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This module examines a modern history and theory of ecology from a materialist perspective. It aims to develop students’ ability to identify how architectural histories and theories of ecology are informed by discourses in architecture, art, politics, philosophy, economic, scientific and environmental disciplines. Students will develop the capacity to define and evaluate a specific ecological ‘site’ (building/place/artefact), and to develop critical ways of engaging with ecological discourses in architecture.ÌýÌýÌý

The module examines the history and theory of materialist and ecological architectures from the early-modern period to the present day, with reference to architectural, philosophical, aesthetic and ecological sources. It begins by examining concepts of matter, nature, biology and culture, including: 17thc-18thcÌýEuropean aesthetics and empiricism (Evelyn and Kent, Locke, Kant, Spinoza). Students then discuss 19thc materialism, together with early 20thc scientific texts on biological materialism (Darwin, Marx, Howard, Thompson, von Uexküll), followed by mid-20thc post-war cybernetic, scientific and landscape practices from the 1950s-70s (Bateson, Buckminster Fuller, Carson, Banham). In the final sessions, the module examines ecological history and theory from the 1970s to our current context of climate-change science and politics, including: feminist eco-politics and ecosophy (Haraway, Shiva, Tsing); decolonialism and transversality (Cheng, Gilroy, Glissant, Mignolo, Sharpe); biopolitical theories of human-nature (Bellamy Foster, Moore, Schuppli, Sloterdjik), and anthropocenic or posthuman ethics (Bennett, Braidotti and Yusoff).Ìý