Cursos / 3º Ciclo / Faculty of Architecture and Arts :: Architecture

SEMINÁRIO SOBRE FENOMENOLOGIA DA ARQUITECTURA - 2026/2027

1º curricular year
Semestralidade: 2nd semester
ECTS: 15

Teachers

Leading Teacher: Prof. Doutora Maria Tavares

Class type and School hours

Seminário : 2 Horas

Teaching Language

Portuguese

Main Aims/Objectives

To contribute to clarifying the following questions: What is phenomenology? What contributions can we find in phenomenology and post-phenomenology for the critical, theoretical, and historical discussion of architecture in and of itself in contemporaneity?

By clarifying these issues, the aim is to foster inter- and transdisciplinary thinking in the study of architectural design and its construction, and to examine the relevance of meta-architecture (the morphogenetics of architecture).

Specific Aims/Objectives

To understand the place of phenomenology in philosophical disciplines and contemporary architecture.
To understand architecture as a discipline: studies of architectural design, its construction in and of itself.
Directions for a meta-architecturology: a case study.
To understand the value of a morphogenetics of architecture, or meta-architecturology: from the particular to the general and vice versa (rhizomatic view of the path from design to construction, construction to the world, and from the world back to us).

Skills to be acquired

Identification of general themes associated with phenomenology as a discipline, as well as understanding the core aspects of the phenomenological and post-phenomenological debate in relation to architecture; structuring interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary thinking in the configuration of the notion of Architecture as a discipline in contemporaneity, as well as recognising alternative possibilities for understanding and comprehending architecture, thus making it a concrete object of research.

Teaching Procedures

The seminar will consist of theoretical classes, using oral and multimedia presentations. The methodology for presenting the topics will emphasise the value of criticism and debate, encouraging discussion.
A guest researcher is expected to take part and, in line with the course syllabus, will help to explore the subject’s topics in more depth and enrich the critical debate.

Programme

In the text entitled Full-relief: An introduction to InterVIEWS, which serves as an introduction to the 2020 book InterVIEWS: Insights and Introspection on Doctoral Research in Architecture, Federica Goffi, who edited it, writes: While there is no doubt that architecture is a profession, the boundaries of the discipline are more changeable than we have been able to acknowledge, and what constitutes research in architecture in an academic setting is subject to continuing questioning. Indeed, the how of the contributions often calls into question core assumptions and the research approaches in relation to other disciplines and their research definitions.
This continuous questioning, to which Goffi refers, is, in fact, fundamental to advancing architectural research, especially when questioning the very limits of architecture as a discipline.
Phenomenology, which played an important role in critical thinking in architecture at the end of the 20th century, must be questioned and repositioned once again, at a time when the humanities and, consequently, architectural criticism, history, and theory are experiencing greater uncertainty. Hence, the question: In the specific context of architecture, what is
phenomenology as a discipline? - seems pressing to us, as we seek diverse approaches to research in architecture that, in the plural, complement and support the discipline´s needs, as Goffi puts it. It is in this context that another challenge is suggested: What contributions can we find in phenomenology and post-phenomenology for the critical, theoretical and historical discussion of architecture in and of itself, in contemporary times?
As in any philosophical field, the search for a possible answer is complex, perhaps even aporetic, but fundamental. It is fundamental at a time of difficult definition, at the beginning of a century that is hesitant to assert its identity. In contemporary times, architecture seems to be weakened by this hesitation. This fragility is an opportunity for reflection and for presenting other methods of investigation. In this context, we propose a meta-architecturology, that is, a process in which post-phenomenology, associated with epistemological processes in architecture, becomes urgent for understanding who we are and what we do as architects.

In this search for tools to propose a new process, the seminar is divided into three moments.
1 - Philosophical context (from Immanuel Kant to Maurice Merleau-Ponty, via Edmund Husserl; from Michel Foucault to Gilles Deleuze, via Jean-François Lyotard);
2 - Establishment of a case study: Villa Mairea (1937-1939), in Noormarkku, Finland, designed by Aino and Alvar Aalto, or Casa Metello (1958–1959) by Nuno Teotónio Pereira and Nuno Portas. Process of dissecting the architectural design project and its construction. Search for knowledge in and of itself.
3 – Using the case studies, a rhizomatic perspective is established, reflecting this ‘dissection’ in the understanding of the work within a historical, theoretical, critical and social context (from the particular to the general, and from the general to another particular).

Evaluation Type

Due to the nature of the seminar, in addition to participation in classes (20% of the assessment), students will be required to produce a written document/essay (80% of the assessment). The document should be the result of research supported by the seminar programme content and developed by each student.

Teaching Resources

A set of national and international bibliographic references, along with a filmography, will support the seminar classes. References on phenomenology will be used, as well as on criticism, theory, and the history of architecture, the visual arts, and cinema. During the class period, specific texts will be discussed to accompany the programme content.

Sustainability Objectives

The seminar programme is committed to promoting the humanities and culture, with their pluralism, transversality, transparency, and inter- and transdisciplinarity, fostering diversity and inclusion. This commitment incorporates three of the principles that structure the SDGs: the planet, people, and partnerships. In this sense, SDGs 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), 10 (reduction of inequalities), and 11 (sustainable cities and communities) are invoked.

Keywords

Architecture
Phenomenology
Contemporaneity
Rhizome
Meta-architecturology

Main Bibliography

Complementary Bibliography