This masters-level course focuses on phenomenological approaches to understanding the deep meaning of space, place, and the built environment.

Typically offered every other fall term and capped at ten, this course is pitched to students of architecture. The aim of the course is to explore how phenomenological practice can inform the practice of design, through the discovery and creation of architectural meaning.

After achieving a basic understanding of the practice of phenomenology, students will spend most of the term working in a seminar-workshop format and using a common method to investigate various spatial and placial phenomena that have been generated by the class as a whole. Highly experimental in nature, this part of the course searches out the sense and significance of the world we build around us by utilizing a wide variety of strategies, such as eidetic imagery, word clouds, mind maps, linguistic analysis, collaborative narration, sketches and illustrations, video presentations, graphics, journaling, and peer-reviewed free writing.

In a final project, students are encouraged to employ the techniques they’ve learned in the workshop to help them reflect on and “think through” the most challenging parts of their thesis project, or to explore the deep structure of a phenomenon with which they’ve always been fascinated.

If you think you would be interested in this course but have more questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at koukaldr@udmercy.edu.

D. R. Koukal