Introduction to the LDE Minor 2020-21 in collaboration with Erasmus University

Description

Architecture and philosophy, as a material-discursive practice, has literally and materially shaped our built and living environments for centuries, building on concepts such as identity and socio-economic status. Nevertheless, we are often oblivious of a) how these environments are produced; b) how they affect us; and c) how we may affect them in return. What if architects and philosophers work together to approach the world through the worn dualism of objective structures and subjective interpretations, but in terms of its various modes of existence? It would be to understand the urban environment relationally, that is, as composed of heterogenous but intersecting processes of becoming. Dynamic and incomplete by definition, it is through the convergence of modes that nature and technology, culture, science, politics, law, and daily existence become coherent and concrete. To think and build in terms of modes, moreover, means to participate in their ecology. This calls out for the development of new conceptual and methodological frameworks capable not only of describing ‘what is’, or anticipating ‘what might be’, but especially to become aware of processes that produce and foster actual change. Thus, the transversal convergence of architecture and philosophy is a vital component in the formation of new environmental knowledges and urban awareness.

Period	25 Mar 2021
Event title	Modes of Existence: Architecture and Philosophy
Event type	Course
Location	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Degree of Recognition	Local