House Histories and Radioactive Landscapes: Global Lessons from the “Backyard”

This article considers two different pedagogical methods of architectural research and storytelling through design that were taught, adapted, and assessed over the past three years within two different undergraduate courses at the University of New Mexico–two courses traditionally taught with little coordination: architecture history and the design studio. Instead, both pedagogical methods and courses began with a shared premise that, like faculty, students themselves, and the lands on which their homes and schools were built, already represent global conditions. This article is organized in two parts. In part one, we consider a research assignment from an undergraduate World Architecture History course taught by co-author Aaron Cayer, titled “House Histories,”and in part two, we describe a method for teaching design, taught by co-author Nora Wendl, in an undergraduateArchitectural Design IV course. By teaching students how to view and examine themselves, their houses, and their metaphoric “backyards” as inherently global, we reveal how students are able to develop a greater sense of belonging in the classroom and profession, position themselves within and against communities beyond their own, and practice the kind of empathy and planetary responsibility demanded by the present.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Teach.2023.44

Volume Editors
Massimo Santanicchia

ISBN
978-1-944214-44-9