Life-affirming theories of architecture

Theory of Architecture 2:1 (5AR201), programme UMA 2 (6 hp), Fall-Winter Term, 2025 - 2026
08-12.sept. & 03-07.nov lecture seminars, workshops and presentations, with working week and final submissions due 16.jan (2026)

Photo of 'Sin Título / Untitled (Mariposario pedestal / Butterfly House Pedestal, 2021-22), by Freia, Maria & Luis Berríos Negrón while in residence at Las Lunas, Caguas, Puerto Rico. Made in collaboration with artist Javier Suárez, and biologists Carlos Andrés Rodríguez and María Cristina López from Para La Naturaleza. Caterpillars of the Sphingiade family and plants of their choice, bust in exposed clay (which decayed in weeks, disintegrating during the passing of hurricane Fiona), pedestal of recovered Reina de las Flores wood downed by hurricanes Irma and María, treated with mud, coconut oil, lemon, shells, copper, aluminium, gouache and pastel. Photo by Gadiel Pérez.

**

'Le hablé á la roca y la roca me contestó.'
['I spoke to the rock, and the rock responded.']
- Luisa Capetillo from Igualdad Humana / Human Equality (Puerto Rico, 1913)

'Muchas palabras se caminan en el mundo. El mundo que queremos es uno donde quepan muchos mundos.'
['Many words are walked on the world... The world we want, many worlds fit.']
- III passage of the Fourth Zapatista Declaration on behalf of the Lacandona Jungle (México, 1996)

'La poésie doit être faite par tous, non par un.'
['Poetry must be created by all, not by one alone.']
— Comte de Lautréamont (aka. Isidore Ducasse) from Les Chants de Maldoror (Uruguay, 1870)

During the course we will talk about Life-affirming theories of architecture, working with 'display' as mode of production.

As such, and based on Lina's two-part 1957 manifesto Contribuição Propedêutica ao Ensino da Teoria da Arquitetura (Propædeutic Contribution to the teaching of Architectural Theory), the course will serve as preparation for understanding aspects of research and experimentation, leading to Theory of architecture 2.2 (Spring 2026) where we will work more directly with learning about methods and shaping methodologies.

We will start by reviewing the life and work of Italian-born, Brazilian-naturalised curator, scenographer, and architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992). Her 'propædeutic' theories for 'total space' evolved by exploring 'display' as a research medium between social, material and environmental concern through art, design, theatre and architecture. What resulted was a unique shaping of space that was less about human shelter, and more about diverse social support structures for perceiving and affirming life: a core political (not formal European/North American) value of the aesthetics of Tropical Modernism.

We'll further delve into how Bo Bardi's display works began to acknowledge and respect Indigenous and Black perspectives that went beyond the human, already beginning to manifest in her theories as early as the 1950s; a response to the challenges posed by Western modernity and industrialisation through architecture. From there, I will share how she broadly influences how I develop theories of environmental art and experimental architecture. Along with some examples of installations — including in her own Museum of Modern Art of Bahia — we will address concerns over climate injustice, colonial memory, and environmental form. With that in mind, and by getting to know some aspects of new materialism, in-human geography, and multi-perspectival studies, we will look to play with display, ie. with observation and engagement as a 'show & tell'. The 'showing' will be about recognising and pointing-to ignored racial, gender, plant, and animal perspectives... the 'telling' will be about experimenting with group and collective work.

By bringing these together, we aim to address aspects of globalised architectural practice that fuel toxic, social-environmental problems today. But instead of working individually, we will collaborate with AI as a groups to 'generate' a series of texts and actions to be presented at the end of the week-long sessions (weeks 37 & 45), followed by a related, final assignment at the end of the semester (due 16.jan.2026, see below).

The objective will be to emphasise on architecture's crucial role in perceiving the environments that sustain us. By challenging observation itself, as a reflex, colonial act, and by engaging in the collective use of AI, we will not look back at theories, but instead we will scrape them so to share and shape your own present; to encourage more diverse forms of spatial production for living realities.

Schedule Summary
- Vertical Workshop on week 36;

- Main course content is delivered through lectures, seminars, workshops and group presentations in week 37 & 45;

- A group assignment (end of week 37) and a group exam (end of week 45) will be assessed as group presentations;

- Final individual written assignment will be discussed on week 45, (details to be posted on 12.jan) and will be a text with images from 2 to 5 pages in PDF, or 3 to 5 min audiovisual file format to be submitted in Canvas by 16.Januar.2026

- Engagement and participation in the lectures, workshop and seminars is assessed, with specified mandatory attendance.

Week 37 Schedule

	Monday 8 sept.	Tuesday 9 sept.	Wednesday 10 sept.	Thursday 11 sept.	Friday 12 sept.
	Course introduction	9:30-10:00 Introduction to readings and assignment Zoom link
09:30-12:00	Lecture 1 (Auditorium)	(Independent study)	(Independent study)	Group tutorials (Auditorium)	Group reading presentations (mandatory attendance, Auditorium)


13:00-16:00	Lecture 2 (Auditorium)	(Independent study)	Excursion Arboretum Norr (meet at parking)	Group tutorials (Auditorium)	Group reading presentations (mandatory attendance, Auditorium)

Week 45 Schedule (To be Confirmed)

	Monday 3 november	Tuesday 4 november	Wednesday 5 november	Thursday 6 november	Friday 7 november
	Course Intro and Review			09:00-9:30 Review supplementary readings and final assignment due 16.january
09:30-12:00	Lecture 3 by Kibandu Pello-Esso (cancelled) Film on Forestry Industry (Auditorium)	Lecture 5 and Workshop by Luis (with guest Kibandu Pello-Esso & LBN, Auditorium) Group Presentation Details	(Independent study)	Group rehearsals (Auditorium)	Group Presentations (mandatory attendance, Auditorium)


13:00-16:00	Lecture 4 by Luis within Lessons of the Land conf. (Auditorium)	Workshop and hand-in at 16:00 (Auditorium)	(Independent study)	Group rehearsals (Auditorium)	Group Presentations (mandatory attendance, Auditorium)

WEEK 45

Monday 03.nov — Intro, Lecture by guest Kibandu Pello-Esso, film screening, followed by a presentation by Luis in the context of the exhibition-conference Lessons of the Land as part of Relate North 2025.

Tuesday 04.nov — Lecture by Luis, Final Group Presentations details, discussion, and Workshop.

Wednesday 05.nov — Independent group work

Thursday 06.nov — Independent group work and Group tutorials with Luis (optional)

Friday 07.nov — Final Group Presentations (mandatory attendance)

WORKSHOP 04.11

Hand in a MAP (PDF A2 format)
Hand-in deadline: Today 16.00.
Where: Auditorium

REVIEW
DISCUSS
ANNOTATE

Review your presentation and hand-in from week 37.

Review the texts you were assigned and discuss within your group.

MAKE NARRATIVE IN PDF FORMAT
Summarise your presentation/reflection/ discussion in 3 scenes.

A 2D MAP/ NAVIGATION TOOL

Curate the content in the form of a poster or booklet with 6 folds.

A2 paper

THE MAP POSTER
NOTE: It is not supposed to be a presentation of the text content as a whole. But extractions/reflections/fin- dings from your experience of reading it.

Three quotes that you find intriguing ACCOMPANIED by a piece of text/or a drawing extrapolating/specifying/reflecting on the quote. Use any tool suitable.

Words/concepts you think is interesting and/or words you had to look further into.

Parralell investigations into the mentioned concepts or references (names and projects) if you find it relevant for you in your commu- nication of the text content to your peers.

Anything else you wish to communicate : a scanned note, a drawing, a photo, an associa- tion, tools used, furniture used, etc

Think of it as a map for you to navigate in the landscape of the text and for others who have not read the text to get a teaser into this scenery layed out.

POSTER in 6 FOLDS (3 for text for summary of script / 3 for images, drawings or collages)

As a plan for 10 MINUTE PRESENTATION on Friday...

Format of Group Presentations for week 45, 07.nov :: (required participation):
A presentation is to be produced by each group in the following procedure:

- review your week 37 group assignments, including the texts that were assigned to your group.
- and reinstate your collective dialogue with your group's AI person/collaborator.

With the aid of your AI collaborator (and by using any based text, image, design / 3-d modeling, and/or video AI platforms) you are together going to design and 'perform an architecture theory' using the following formats *
- a play / dialogue with at least three characters
- sci-fi
- epic poem
- short story
- fairy tale
- short film script
- political speech
- a song

*(other formats accepted as long as they lend themselves to collective participation).

Oral Presentations need be accompanied by at least three 'props' as a small scenography. Other media, objects, sculptures, video, audio, keynote, power points and/or printed matter / text are encouraged (all must be managed after the presentation by the group).

15 total mins. per group (10 minute presentation + 5 minute review by jury).

The presentation must be adapted into a text or 'script' to be uploaded here (on Canvas). The text must include a selection of at least three AI prompts explaining the group's process with the AI platform, and at least one image of each of your props - Assignment Submission / Archiving (due Friday 07.nov. 23:59).

TUTORIALS Thursday 06.nov
10:00 - 11:00 :: Group 1, Group 6, Group 11

11:00 - 12:00 :: Group 2, Group 7, Group 12

13:00 - 14:00 :: Group 3, Group 8, Group 13

14:15 - 15:15 :: Group 4, Group 9, Group 14

15:15 - 16:15 :: Group 5, Group 10, Group 15

Order of Presentations Friday 07.nov (with guest Amalia Katopodi)

9:30 - 10:30 :: Group 1, Group 6, Group 11

11:00 - 12:00 :: Group 2, Group 7, Group 12

13:00 - 14:00 :: Group 3, Group 8, Group 13

14:15 - 15:15 :: Group 4, Group 9, Group 14

15:15 - 16:15 :: Group 5, Group 10, Group 15

WEEK 37

Readings for Assignment Friday 12.sept (details below)

TEXT GROUP DIVISIONS:

Group 1, Group 6, Group 11 focuses on:
Epistemic Objects/Technical Objects. By Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg.
Ripple Effects. By Skovmøller, Amalie and Mathias Danbolt.

Group 2, Group 7, Group 12 focuses on:
PROJECTIVE REALITY - On mythologies of intelligence. By Hannah Baer
Epistemic Objects/Technical Objects. By Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg.

Group 3, Group 8, Group 13 focuses on:
‘It’s already way beyond what humans can do’- will AI wipe out architects? By Oliver Wainwright
Radical Pedagogies - Lina Bo Bardi’s Theory of an Immediate-Life-Architecture (1957). By Vanessa Grossman

Group 4, Group 9, Group 14 focuses on:
Radical Pedagogies - Lina Bo Bardi’s Theory of an Immediate-Life-Architecture (1957). By Vanessa Grossman
PROJECTIVE REALITY - On mythologies of intelligence. By Hannah Baer

Group 5, Group 10, Group 15 focuses on:
Ripple Effects. By Skovmøller, Amalie and Mathias Danbolt.
It’s already way beyond what humans can do - will AI wipe out architects? By Oliver Wainwright

Assignment for Friday 12.sept — Mapping of a scenography...

Procedure:
- read the texts.
- initiate a single chat (for the whole group) with an AI platform (ChatGPT, CoPILOT, DeepSeek, etc.)
- name the AI person/collaborator, and ask them to read the texts.
- discuss altogether what are the aspects of each text that you find most interesting.
- imagine with the AI collaborator a short synopsis for a theatre play based on the readings.
- make a world... an A2 print or Video mapping of the scenography for the play, as a diagram, as a collage, drawn and/or generated imagery, etc. in collaboration with your AI colleague.
- Present and hand-in your mapping schema on Friday.

TUTORIALS Thursday 11.sept
10:00 - 11:00 :: Group 1, Group 6, Group 11

11:00 - 12:00 :: Group 2, Group 7, Group 12

13:00 - 14:00 :: Group 3, Group 8, Group 13

14:15 - 15:15 :: Group 4, Group 9, Group 14

15:15 - 16:15 :: Group 5, Group 10, Group 15

Order of Presentations Friday 12.sept
10:20 - 11:00 :: Group 10, Group 15

11:00 - 12:00 :: Group 4, Group 9, Group 14

13:00 - 14:00 :: Group 3, Group 8, Group 13

14:15 - 15:15 :: Group 2, Group 7, Group 12

15:15 - 16:15 :: Group 1, Group 6, Group 11

16:15 - 16:35 :: Group 5

Required Online Readings (to be discussed during Main Course Weeks 37 & 45)

Grossman, Vanessa. Lina Bo Bardi’s Theory of an Immediate-Life-Architecture (1957), in ArchDaily's Radical Pedagogies series, 2015.
https://www.archdaily.com/775163/radical-pedagogies-lina-bo-bardi-almost-at-fau-usp-1957

'Critical of the “functionalism” already present in Vitruvius, and of what she calls the “Scientificism” of the Modern Movement, she revisited concepts associated with Romanticism. For Bo Bardi, “The Moderns oppose a certain resistance to this concept, perhaps influenced by the old habit of dividing and specializing parts of the world, of things and thoughts. Romantics, on the contrary, understand architecture in a cosmic sense.” Advocating nature “as the primary source for the study of architecture,” she openly criticized Bruno Zevi’s notion of “interior space” to which she opposed Gillo Dorfles’s definition of architecture as typically 'spaziale'. Bo Bardi tended toward what she defined as “total-space”: one that participates in human life. People, in turn, are considered as “actors” in the space of the world.'

[based on the analysis of Bo Bardi's Contribuição Propedêutica ao Ensino da Teoria da Arquitetura (1957) / The theory of architectural practice (eng. trans. Veikos, C. 2014)]

Wainwright, Oliver. ‘It’s already way beyond what humans can do’: will AI wipe out architects? The Guardian online, Mon 7 Aug 2023.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/aug/07/ai-architects-revolutionising-corbusier-architecture

'The ultimate effects are impossible to predict but, whether we like it or not, AI is here to stay. “Architects are like ostriches with their heads in the sand,” says Leach. “What they need to design right now is not another building – but the future of their profession.”'

Baer, Hannah. PROJECTIVE REALITY: on mythologies of intelligence. Artforum, Online/Print Summer 2023.
https://www.artforum.com/print/202306/hannah-baer-on-mythologies-of-intelligence-90637

'If what we have on our hands is the possibility of an entity with more intelligence than we possess, it’s possible that it might invite us into new ways of conceptualizing intelligence, new ways of inhabiting our ecologies, new ways of not desperately annihilating ourselves on this abundant planet. If we understand that the way we see AI tells us more about ourselves and our histories and values than it does about the machine, perhaps we can also invite it to help us transcend.'

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg. ‘Epistemic Objects/Technical Objects’. Case 2: Eccentric, edited by Anxious Prop (collective), 1st ed., vol. 1, Europrint Medien, 2010, pp. 21–28.
http://www.theanxiousprop.org/pdf/AXP_Case2_07-2010.pdf

Within such systems, a particular constellation of scientific and technical objects – that is, the technical conditions of the production of scientific objects – is set in place. Both entities mutually depend on each other. They are inextricably linked insofar as one does not exist without the other. This is the reason why I actually prefer to talk about epistemic objects instead of simply scientific objects, “epistemic” pointing to the fact that these objects are not independent of the technical means with which they are being shaped. This is the reason why Gaston Bachelard coined the notion of “phenomenotechnique” for the process in question.

Skovmøller, Amalie and Mathias Danbolt. Ripple Effects: Many questions have emerged after an artistic action against a plaster cast of Frederik V at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts made a big splash on the Danish art scene. Kunstkritikk - Nordic Art Review, 04.12.20.
https://kunstkritikk.com/ripple-effects/

In Denmark, too, activists have recently tried to address and problematise a historical narrative by removing a bust of a Danish king. On 6 November, a group called Anonyme Billedkunstnere (Artists Anonymous) posted a video on the website I Do Art showing a plaster bust of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ founder, King Frederik V, being dismantled from its base in the academy’s Assembly Hall and thrown into the waters of the Copenhagen harbour, just opposite the place where another edition of Bimpong’s Freedom was recently erected. In the accompanying text, the activists explain that they threw the bust into the water “in solidarity with all the artists, students, and people all over the world who have had to live with the aftermath of Danish colonialism in the US Virgin Islands, India, Ghana, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Denmark.”

Supplementary Readings for the Examination (due 16.jan.2026, more details on their use TBA in Week 45)

(*) available online, off-library

(§) available online, in-library

§ Bardi, Lina Bo. Three Essays on Design and the Folk Arts of Brazil. Introduction by Hilary Macartney, translated by Zanna Gilbert. West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring-Summer 2013), pp. 110-1.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/670978

* Bonnevier, Katerina. Behind Straight Curtains: Towards a Queer Feminist Theory of Architecture. PhD dissertation, KTH. 2007. Pp. 105-127
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:11685/FULLTEXT01.pdf&sa=U&ei=7CxOU7CPOYagyATIpoGgDw&ved=0CBsQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFvfsAwC4OE1xWcqk2NTwHqLueSeg

* Demos, TJ. Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Sternberg Press, 2016. Pp. 7-29.
https://www.sternberg-press.com/product/decolonizing-nature-contemporary-art-and-the-politics-of-ecology/

*Dragona, Daphne Affective Infrastructures, Transmediale Berlin 2019 - https://transmediale.de/en/journal/affective-infrastructures-0

* Jones, Caroline A. THE GREENHOUSE CHRONOTOPE (from p.6) Pp.20-23 and 34-37 (regarding Tear do Terreiro, installation by Luis Berríos Negrón, catalogue and documentation, 3rd Biennial of Art of Bahia, Salvador, BRA 2014
http://www.luisberriosnegron.org/14_LBN+BB3_NSXIII-TearDoTerreiro.pdf

§ Krauss, Rosalind. ‘Sculpture in the Expanded Field’. October, vol. 8, 1979.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/778224.pdf

§ Massey, Doreen B. For Space. SAGE, 2005. Pp.1-8
https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/for-space/book227109

§ Neimanis, Astrida. Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology. Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017. Pp.09-15.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bodies-of-water-9781474275392/

* Petti, Alessandro, Marie-Louise Richards (eds.). What Does It Mean "To Decolonize"? Decolonizing Architecture Advanced Studies, Royal Institute of Art June 2021. Pp. 6-13.
https://www.daas.academy/events/#decolonizing-5

§ Weisman, Leslie. Discrimination by Design: A Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment. University of Illinois Press, 1992. Pp.9-27.
https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/discrimination-by-design-a-feminist-critique-of-the-man-made-envi

§ Yusoff, Kathryn. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. University of Minnesota Press, 2018. Pp.22-27.
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/a-billion-black-anthropocenes-or-none

* Zollinger, Carla. Lina Bo Bardi and the Bahian Modern Art Museum: museum-school, museum in progress. Translated by Nadia Kerecuk – Embassy of Brazil in London 2012.
https://linabobarditogether.com/2012/09/02/lina-bo-bardi-and-the-bahian-modern-art-museum-museum-school-museum-in-progress/

Reference Artworks

MADEYOULOOK. Gardens of Others. Podcasts, 2020-21.
http://www.made-you-look.net/writing/2022/10/13/gardens-of-others

Dombois, Florian. ‘Surf''‘, Research Catalogue, 2013
https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/41240/41241/0/0

Hameed, Ayesha. Black Atlantis: The Plantationocene. Video, MAP Office eds. My Ocean Guide. Venice: Lightbox Publishing, 2017. (L'Internationale Talks)
https://www.internationaleonline.org/dialogues/23_black_atlantis_the_plantationocene/

Berrios-Negron, Luis, Suza Husse, et al. UNDISCIPLINARY LEARNING. REMAPPING THE AESTHETICS OF RESISTANCE. DISTRICT Berlin, 22.09 - 19.11.2016.
http://undisciplinarylearning.com/en/space/undisciplinary-learning-remapping-the-aesthetics-of-resistance-exhibition/

Berrios-Negron, Luis. Neganthropic Anarchive. PhD installation video and documentation. Gammelgaard, DK 2019.
https://medium.com/intransitive-journal/outcomes-from-the-anarchive-memory-05-2611594b96d8

Leckey, Mark. In the Long Tail, LECTURE PERFORMANCE by Abrons Art Centre, New York City 2009 -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi4NLXHWtHI&list=PLCLbjeqLJwYCt-mc4Lg3pQBdFASjvrrhd&index=1

Heilborn, Gunilla. The Knowledge, LECTURE PERFORMANCE by , Regionteatern Blekinge Kronoberg, 2014 - https://gunillaheilborn.se/works/performances/the-knowledge/

For more on the use of AI in academic writing, do read and check the references in:

Berezin, Jared. Using Generative AI for Your Scientific Writing? Be Aware of Journal Policies. 23 Aug. 2023, https://mitcommlab.mit.edu/cee/2023/08/27/using-generative-ai-for-your-scientific-writing-be-aware-of-journal-policies/.

MIT Comparative Media Studies | Writing Group. Advice and Responses from Faculty on ChatGPT and A.I.-Assisted Writing. 13 Jan. 2023, https://cmsw.mit.edu/advice-and-responses-from-faculty-on-chatgpt-and-a-i-assisted-writing/.

Format of the Written Examination

For details, see Final Assignment in the Assignments page : to be submitted in Canvas by 16.Januar.2026

There will be NO in-person class time on Week 3, it will be independent study time for the production of the Final Assignment.

Questions or comments about the assignment can be made no later than 14.january via Canvas email (Luis will respond within 24hours).

Bookable tutorials

You can book a one-to-one tutorial with Luis and Mikael to discuss your individual assignment during course weeks (TBD). Tutorials take place on Monday and Thursday afternoons on Zoom / Teams or in a Room (TBD). Refer to your Studio schedule first to find a time you are free, and book a time using the Calendar on the left hand side of this page (soon to be posted).

Assessment

This course consists of three modules:

Spatial communication 1.5 hp (the grade for this module comes from the Vertical Workshop)
Theoretical composition methods 1.5 hp (assessed by the written assignment to be submitted online Friday 16.jan.2026)
Research and dissemination methods 3.0 hp (assessed by engagement and participation in weeks 37 & 45 seminars and presentations)

Missed mandatory assignments / participations will have to be resubmitted as Re-takes (deadlines specified in the assignments) or as a Catch-up opportunity (deadline August 22, 2026).

Grading and comments for all deadlines will be given no later than two weeks after you submit.

Learning outcomes (in addition to those specified on the Syllabus)

Knowledge and understanding

Describe the environmental interaction between theories and practices of architecture
Process why architects ought become experts at the junctures and polemics between perception, space, and environment

Competence and skills

Discuss the concepts of space, location, perspective (human and more-than-human), form, figure, and body
Apply basic methods of sculptural and spatial analysis and communication

Academic Resources

UmU Library: academic writing resources

Course responsible

Luis Berríos Negrón, Associate Professor & Research Fellow [luis.berrios-negron@umu.se]