Extract
Radical Pedagogies surveys experiments in architectural education from the 1960s and 1970s. Broadly, it was in these decades that the responsibility of the architect and the role of the building were made problematic and when the participatory status of previously excluded social groups was being reimagined. As a consequence, the techniques and theoretical frameworks used to analyze and teach architecture were in urgent need of radical change.
Following the etymological line of ‘radical’ to ‘radix,’ Radical Pedagogies defines what is radical as something that questions the ‘roots’ of disciplinary foundations (p. 11). As such, at its core, what is considered to be radical is anything that disturbs rather than reinforces. The disturbance of the status quo is the necessity and arguable urgency of this book that comes at a time when the experiments in architectural education in the second half of the twentieth century are generally absent, unnoticed, or forgotten in contemporary education. As such, this book is engaged in a timely call to action. As a reaction against the lacking courage of contemporary institutes, it seems that Radical Pedagogies is returning to architecture’s history to revive interest in diverse pedagogical experiments.
