702-233 Asian Architecture A: Southeast Asia

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Any level-one fine arts/architectural history subject offered by the Faculty of Arts or the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning (or permission of the head of department).

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This course critically explores aspects of architecture and urbanism in the South and Southeast Asian region. It is structured according to three different frames of reference: 1. The first introduces the concepts of tradition and culture as they are taken up in architectural discourse and draws on vernacular architectural, ornamentalist, anthropological and symbolist/spiritualist discourses to elaborate these concepts. The content of this section focuses on the Candi and temple structures, domestic dwellings and palace architecture of South and Southeast Asia. 2. The second frame of reference is organised around the concepts of modernity and the nation state. It explores the ways in which traditional forms of building and settlement organisation are put to work in the architecture and urbanism of the modern state. The focus is on the planning and construction of national capitals for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. 3. The third deals with postmodernity, the postcultural and globalisation, and explores conditions in which older, bounded notions of living and locality are complicated by contemporary forms of mobility and speed; the complex relationships between these increasingly juxtaposed forms of living are addressed. This section critically engages with corporate, entertainment, touristic and high-culture architecture in the South and Southeast Asian region. Students develop critical perspectives on architecture and urbanism in situations where tradition, modernity and globalisation intersect.

Assessment

Students may select from three different submission-options: essay, annotated bibliography and/or architectural model and drawing, to the equivalent of not more than 5000 words.