Cara Rachele: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2023 |
| Name | Dr. Cara Rachele |
| Address | Geschichte und Theorie der Arch. ETH Zürich, HIL D 65 Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5 8093 Zürich SWITZERLAND |
| Telephone | +41 44 633 33 78 |
| cara.rachele@gta.arch.ethz.ch | |
| Department | Architecture |
| Relationship | Lecturer |
| Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 052-0834-23L | PhD Teaching: At the End of the Wire  | 2 credits | 2S | C. Galis, C. Rachele, L. Stalder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This course shifts the study of infrastructure from abstract material and bureaucratic networks to the buildings, objects, and technologies at the wire’s end. Using the design of these terminal elements as our primary points of analysis, we will read the history of infrastructure through its use and interpretation in local communities. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | Seeking to destabilize the idea that an infrastructure can ever be considered a singular “thing,” this course will view infrastructure as something that takes different forms in local contexts across its vast geography. We will work from the material objects by which an infrastructure is used back to its networked structure—and not the other way around—to recognize that what appears to be a unified system is actually built according to a series of fragmented uses. Case studies in the course will look not at wires and pipes but rather the things that plug into them—electric light, televisions, computers, sinks, etc.—and the ways various communities have understood the promises and performances of infrastructure through their use. The methods presented in this seminar will challenge the idea that projects of 19th- and 20th-century infrastructural modernization can be viewed through a universal lens by directing attention to the ways their top-down structures have historically been subverted, resisted, and undermined by local users. These methods present an opportunity to consider the responsibilities of architecture and design as practices that sit precisely at the intersection between large-scale infrastructures and specific sites with their own histories. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | This seminar will look to scholars working in diverse historic and geographic contexts who study infrastructure through the material forms it takes in local communities. While their approaches and scales of analysis differ, we will read all of their work with an attention to two primary goals. The first is historic: to understand how top-down and bottom-up perspectives of infrastructure have historically differed in each author’s respective site of study. The second is historiographic: to understand how each author writes histories of infrastructure through its use and interpretation in local communities. While our focus will remain on how infrastructure has been designed in local contexts through the study of its buildings, objects, and technologies, we will look beyond architectural history to diverse scholarship, emphasizing that the problems of infrastructure are fundamentally interdisciplinary. Authors featured in the seminar come from fields including science and technology studies, postcolonial theory, media theory, anthropology, and the environmental humanities amongst others. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Competencies |
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| 056-0008-01L | Research Methods in History and Theory of Architecture II  | 1 credit | 3U | C. Rachele, S. Schindler Kilian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | The course is an introduction to the different forms of humanistic working and covers the methodological basics of the subject. It trains the ability to address a topic through written discussions in writing workshops. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | Students gain an overview of the different research methods available in the field of history and theory of art and architecture. They will apply them in exercises. The course strengthens the methodological competences (preliminary knowledge, source and literature research) as well as their critical-analytical competences (reading and writing competence). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | Contains exercises on humanistic methods as well as writing workshops for practising academic techniques (development of an issue, structure of an argumentation, conceptual work, presentation techniques etc.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lecture notes | https://doctoral-program.gta.arch.ethz.ch/courses | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | https://doctoral-program.gta.arch.ethz.ch/courses | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 063-0316-23L | History of Art and Architecture VI: Antiquity and Medieval | 2 credits | 2V | C. Rachele, M. Delbeke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This lecture studies Antiquity and the Middle Ages through their reception since the Renaissance. We will investigate the role of history for architects then and now through analysis of how architecture has been defined in relationship to the antique and medieval past. Short readings and class participation required. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | Deepen basic knowledge, improve ability to critically analyze architectural history texts, develop humanities-based reasoning and argument skills. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | In the Renaissance, the practice of architecture fundamentally transformed into the design-based discipline it is now largely assumed to be. Both then and especially in nineteenth- and twentieth-century architectural history, this change was understood in opposition to “good” ancient and “bad” medieval models. This course investigates Antiquity and the Middle Ages as variously fashioned in the mind of the architect and the architectural historian. How does our understanding of these periods inform our thinking about the use of history for the contemporary architect? This course is a combination lecture and discussion class. Occasional at-home reading and active in-class participation are required; the final assignment is a written research assignment (due during the exam period). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | Scans of the readings will be made available on the course website. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 064-0014-23L | Research Methods in the History and Theory of Architecture | 2 credits | 2S | C. Rachele | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | Introduction to methodological approaches in the history and theory of architecture; presentation and discussion of individual doctoral projects. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | The doctoral students analyse critically relevant approaches in the history and theory of architecture. Through group discussions and individual presentations, they refine the scope, aims and methodologies of their proposals, in preparation for the research plan submission at the end of first year. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | The methodology of humanistic research grows more complex with every academic generation: it presents a complex thicket of epistemological frameworks and practical strategies rather than a straightforward array of tools. In the omnivorous field of architectural history and theory, the scholar faces a yet more multi-faceted array of possible approaches to any individual research subject. This course considers the variety of available strategies for the creation of architectural histor(ies) and theor(ies) as an opportunity for intellectual inquiry distinctive to our discipline. Through close and prolonged study of a range of historically significant or methodologically innovative writing, we will deepen our understanding both of how other historians have structured their work as well as refine each student’s developing research methodology. The course, held over two semesters, combines a traditional doctoral theory seminar with a practical writing workshop: we will alternate reading-based discussions with working sessions directed towards the development of the research proposal to be submitted at the end of the first year. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lecture notes | https://doctoral-program.gta.arch.ethz.ch/courses | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | https://doctoral-program.gta.arch.ethz.ch/courses | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||