The Architecture of Wishful Thinking

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

120 hours

Entry into the Melbourne School of Design or approval from the subject coordinator.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject will explore utopian architecture and planning projects based on political idealism, wishful thinking and the prospects of technology. What does technology contribute to the creation of a modern utopia? Is technology the key to a democratic society without poverty and class warfare? Is it a mechanism for the development of a totalitarian state? This subject will investigate the productive and critical dimensions of utopian thought, exploring the ways in which architecture performs as a vehicle for the implementation of political and social vision.

At the conclusion of this subject students will have a highly developed understanding of modern urban and architectural utopian vision, together with a high capacity for critique of them.

• Project proposal of up to 1000 words due in week 4 (20%).

• Written and/or graphic project of at least 4000 words due at the end of semester (80%).

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Critical thinking and analytical ability.
• Ability to comprehend architectural concepts and express them lucidly, orally and textually.
• Methods of documentation and presentation.