Architectural Theory / 04.2017

Architecture, the city and play

Contemporary architectural theory scrutinises the interaction between design and the cultural, political, economic, social, intellectual and contexts in which it emerges. 'Architecture, the city and play' posed questions such as 'can game designers learn from urban theory?' and 'should architects care about game design?'.

As computation and digital technologies are becoming an increasingly ubiquitous part of our everyday lives, the playful city is emerging as a contemporary arena in which the inherent contradictions between design and chance can be explored. New spaces are also emerging that superimpose the virtual and the physical, posing new questions regarding the design and meaning of our environment and our place within it.

Exploring texts by philosophers such as Lefevbre, Baudrillard and Huizinga a course diary was built up with reflections on their seminal works. The course diary can be downloaded as a pdf here.

The culmination of the 10 week study was an essay which built from one of the previous reflections. That essay can be downloaded as a pdf here.