RADICAL

PEDAGOGIES

EDITED BY
BEATRIZ COLOMINA
IGNACIO G. GALÁN
EVANGELOS KOTSIORIS
ANNA-MARIA MEISTER
RAD
PEDA
GOG
EDITED BY
BEATRIZ COLOMINA
IGNACIO G. GALÁN
EVANGELOS KOTSIORIS
ANNA-MARIA MEISTER
ICAL
A-
IES
THE MIT PRE S S
Cambridge, Massachusetts — London, England
 CONTENTS 77 The Jewish Shepherd 134 The Methods of
Who Wanted to Cultivate “Environmental Design”
Islamic Architecture Joaquín Medina Warmburg
11 Introduction Noam Shoked
Beatriz Colomina, 136 Radical Exhaustion
Ignacio G. Galán, 80 Survival as a Creative Practice Marco De Michelis
Evangelos Kotsioris, for Self-learning 138 A New Disciplinary Apparatus
Anna-Maria Meister Valerio Borgonuovo, Joseph Bedford
Silvia Franceschini
140 A Post-technological University
86 The Department of Invention Felicity D. Scott
COUNTER Hannah le Roux 
142 Pedagogy before Democracy
HEGEMONIE S Josep M. Rovira
CITY 146 Life, in Theory
22 The Revolt before the Revolt AS SITE Esther Choi
Caroline Maniaque
150 Riding the Reformative Wave
25 From Study Reform to University 90 From Collectivization to of Postmodern Theory
without Professors Communication Ruo Jia
Nina Gribat Masha Panteleyeva
29 When Decolonization Was Not 93 In Search of a New Visual BEYOND THE
a Metaphor
Łukasz Stanek
Vocabulary CLAS SR O OM
Federica Vannucchi
31 A Short-lived “Democratization” 95 Deliriously Rational
Rutger Huiberts 154 “Autonomy…to Join Life, Work,
Daniela Fabricius and Study”
36 Utopia e/o Rivoluzione 98 Intellectualizing Architecture, Ignacio G. Galán
Alicia Imperiale Professionalizing Education 160 The Students’ “Congress
38 Testing Environmental Design Roberto Damiani Movement”
Stuart King, Ceridwen Owen 102 Learning from Las Vegas Barnaby Bennett, Byron Kinnaird
42 A Total Study of Architecture Martino Stierli 162 AN-ARK: The Liberated Subject
Sebastian Malecki 104 Drawing as Activism and Coastal Culture
44 Autogobierno: Militant Learning Isabelle Doucet Martin Braathen
Cristina López Uribe 106 Contraplan 165 SIAL’s Školka: An Architectural
48 Molecular Revolution in Marta Caldeira Kindergarten
Aula Magna Ana Miljački
Alessandra Ponte 168 Lessons from Resurrection City
THE VALUE Mabel O. Wilson
OF FORM 173
ALTERNATIVE Architecture as “Applied
Anthropology”
MODERNIZATIONS 110 The Pedagogy of Open Form Vladimir Kulić
Aleksandra Kędziorek, 176 “Experience” Rather than
52 An Interdisciplinary Soledad Gutiérrez Rodríguez “Project” in Postrevolutionary
“Galaxy of Talent” 115 As They Were Teaching… Algiers
Eva Díaz Federica Soletta Samia Henni
54 “Do Not Try to Remember” 117 Architectural Language and the 179 Learning from the Village
Stephanie Pilat, Angela Person, Search for Self-determinacy Lily Zhang
Hans Butzer José Araguëz 183 Bus Tour across the UK
58 The Edge of School 119 Time-consciousness for the Isabelle Doucet
Merve Bedir Postcolonial Present 186 The Science of “Strollology”
63 A Theory of an Everyday-life Daniel Magaziner Philipp Oswalt
Architecture 121 Redemocratizing the Nation
Vanessa Grossman 190 Field Observations
through “Good Design” Curt Gambetta, Hadas Steiner
65 Reflexive Acceleration Anna-Maria Meister
Ghada Al Slik, Łukasz Stanek 126 Designing the Process, S CHO OLED
68 “Basic Design” toward Becoming “One with the User”
Decolonization Masha Panteleyeva BY THE BUILDING
Ayala Levin 129 A Refuge from the Dirty War
72 From Conspicuous Ana María León 194 Critical Unity beyond
Experimentation to Professional Realism
Doing Otherwise Horacio Torrent
Robert J. Kett, Anna Kryczka THEORY 196 How to Train “Postrevolutionary”
75 An Iranian “Grand Tour”: CONSTR UCTIONS Architects
From Historic Architecture Martin Cobas
to Futuristic Lunar Settlements 132 Importing Architectural History 198 Big-time Sensuality
Pamela Karimi Hilde Heynen Ivan L. Munuera

4
201 Building Integration 275 Against Blanket Modernization 343 The “Outlaw Builders” Studio
Michael Abrahamson, Farhan Karim Anna Goodman
James Graham 278 Counting Quality, Seeing Patterns 346 Garbage Building
204 Designing Dissent Ijlal Muzaffar Curt Gambetta
Ana María León 282 From Producer to Mediator 349 How the Other Half Builds
207 Passive Architecture, of Planning Knowledge Bushra Nayeem
Soft Pedagogy Piotr Bujas, Alicja Gzowska,
Zvi Efrat Łukasz Stanek
RETO OLING
210 Self-organization toward 284 Architectural Education
Self-determination as Manifesto THE PRACTICE
Sandi Hilal Irene Sunwoo
212 The “Experimental Building” 288 Summer School as a 352 Modernization and Advocacy
Julia Gatley, Bill McKay “Well-laid Table” Julia Gatley, Paul Walker
Irene Sunwoo 355 The Lab and the Nation
293 Hope and Conflict Matthew Mullane
MEDIA
Britt Eversole 358 Shaping the “Zagreb
EXPERIMENTS School”: Education in the
297 Engineering Architecture
Education Guise of Practice
216 Organizing Visual Experience Shaimaa Ashour, Zeinab Shafik Igor Marjanović,
Pep Avilés Katerina Rüedi Ray
299 Designs on Tradition:
219 Parasitic Pedagogy: The Buckminster Decolonizing Contemporary 362 Technical Diplomacy
Fuller Teaching Machine African Architecture David Rifkind
Mark Wigley Ikem Stanley Okoye 364 Constructing Practice
225 The Global Workshop 302 An Institution for Independence Onur Yüncü, Berin F. Gür
Dirk van den Heuvel Eunice Seng 366 Cosmopolitan Pedagogy in the
228 Art X: The Design of Information Post-colony
Overload Łukasz Stanek, Ola Uduku
Beatriz Colomina TECHNOLO GY
370 Professional Education and
232 Learning from Levittown AND ITS COMPLEXE S Its Discontents
Beatriz Colomina Andreas Kalpakci
235 On Air: Learning through 306 Educational Bombshell 374 On the Edge of Avantgarde
the Waves Mark Wasiuta Michael Hiltbrunner
Joaquim Moreno 309 The Anti-pedagogical Lesson 379 A Protest Addressed
238 Systems for Perception of Cedric Price to the Future
and Subversion Mark Wigley Anna Bokov
Mark Wasiuta, Marcos Sánchez 311 The Automation of Knowledge
Georg Vrachliotis
ACTIVATING
SUB JECT AND 314 The Computer Misfits
Evangelos Kotsioris THE S O CIAL
B ODY MATTERS
318 A Spinner in His Web
Daniela Fabricius 384 Architectural Analysis as a
244 Institutional Reform and Rupture Tool for Reform
Victoria Bugge Øye 323 The Algorithmization Daniel Talesnik
of Creativity
246 Pedagogies of the Party Diana Cristóbal Olave 386 A Plan for Change
Ivan L. Munuera Brian D. Goldstein
325 Nature as Technology
249 Experiments in Environment John R. Blakinger 390 The Black Workshop
Mark Wasiuta, Sarah Herda Jessica Varner
330 Demo or Die: A Lab for Deployed
256 Feminist Pedagogy, Participatory Research 392 Research, Publicize, Protest
Design, and the Built Environment Molly Wright Steenson Christopher Barker
James Merle Thomas 395 From Cours Sauvage to
262 “Every Body Needs Equal Access” Architectural Activism
Ignacio G. Galán, Kathleen MATERIAL Jean-Louis Violeau
James-Chakraborty ECOLO GIE S 397 Revolutionary Learning in the
266 The Personal Is Professional Neighborhood
Andrea J. Merrett 334 An Agricultural School as a Joaquim Moreno
Pedagogical Experiment
Pelin Tan
INTERSECTING 337 Climate and Architectural 402 Contributors
GLOBAL AND LO CAL Regionalism 407 Acknowledgments
Daniel A. Barber
408 Exhibitions, Previous Publications
272 Design in the Service of 340 Soft Machines, Cellular
Nation-building Synthetic Environments 409 Image Credits
Anthony Acciavatti Lydia Kallipoliti 410 Index

5
 CONTENTS 121 1953–1968 314 1964–1974
Redemocratizing the Nation The Computer Misfits
BY DATE through “Good Design” 142 1964–1975
90 1954–1970 Pedagogy before Democracy
1930S From Collectivization to 117 1964–1985
Communication Architectural Language and the
52 1933–1957 362 1954–1974 Search for Self-determinacy
An Interdisciplinary Technical Diplomacy 318 1964–1991
“Galaxy of Talent” 58 1956–1973 A Spinner in His Web
The Edge of School 126 1964–1974
63 1957–1964 Designing the Process, Becoming
1940S A Theory of an Everyday-life “One with the User”
Architecture 275 1964–1971
216 1946–1967 364 1958–1974 Against Blanket Modernization
Organizing Visual Experience Constructing Practice 201 1965–1973
384 1946–1963 272 1958–1974 Building Integration
Architectural Analysis as a Tool Design in the Service of
for Reform 370 1965–1965
Nation-building Professional Education and Its
194 1946–1952 366 1958–1979 Discontents
Critical Unity beyond Professional Cosmopolitan Pedagogy in the
Realism 282 1965–1989
Post-colony From Producer to Mediator of
355 1946–1974 302 1959–1961 Planning Knowledge
The Lab and the Nation An Institution for Independence 297 1965–1981
352 1946–1953 65 1959–1973 Engineering Architecture
Modernization and Advocacy Reflexive Acceleration Education
54 1947–1960 225 1959–1981 119 1965–1967
“Do Not Try to Remember” The Global Workshop Time-consciousness for the
219 1948–1983 Postcolonial Present
Parasitic Pedagogy: The Buckminster 25
Fuller Teaching Machine 1960S 1966–1972
From Study Reform to University
334 1949–1967 without Professors
An Agricultural School as a 207 1960–1980
Passive Architecture, 323 1966–1975
Pedagogical Experiment The Algorithmization of Creativity
Soft Pedagogy
75 1960–1990 134 1966–1998
1950S An Iranian “Grand Tour”: From The Methods of “Environmental
Historic Architecture to Futuristic Design”

115 1951–1958 Lunar Settlements 72 1967–1969

As They Were Teaching… 68 1961–1965 From Conspicuous Experimenta-
“Basic Design” toward tion to Doing Otherwise
132 1951–1969
Importing Architectural History Decolonization 136 1967–1969
198 1961–1965 Radical Exhaustion
228 1952–1953
Art X: The Design of Information Big-time Sensuality 325 1967–1974
Overload 244 1961–1969 Nature as Technology

311 1952–1957 Institutional Reform and Rupture 146 1967–1984

The Automation of Knowledge 204 1962–1969 Life, in Theory

337 1952–196 Designing Dissent 330 1967–1985

Climate and Architectural 22 1962–1969 Demo or Die: A Lab for Deployed
Regionalism The Revolt before the Revolt Research
196 1952–1965 95 1963–1969 246 1967–1985
How to Train “Postrevolutionary” Deliriously Rational Pedagogies of the Party
Architects 98 1963–1971 309 1968
154 1952–1973 Intellectualizing Architecture, The Anti-pedagogical Lesson of
“Autonomy … to Join Life, Work, Professionalizing Education Cedric Price
and Study” 160 1963–1971 212 1968
110 1952–1983 The Students’ “Congress The “Experimental Building”
The Pedagogy of Open Form Movement” 249 1968
358 1952–1984 93 1964–1969 Experiments in Environment
Shaping the “Zagreb School”: In Search of a New Visual 102 1968
Education in the Guise of Practice Vocabulary Learning from Las Vegas
278 1953–1963 386 1964–1974 168 1968
Counting Quality, Seeing Patterns A Plan for Change Lessons from Resurrection City

6
77 1968–1970 374 1971–1981
The Jewish Shepherd On the Edge of Avantgarde
Who Wanted to Cultivate 284 1971–1983
Islamic Architecture Architectural Education
392 1968–1970 as Manifesto
Research, Publicize, Protest 256 1971–1991
140 1968–1972 Feminist Pedagogy, Participatory
A Post-technological University Design, and the Built Environment
340 1968–1973 179 1972–1978
Soft Machines, Cellular Synthetic Learning from the Village
Environments 262 1972–1987
162 1968–1977 “Every Body Needs Equal Access”
AN-ARK: The Liberated Subject and 44 1972–1987
Coastal Culture Autogobierno: Militant Learning
138 1968–1978 183 1973
A New Disciplinary Apparatus Bus Tour across the UK
390 1968–late 1970s 80 1973–1975
The Black Workshop Survival as a Creative Practice
29 1968–1986 for Self-learning
When Decolonization Was Not a 346 1973–1979
Metaphor Garbage Building
306 1969 186 1973–1993
Educational Bombshell The Science of “Strollology”
36 1969 397 1974–1976
Utopia e/o Rivoluzione Revolutionary Learning in the
31 1969–1971 Neighborhood
A Short-lived “Democratization” 48 1975–1978
395 1969–1974 Molecular Revolution in Aula Magna
From Cours Sauvage to 266 1975–1981
Architectural Activism The Personal Is Professional
104 1969–1979 235 1975–1982
Drawing as Activism On Air: Learning through the Waves
38 1969–1979 86 1975–1990
Testing Environmental Design The Department of Invention
165 1969–1982 129 1976–1983
SIAL’s Školka: An Architectural A Refuge from the Dirty War
Kindergarten
293 1976–2003
238 1969–1982 Hope and Conflict
Systems for Perception
and Subversion 190 1977–1980
Field Observations
150 1977–1989
1970S Riding the Reformative Wave
of Postmodern Theory
232 1970 379 1977–1993
Learning from Levittown A Protest Addressed
288 1970–1972 to the Future
Summer School as a 299 1978–1998
“Well-laid Table” Designs on Tradition:
42 1970–1975 Decolonizing Contemporary
A Total Study of Architecture African Architecture
173 1970–1982
Architecture as “Applied
Anthropology” 1980S
176 1970–1988
“Experience” Rather than 349 1983–1986
“Project” in Postrevolutionary How the Other Half Builds
Algiers 210 1987
343 1971–1972 Self-organization toward
The “Outlaw Builders” Studio Self-determination

106 1971–1974
Contraplan

7
 CONTENTS (-82,32;35,61) - 60° TO -1°
52 Black Mountain College—USA
BY LONGITUDE
(-78,88;42,89)
190 University at Buffalo, SUNY—USA (-58,44;-34,61)
129 La Escuelita—Argentina
-120° TO - 61° (-77,03;38,89)
(-56,19;-34,9)
168 Poor People’s Campaign and the
Structures Committee—USA 196 Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad
(-122,41;37,77) de la República—Uruguay
(-74,66;40,35)
249 The Halprin Workshop—USA 337 Princeton Architectural Laboratory, (-46,63;-23,55)
(-122,27;37,87) Princeton University—USA 63 Faculdade de Arquitetura e
343 University of California, Berkeley; 134 Hochschule für Gestaltung; Urbanismo da Universidade de São
Farallones Designs—USA Princeton University; Università Paulo; Museum of Modern Art of
di Bologna; Politecnico di Milano— Bahia—Brazil
(-122,27;37,87) 204 Faculdade de Arquitetura e
262 College of Environmental Design, Germany, Italy, USA
Urbanismo da Universidade de São
University of California, Berkeley—USA (-74,01;40,71) Paulo—Brazil
(-118,56;34,41) 117 Cooper Union School of
Architecture—USA (-8,61;41,14)
256 California Institute of the Arts—USA 397 Architecture Section, Escola de
146 Institute for Architecture and
(-118,46;33,99) Urban Studies—USA Belas Artes do Porto, Universidade
238 Environmental Communications—USA 140 Museum of Modern Art—USA de Porto—Portugal
(-118,24;34,05) 306 The 1969 World Game (-3,70;40,42)
311 University of Southern California; Seminar—USA 323 Centro de Cálculo de la Universidad
Hochschule für Gestaltung; (-73,96;40,69) de Madrid, Seminario de Análisis y
TH Karlsruhe; Sommerakademie 132 Pratt Institute—USA Composición Automática de Formas
Salzburg; Illinois Institute of Arquitectónicas—Spain
Technology—USA and elsewhere (-73,96;40,8)
246 Columbia University—USA (-3,27;54,7)
(-117,82;33,68) 235 Open University, Arts Faculty—UK
72 The Farm, University of California, (-73,96;40,81)
392 Columbia University; Massachusetts (-0,12;51,5)
Irvine—USA 309 Architectural Association—UK
Institute of Technology; Yale
(-115,13;36,16) University—USA 288 Architectural Association—UK
102 Yale School of Architecture—USA and elsewhere
(-73,94;40,8) 284 International Institute of Design
(-99,13, 19,43) 386 Planning for Change; Architecture
44 Escuela Nacional de Arquitectura; Summer Sessions—UK
in the Neighborhoods; Architects’ 183 Architectural Design; Architectural
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Renewal Committee in Harlem—USA
México—Mexico Association—UK
(-73,51;40,72)
(-97,74;30,27) 232 Yale School of Architecture—USA
115 University of Texas at Austin—USA 0° TO 59°
340 School of Architecture, University (-72,93;41,3)
of Texas at Austin—USA 390 Yale University—USA
(-71,61;-33,04) 138 (0,90;51,89)
(-97,43;35,22) University of Essex—UK
54 The University of Oklahoma School 154 Escuela e Instituto de Arquitectura,
of Architecture—USA Pontificia Universidad Católica de 366 (1,61;6,66)
Valparaíso—Chile School of Architecture, Town Planning
(-95,71;37,09) and Building in Kumasi, Kwame
266 Women’s School of Planning and (-71,10;42,37)
216 Massachusetts Institute of Nkrumah University of Science and
Architecture—USA Technology—Ghana
Technology—USA
(-90,18;32,3) 314 Center for Advanced Visual (2,17;41,38)
201 Tougaloo College—USA Studies, Massachusetts Institute 142 Escuela Técnica Superior de
(-89,21;37,72) of Technology—USA Arquitectura de Barcelona—Spain
219 Institute of Design; Black Mountain 330 MIT Architecture Machine Group 106 Laboratori d’Urbanisme, Escuela
College; Department of Design, (as MIT Media Lab 1985–)—USA Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de
Southern Illinois University—USA 314 Laboratory for Computer Graphics Barcelona—Spain
and elsewhere and Spatial Analysis at the Harvard (2,35;48,85)
(-84,28;30,44) Graduate School of Design—USA 22 Unités Pédagogiques—France
346 Cornell University; Rensselaer (-70,65;-33,44) 370 Union Internationale des
Polytechnic Institute; Florida A&M 384 Escuela de Arquitectura, Universidad Architectes—France
University; University of California, de Chile—Chile 395 Unité Pédagogique No. 6; Unité
Los Angeles—USA (-64,88;-26,56) Pédagogique d’Architecture
(-83,35;33,95) 194 Instituto de Arquitectura y Nantes—France
228 Department of Fine Arts, Urbanismo, Universidad Nacional de 176 (3,05;36,75)
University of Georgia in Athens; Tucumán—Argentina École polytechnique d’architecture
University of California, Los (-64,18;-31,42) et d’urbanisme—Algeria
Angeles—USA 42 Facultad de Arquitectura y 299 (3,39;6,46)
(-82,35;23,13) Urbanismo, Universidad Nacional de Faculty of Environmental Design,
198 Escuelas Nacionales de Arte—Cuba Córdoba—Argentina Department of Architecture and

8
 Urban Planning, University of (14,55;53,42) 60° TO 119°
Lagos—Nigeria 282 Szczecin University of
104 (4,35;50,85) Technology—Poland
(67,06;24,97)
Ecole Nationale supérieure (15,27;50,67) 278 Middle East Technical University;
d’architecture et des arts visuels- 165 Sdružení inženýrů a architektů Karachi University—Turkey,
La Cambre; Atelier de Recherche v Liberci (Liberec Association Gambia, Pakistan
et d’Action Urbaines; Archives of Engineers and Architects)—
d’Architecture Moderne—Belgium Czechoslovakia (72,57;23,02)
272 National Institute of Design—India
(4,35;52,01) (15,97;45,81)
225 Various schools around the 358 State Master Workshop for (73,19;22,3)
world—The Netherlands, Germany, Architecture—Yugoslavia 58 Faculty of Fine Arts (Baroda
Austria, USA, Spain, and elsewhere School), Maharaja Sayajirao
(16,37;48,21) University—India
31 Delft School of Architecture, 244 Technische Hochschule Wien;
Delft Institute of Technology— Galerie nächst St. Stephan— (75,86;22,72)
The Netherlands Austria 349 Vastu Shilpa Foundation; The
Minimum Cost Housing Group
(4,55;7,49) (20,46;44,81) of McGill University School of
207 University of Ife—Nigeria 173 Faculty of Architecture, University Architecture—India, Canada
(5,32;60,39) of Belgrade—Yugoslavia
(90,41;23,81)
162 Extra-institutional, with connections (21,01;52,22) 275 East Pakistan University of
to NTH, Trondheim; Oslo School 110 Warsaw Academy of Fine Engineering and Technology—
of Architecture; Warsaw Art Arts—Poland East Pakistan (Bangladesh)
Academy—Norway
(28,04;-26,2) (103,82;1,36)
(7,68;45,06) 86 Department of Architecture, 302 Singapore Polytechnic—Singapore
36 Politecnico di Torino—Italy University of the Witwatersrand—
South Africa (115,86;-31,95)
(7,71;11,08)
160 Australasian Architecture Students
29 Department of Architecture, (31,23;30,04) Association and other student
Ahmadu Bello University—Nigeria 297 Department of Architecture, architecture organizations—
(8,54;47,37) Faculty of Engineering, Cairo Australia, New Zealand
374 F+F School of Experimental University—Egypt
(118,79;32,06)
Design—Switzerland (32,85;39,92) 150 School of Architecture, Nanjing
(9,18;48,78) 364 Middle East Technical Institute of Technology—China
318 Institute for Lightweight University—Turkey
Structures (Institut für Leichte (35,22;31,71)
Flächentragwerke) at University of 210 Neighborhood Schools—Palestine 120° TO 179°
Stuttgart—Germany 77 The Center for the Cultivation of
25 University of Stuttgart—Germany Islamic Art—Israel and the (139,76;35,68)
(9,19;45,46) Occupied Palestinian Territories 355 University of Tokyo—Japan
98 Istituto Universitario di Architettura (35,45;31,85) 179 University of Tokyo—Japan
di Venezia; Politecnico di Milano— 334 Alami Farm—Palestine 38 (147,32;-42,88)
Italy (35,52;-18,66) Tasmanian College of Advanced
(9,47;51,31) 68 Mbari Club; Chemchemi— Education, University of
186 Gesamthochschule Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tasmania—Australia
Kassel—Germany Rhodesia, Kenya 212 (174,76;-36,85)
(36,82;-1,29) University of Auckland—
(9,99;48,4)
119 University of Nairobi—Kenya New Zealand
121 Hochschule für
Gestaltung—Germany (36,98;56,18) 352 (174,77;-41,29)
126 Senezh Design Studio—USSR Architectural Centre Inc.—
(11,26;43,77)
New Zealand
93 University of Florence (Università (37,61;55,75)
degli Studi di Firenze)—Italy 379 Experimental Children’s Architectural
(11,37;45,84) Studio—USSR/Russian Federation
80 Global Tools—Italy, Germany, (37,62;55,75)
Switzerland 90 Moscow Institute of
(12,33;45,44) Architecture—USSR
136 Istituto Universitario di Architettura (38,75;9,03)
di Venezia—Italy 362 Ethio-Swedish Institute of Building
48 Istituto Universitario di Architettura Technology—Ethiopia
di Venezia—Italy
(44,36;33,31)
(12,63;43,72) 65 Department of Architecture,
293 The International Laboratory University of Baghdad—Iraq
of Architecture and Urban (54,56;32,64)
Design—Italy 75 Faculty of Architecture in the School
(13,38;52,52) of Fine Arts at the University of
95 TU Berlin—Germany Tehran; Cal-Earth—Iran, USA

9
 INTR ODUCTION
Beatriz Colomina, Ignacio G. Galán,
Evangelos Kotsioris, Anna-Maria Meister

In the 1960s and 1970s architectural education was shaken to the

core by a veritable explosion of experimental teaching practices
all over the world. It was nothing short of a revolution. Radical
Pedagogies explores the still-expanding galaxy of these remarkable
experiments, which profoundly reshaped architecture by rejecting
any normative thinking. The teaching projects had multiple
beginnings and endings. They did not follow any existing recipe or
method. In fact, it was precisely through their heterogeneous and
shifting nature that they destabilized the field. Their effects linger
to this day, haunting the conversation.
Etymologically the term “radical” comes from the Latin radix,
the root. All these teaching experiments were radical in relentlessly
shaking disciplinary foundations, disturbing assumptions rather
than reinforcing and disseminating them. The field was opened up
to new kinds of thinking, practice, and responsibility, along with
new modes of perception, solidarity, and communication. Radical
Pedagogies documents a sustained call to revolutionize architec-
ture, to multiply and magnify its possibilities.
The experiments typically had a short lifespan: some were
abandoned or dissolved by the protagonists themselves; others
were expelled from, or conversely assimilated into, mainstream
education, or terminated due to financial or political constraints.¹
In testing the limits of the discipline, they were by definition precar-
ious. Sometimes it was even their very success that hastened their
demise. Conversely, what might have been perceived as failure
at the time could historically be categorized as success. Some
experiments were even designed to fail. Many were hit-and-run
raids, limited strategic interventions, while others were long-term
Trojan horses inserted into the system. There were usually multiple
afterlives. Despite their often-premature “deaths,” these seemingly
short-lived projects drastically affected those structures that
absorbed them, transforming the discipline for decades to come.
Even after their apparent destruction, their ideas linger and the
networks persist. After all, in both their rise and fall, they were
never isolated but connected and interactive like an extended,
ever-shifting but resilient mycelium of fungi.² Reading them through

11
RADICAL
PEDAGOGIES
EDITED BY
BEATRIZ COLOMINA
IGNACIO G. GALÁN
EVANGELOS KOTSIORIS
ANNA-MARIA MEISTER

This book is a far-reaching compendium of more

than one hundred global experiments in architectural
education in the post-World War II era that challenged
and transformed architectural discourse, education,
and practice. These experiments, carried out in
diverse geographical, political, and institutional
settings, completely upended disciplinary foundations
and conventional assumptions about the nature
of architecture. They imagined entirely new roles,
responsibilities, and methods for the architect.
Many of these programs were soon abandoned,
terminated, or assimilated, but their effects live on.
Architecture was simply never the same. This book
gathers an unparalleled international team of scholars
to document and explore these remarkable radical
pedagogies, aiming both to establish a historical
archive and to open up architecture to further change.

ARCHITECTURE
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ISBN 978-0-262-54338-5
55995
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom
The MIT Press
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http://mitpress.mit.edu 9 780262 543385