Architecture depends on an extraordinarily large number of factors beyond the direct control of the architect. Over the years, the specialisation of the production process and the overall complexity of manufacturing have greatly intensified this dependency and made it ever more apparent. As a result, the conventional view of architectural design as a tool for transporting ideas from conception to construction – a process in which architects participate as the sole authors of the works – has evolved. Instead, architects now primarily assume the role of managing all these different facets, coordinating different methodologies, new fields of knowledge and original practices involved in the transformation of the built environment.
It can therefore be argued that architectural design is defined by a series of not always well-defined interferences, involving concurrent issues that often overlap and in some cases are configured as inappropriate interferences. In the face of the emerging environmental, economic and social contingencies that have a profound impact on the profession, architectural education, and in particular the teaching of architectural design, cannot ignore this reality. This issue of Stoà does not question the need to recognise, manage and capitalise on these contingencies, be they theoretical, cultural, disciplinary, technical, legal, economic, political, social or otherwise. Rather, it seeks to explore how this can be done, seeking to understand the methods and approaches through which disruption can be productively used.
Consequently, the focus will be on the potential and challenges that these external factors pose to the discipline, analysing their depth and breadth through an examination of ongoing pedagogical practices and experiences that highlight their valorisation. These experiences may be institutional or experimental models, unique or recurring approaches. The aim is to create a constellation of practices and cultural positions that elevate interference, whether interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary, to a functional learning tool, integrated to varying degrees in the context of complex design simulations.
Within this context, three thematic boundaries are proposed to gather critical reflections:
1. Interference as assimilation
2. Interference as intrusion
3. Interference as a method
The editors are interested in contributions that specifically engage with the following:
→ recognizing common traits in contemporary international pedagogical experiences;
→ understanding and describing approaches and cultural references, as well as inferences derived from other fields, such as history, art, philosophy, anthropology, literature, geography, sociology and economics useful for teaching architecture;
→ exemplifying, through their conceptualization, specific didactic experiences, capable of becoming synthetic and effective expressions of a teaching know-how;
→ intertwining narratives and research, theories and conjectures, verifying the starting conditions by comparing them with the results of the teaching activities;
→ tracing a limit that can be shared by the scientific community, within which to critically and tendentiously “position” ideas and (didactic) projects, in order to build a recognizable system by substantiating the reasons.
Abstracts in English or Italian (max. 2500 characters, with one keyword before the title) and three images should be submitted (in .doc file): redazione@stoajournal.com
More information can be found in the full call for papers here.