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MICHAEL HAYS: Architecture is not just about the need for shelter
or the need for a functional building.
In some ways, it's just what exceeds necessity that is architecture.
And it's the opening onto that excess that makes architecture fundamentally
a human endeavor.
Architecture is a technical answer to a question that's not technical at all,
but rather is historical and social.
The study of architecture is the study of human thought and human history.
This is about the architectural imagination.
It's how to think about architecture, but it's also
about architecture as a mode of thought.
Architecture is one of the most complexly negotiated cultural practices
there is.
And a single instant involves all of the aesthetic,
technological, economic, political issues of social production itself.
And indeed, in some ways, architecture, as we'll see,
helps articulate history itself.
These are all big claims.
And we'll need big ideas to address these claims.
And we'll also need very specific, concrete examples
of architectural projects and events from history.
Welcome to The Architectural Imagination, an online introduction
to the history and theory of architecture.
I'm Michael Hays, Professor of Architectural Theory at the Graduate
School of Design.
And my colleagues and I will introduce you
to some of the most fundamental themes, concepts,
and examples of architectural thought.