Architectural Anthropology

Course description:

The aim of the course is to introduce architectural anthropology in general and in relation to the participants’ own research projects. “This book prompts architects and anthropologists to think and act together. In order to fully grasp the relationship between human beings and their built environments and design more livable and sustainable buildings and cities in the future, we need new cross-disciplinary approaches combining anthropology and architecture. This is neither anthropology of architecture, nor ethnography for architects, but a new approach beyond these positions: Architectural Anthropology”. This description introduces the book Architectural Anthropology – Exploring Lived Space (2021). Senior researcher and anthropologist Marie Stender, who is one of the book’s authors and has worked extensively in architectural anthropology, presents the research perspectives and uses of architectural anthropology in the course. The course’s second keynote speaker, architect Bente Melgaard, has called her PhD thesis The Planned and the Lived Suburb (2018) an architectural anthropological search for exchange between suburban enclaves. In her talk, she will discuss how anthropology inspired her as an architect, and what it means for a method to come into being along the way.

Purpose: The course will introduce the participants to architectural anthropology as a research field and apply this knowledge to the participants’ own PhD projects.

Literature: TBA

Target audience: PhD students at any stage of their programme who have an interest in architectural anthropology and are open to exploring its relevance to their own PhD projects.

Number of participants: Minimum 8 and maximum 16

Language: The main language is English.

Course type: Combination of academic presentations, discussions and workshop sessions where participants give/receive feedback based on a submitted paper.

Presenters:

Marie Stender, senior researcher and anthropologist, Department of Building, Urban and Environment, AAU.

Bente Melgaard, development consultant, architect MAA and PhD.

ECTS-points: 2

Place: Aarhus School of Architecture, Exners Plads 7, 8000 Aarhus C

Course dates: 2 – 3 February 2023

Registration deadline: 12 January 2023

Participants are expected to submit a paper (max 10 pages) before the start of the course, on which they would like feedback in the inserted workshop sessions – including a short description of the PhD project and where they are in the process.

Registration via e-mail to PhD Coordinator Mia Mimi Flodager, mmf@aarch.dk.