ARC3303H F
Instructor: Tara Bisset
Meeting Section: L9101
Synchronous
Monday, 6:00PM - 9:00PM

In the wake of computerized architectural production, the role of craft is increasingly called into question in a number of ways. The eschewal of the “hand” in digital fabrication and advanced computer-assisted programming has prompted reflection on the relationship between craft and embodied practice. At the same time, contemporary architectural design is increasingly drawn to material-driven practices with traditional roots. Drawing from examples across the craft spectrum—clay throwing, timber joinery, fibre arts, mending or repair traditions, and the digital detail—this course looks at the intersection of architectural practice and craft-based principles.

Each weekly lecture, discussion, and selection of readings will focus on a central question—inspired by a tradition of making, a philosophical query and/or historical discourse—that we will use as methodological lenses for thinking analytically about craft practices. Our thematic perspectives will be informed by interdisciplinary sources, drawing upon anthropology, philosophy, archaeology, critical theory, and oral traditions. Students will be invited to bring their own interests into our meetings and into the two writing assignments, with the option of integrating a design project into the final assignment.

The questions and themes of the course are nested in four main sections:

Making: Gleaning insight from across cultural traditions, we will consider the value of thinking in terms of process, rather than product. We will examine the concept of textility and discuss the reciprocal relationship of skill and material. How are ‘making’ and ‘growing’ overlapping concepts and how are they different?

Phenomenology: Crafted objects and their material properties afford social entanglements largely mediated through phenomenological response. How do materials and the process of making things inculcate us into an “economy of care”? And how is phenomenology culturally constructed?

Ethics and Labour: As William Morris and Karl Marx argued, craft is central to our experience of work culture. But how does Western post-industrial labour align with turn-of-the century tenets that promote the “joy of work” through the slowing down of labour processes? Part of this section will look to indigenous practices, braiding sweetgrass for example, for insight.

Resistance and Community: How do craft communities and traditions foment a culture of resistance to dominant ideologies?