Diseña (Jan 2018)
Co-laborations, Entrapments, Intraventions: Pedagogical Approaches to Technical Democracy in Architectural Design
Abstract
A review of a series of pedagogical experiments in our work as science and technology studies (STS) scholars in a Department of Architecture is presented. Our exploration had a central conceptual concern: exploring the meaning and prospects of one of STS’s central aspirations, ‘technical democracy’, for the education of the future design professionals. Hence, after briefly summarizing the conceptual history of the term, we will then pay specific attention to a series of studio design projects at an MA level. We show our transition from an initially ‘predicative’ pedagogical mode – where the main works on technical democracy were read and explained, hoping this to have an impact on our students’ architectural practice – to a series of more ‘experiential’ ones, where the challenge of technical democracy was repurposed in three ways: as (1) co-laboration, (2) entrapment, and (3) intravention.
