technological change as it intersects with changing structures of labor.

Class time will include framing lecture content as well as group discussion around evolving student research, media, and readings. Guests from practice and related sectors will be assembled to add perspective to specific topics, particularly around the issue of emerging modes of production and instrumentation. Guest speakers with perspectives on the history and theory of architectural practice will also join the class to assist in framing essential questions relevant to the topic at hand.