MIM 4044 - Architectural Morphology

Course Objectives

1. Creating an awareness related to morphological studies in architecture that aim to decode, analyze and regenerate forms of architectural space,
2. Developing a general understanding on the concepts, tools and measurements of Space Syntax, which is a theory-based approach that defines the built environment as a spatial network formed by interrelated spatial units and aims to decode and visualize invisible social knowledge in the space,
3. Thinking about space creating a discussion platform about the tools and the language that architects use to understand, conceive and talk about architectural space,
4. Treating architectural design as a research and discovery process and to investigate how scientific data can be used as a creative, informative tool in the design process,
5. Exploring the potentials of Space Syntax in terms of its capabilities of making non-discursive characteristics of space discursive and providing a discovery tool for architects to put the space into a more extensive debate and questioning use of space syntax as a generative tool in design process,
6. Evaluating the contribution of Space Syntax to the design practice by focusing on Space Syntax research from the building scale to urban scale.

Course Description

This course presents architectural space as a social, cultural and configurational artefact. Main interest is on morphological studies in architecture, among these approaches, it is mainly on Space Syntax. In the scope of the course Space Syntax is investigated in terms of its theoretical background and its concepts and measurements developed for spatial analyses. The course treats architectural design as a discovery process, clarifies the idea of network thinking in architecture and explores how scientific data can be transferred to design as a creative, informative tool and investigates the potentials of using scientific, graph-theory based tools like Space Syntax, as a generative tool in architectural design.