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The aim of this article is to develop an architectural pedagogy for the Anthropocene. The author reflect on a project within a postgraduate architectural theory module to address the following questions: How can architectural pedagogy articulate critical modes of production that contribute to quality education in the time of the Anthropocene? What are the ideas, values and practices needed?

The method employed is close reading of texts focussed on three areas: critical theory and pedagogy, political theory and the Anthropocene, and architectural theory and typological urbanism. These theoretical narratives are placed in dialogue with a reflection on a design research pedagogical project. The theoretical narratives and design research project seek to articulate the multidimensionality of critical education. The methodology enacted in the paper performs the pedagogy of the classroom.

The study yields compelling conclusions regarding the potential for rethinking the idea of typology under the pressure of the Anthropocene and of critical pedagogy combined with design research to take positions on urgent political and social matters. The author concludes with a toolkit of concepts, values and knowledge practices.

At a time when disciplines tend towards discrete specialisation, while the need for knowledge production is ever more transdisciplinary, this paper develops inventive techniques and conceptual frameworks for supporting approaches where different fields and ideas make contact as a collective task in the era of the Anthropocene. It updates theories of typology to address contemporary pressures.

Given the broad scale and fundamental transformations occurring to both the natural environment and human condition in the present era, what does the future hold for vernacular architecture studies? In a world where Capital A (sometimes referred to as ‘polite’) architectural icons dominate our skylines and set the agenda for our educational institutions, is the study of vernacular architecture still relevant? What role could it possibly have in understanding and subsequently impacting on architectural education, theory and practice, and in turn, professional built environment design? Imagine for a minute, a world where there is no divide between the vernacular and the ‘polite’, where all built environments, past and present are open to formal research agendas whereby the inherent knowledge in their built histories inform the professional design paradigm of the day – in all built settings, be they formal or informal, Western or non-Western. In this paper, the author is concerned with keeping the flames of intellectual discontent burning in proposing a transformation and reversal of the fortunes of VAS within mainstream architectural history and theory.

In a world where a social networking website can ignite a revolution, one can already see the depth of global transformations on the doorstep. No longer is there any excuse to continue intellectualizing global futures solely within a Western (Euro-American) framework. In looking at the history of VAS, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate that the answers for its future pathways lie in an understanding of the intellectual history underpinning its origins. As such, the paper contends that the epistemological divide established in the 1920s by art historians, whereby the exclusion of so-called non-architect architectures from the mainstream canon of architectural history has resulted in an entire architectural corpus being ignored in formal educational institutions and architectural societies today. Due to this exclusion, the majority of mainstream architectural thinkers have resisted theorizing on the vernacular. In the post-colonial era of globalization the world has changed, and along with it, so have many of the original paradigms underpinning the epistemologies setting vernacular environments apart. In exploring this subject, the paper firstly positions this dichotomy within the spectrum of Euro-American architectural history and theory discourse; secondly, draws together the work of scholars who have at some point in the past called for the obsolescence of the term ‘vernacular’ and the erasure of categorical distinctions that impact on the formal study of what are perceived as non-architectural environments; and finally, sets out the form by which curricula for studies of world architecture could take.

The purpose of this paper is to examine shared principles of “irreducibility” or “undecidability” in second‐order cybernetics, architectural design processes and Leibniz's geometric philosophy. It argues that each discipline constructs relationships, particularly spatio‐temporal relationships, according to these terms.

The paper is organized into two parts and uses architectural criticism and philosophical analysis. The first part examines how second‐order cybernetics and post‐structuralist architectural design processes share these principles. Drawing from von Foerster's theory of the “observing observer” it analyses the self‐reflexive and self‐referential modes of production that construct a collaborative architectural design project. Part two examines the terms in relation to Leibniz's account of the “Monad”. Briefly, developing the discussion through Kant's theory of aesthetics, it shows that Leibniz provides a “prototype” of undecidable spatial relations that are also present in architectural design and second‐order cybernetics.

The paper demonstrates that second‐order cybernetics, architectural design and metaphysical philosophy enable interdisciplinary understandings of “undecidability”.

The paper seeks to improve understanding of the geometric processes that construct architectural design.

The paper explores interdisciplinary connections between the disciplines, opening up potential routes for further examination. Its analysis of the aesthetic and geometric value of the Monad (rather than its perspectival value) provides a particularly relevant link for discussing the aesthetic production and experience of spatial relations in second‐order cybernetics and contemporary architectural design.

The paper aims to research the applications of topological geometry to the architectural concept design process and their combination with the modern digital technology to find novel architectural spaces and forms which are dynamic, easily adaptable to the context and surroundings.

The article uses the method of studying the existing literature on topological geometry and architectural design theory including design thinking, architectural design methods and architectural compositions to analyze and compare them with architectural practices and suggest new topological design tools and methods. Moreover, the paper tests the proposals with a number of preliminary design research experiments. In addition, graphic design software, parametric design, building information modeling (BIM) and digital development trends in architecture were explored and experienced to reveal the application potential of topological design thinking and methods in the trend of architectural digitization.

The paper has analyzed, synthesized and systematized the basic theories of topological geometry in order to clarify their applications in the architectural concept design process. On that basis, the paper proposes a novel topological design thinking and method for finding rich diversified architectural ideas and forms based on original invariant design constraints. Finally, the paper clarifies the combination as well as the mutual, motivating relationship between topological geometry and modern digital technologies when applied to architectural design.

The research contributes a novel design thinking and method based on topological geometry combined with modern digital technology to the architectural design theory. It will be a valuable tool capable of suggesting architects how to think and innovate in architecture in the era of industrial revolution 4.0.

After more than four decades of its beginnings, Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) has already reached a level of maturity in both the education and the profession. There is an ever-growing amount of literature on the subject; however, relatively few studies have taken a systematic approach to analyze CAAD education. Moreover, design institutions often view CAAD merely as a technical issue ignoring socio-cultural and theoretical aspects. In order to alleviate these problems, this paper presents a structured analysis of CAAD education based on Prof. Necdet Teymur's theory of architectural education. Prof. Teymur claims that the components of architectural education should be studied in terms of objectives (why), contents (what), methodology (how) and management (who) along with four different knowledge and disciplinary levels (viewpoints); namely, sociological, ideological, epistemological, and pedagogical. In this paper, current issues of CAAD education are addressed within this framework and several proposals are presented.

This research introduces a hypothesis for establishing typologies and patterns for architectural plans based on their climate, culture and orientation. The repetition and reproduction of spaces in architectural plans are rooted in mathematical equations. Factorial and permutation formulae are the type of equations used as scientific tools to define typology. In addition, a new perspective on culture and privacy in line with the Arabic house is included to illustrate the practicality of restricted plans according to cultural needs.

To make the approach accessible, the theory is integrated into a software using C++ as the programming tool. Accordingly, all patterns and typologies are reproduced by inserting digits or numbers to simulate the process of using permutations and factorials for the creation of diagrammatic patterns and, subsequently, architectural plans.

The authors recommend that this method be integrated in future housing studies at earlier stages to obtain a high number of alternatives for architectural plans. The results of mathematical permutation of this study will help architects and designers to evolve their methods and processes through creating alternative patterns and culture (and climate)-specific typologies to provide more design possibilities.

This study is set to improve the adjacency diagram theory into the adjacency diagram with orientation theory, which accounts for the geographical orientation to obtain more comprehensive and climate-responsive patterns.

The purpose of this paper is to present a model of the architectural design process as a set of interlinked conversations, to explain the role of the artifacts of the design process in facilitating these conversations, and to demonstrate alternative perspectives on the architectural process enabled by such a model.

Applying concepts and terms of Pask's Conversation Theory, the conventional architectural process is analyzed in terms of the nature of the conversations and artifacts at play within each phase. The implications of a rethinking of the architectural process in terms of Conversation Theory are extrapolated.

A Conversation Theory perspective on the architectural design process reveals the arbitrariness of the convention of the building as a final and fixed product. The introduction of a new class of artifacts in the design process could support a more sustainable and open approach to architecture.

The conceptualization of the software dimension of a building as an “entailment mesh” preserving and perpetuating the shared concepts constructed through the design process contributes new concepts to the discourse of responsive architecture.

The authors reflect on the academic bachelor and master programs of architecture. From the perspective of higher education policy in Flanders, Belgium, they examine the intrinsic challenges of the academic educational setting, and the way architectural education can fit in and benefit from it, without losing its specific design oriented qualities. Therefore, they unravel the process of architectural design research, as a discipline-authentic way of knowledge production, leading to the identification of a number of implicit features of an academic architectural learning environment. The disquisition is based on educational arguments pointed out by literature and theory. Furthermore, the authors analyze whether this learning environment can comply with general standards of external quality assurance and accreditation systems. Doing so, they reveal the Achilles’ heel of architectural education: the incompatibility of the design jury with formalized assessment frameworks. Finally, the authors conclude with an advocacy for academic freedom. To assure the quality of academic architectural programs, it is necessary that universities maintain a critical attitude towards standardized policy frameworks.

The purpose of this paper is to study a series of exchanges between cybernetics and the arts, focusing on Pask's lifelong envisioning of the so‐called information environment (I.E). It follows the author's previous PhD dissertation which was concerned with the exchanges between systems research and architecture; Gordon Pask et al.; and a couple of outstanding architectural projects related to systems and computation.

This paper was mainly supported by archival research of Gordon Pask's Archive (held at the time by his daughter) and Cedric Price's Archive (held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture); supplemented with interviews and bibliographical research (research was made possible by a FCT grant – POCI 2010).

The paper details and discusses exchanges between the fields of cybernetics and the arts; and it focuses on Pask's lifelong exchange with architecture and the manifestation of his ideas in this field. One highlights, among others, Pask's exchanges within the British milieu and the AMG during the 1960s and 1970s; the seminal manifestations of his main C2 achievement – the Conversation Theory – in the field of architecture; and his later architectural performance.

The previous primary archival research conducted at Pask's daughter house, is being expanded by the author through use of new material.

This paper is intended for historians of sciences and the arts. It briefly overviews Pask's well‐known main works and, in addition, it includes reference to some rare little‐known materials.