Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

Concluding his seminal essay, “La Coupure entre Architectes et Intellectuels,” which describes the influence of the Italian post-war architectural scene on French pedagogical reform and debate, Jean-Louis Cohen warns against the “temptation of universality,” cautioning his fellow French architects against the uncritical adoption of transalpine ideas and concepts. Cohen’s essay serves as a precursor to his future research on architectural influences and exchanges across borders, such as “Scenes of the World to Come: European Architecture and the American Challenge, 1893–1960,” his recent work on “Building a New New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture,” and his lecture series on “Interurbanity” at the Collège de France, illustrating the intertextuality and cross-references between different key cities in Europe. His work lays the foundation for understanding architectural ideas as nomadic concepts (to paraphrase Isabelle Stengers) and architectural traditions as successive acts of translation. Since its Italian Renaissance origins, the discipline of architecture, as it is still understood and practiced today, has served as a vehicular language, disseminated through the travels of practitioners and the mediation of printed publications. Building upon J.L. Cohen’s work, our research focuses on the Chinese context, from its Beaux-Arts and Soviet influences in the twentieth century to the academic integration of Chinese and foreign institutions in the early twenty-first century, with particular emphasis on the case of Sino-Foreign institutions. The presentation begins by examining the challenges posed by translation in architectural education, delving into the complexities of translating architectural concepts, theories, and design principles across diverse cultural and linguistic contexts.