Session One: Contemporary Writing

Image: Polly Borland

You are asked to read three essays and write two blogs over the first two weeks of this course:

The first is Will Self on Battersea Power Station, a Diary piece written for the London Review of Books (18th July 2013). It is easily available on line and registering with the LRB archive is probably a good idea. It reflects on the contemporary building environment here in London with some disdain.

The second is Jonathan Meades on Zaha Hadid 'The First Great Female Architect' (also easily downloadable) which gives us a cleverly thought through (perhaps too clever for some) appreciation of the role of the celebrity architect. It was first published in the ghastly named Intelligent Life, a spin off from The Economist.

The third is Alan Badiou 'This Crisis is the Spectacle; Where is the Real' published in response to the banking crisis of 2008. As soon as you google those words you will find a torrent of student blogs grappling with the notion there might be a leftist critique still in existence; browse through as you wish, but make sure you read the original (first published in Le Monde, but widely circulated).

You are asked to combine your appreciation of any two of the texts in one blog, and cover the third in a stand alone second blog. 

Will each of you send me your new blog addresses to me at davies.vegas@virgin.net which is the default address for contacting me. I do not use university e-mail.

As to what you write, a blog can be of any length but they are best kept short and pithy, especially at this early stage. You should be careful to say something about the writing rather than just mouthing opinion and realise at the same time you are NOT WRITING AN ESSAY. Blogs tend to be about something that worries their author, which over a space of five to ten paragraphs, they elaborate upon.

You might want to check out my own blog Architecture and Other Habits (pauldaviesarchitecture.blogspot.com).

It's best to write your blogs AFTER the class discussion. Due to a long standing engagement there will NOT be a session on Friday 10th October; the reason for this three texts over the fortnight start. My apologies for that.

Advice on Blogging

This course in unique in having orientated it's course submission around each students individual blog. You are asked to create your own blog (with blogspot.com or equivalent) and post each week from the beginning of the course. This year the course begins in the second week of the first semester- week beginning 29th September 2014. Whilst you may be initially nervous about putting your thoughts out there, I assure you of the benefits to your confidence and writing capability that come with the discipline of sitting down and getting to work each week and the pleasure of pressing the 'publish' button. Remember you are not writing an essay at the end of this course.
You will also find plenty of Critical Thinking blogs out there, including some from AA students attending my courses. I have read them all over the years, but be aware that the texts change year by year, and that it is your own critical development we are interested in and not somebody else's. Do not try and fake the process, we are well aware of the limits of theory teaching in undergraduate architecture programmes and if you punch above your weight; it's obvious. Learning to read critically is not rocket science, so please avoid that horrible tendency to pretension; words such as 'ecosophy' or 'syncretism' are not appreciated. Other aspects of style we will discuss as we go along; that's part of the fun.

Welcome

This is the guide blog for this years Critical Readings (component one of Critical Thinking) course for PGDip Architecture students at London South Bank University for the session 2014-15. It provides information about each week's texts and alerts on any room changes (these can be expected) and offers some advice and personal interpretation as we go along. It is generally updated each Sunday and it is advised that all students enrolled on the course check the blog each week and register as followers.