Mapping the Discourses. ​Periodicals as a Pedagogical Project for a [Virtual] Course of Architecture History and Theory.

The course of History and Theory of Architecture has been offered within the framework of the international Master’s degree in Architecture at Politecnico di Milano since 2014. It addresses some seminal experiences and discourses of post-war architectural history and theory by positioning architectural periodicals at the center of the discussion and examining them as editorial objects, as sites of construction and production of knowledge, but also as engaged platforms for criticism. Overall, the newfound virtual condition served as an accelerator for ongoing reflections on this pedagogic project, its tools, and outputs. The pandemic temporarily halted in-person archival activity, inevitably challenging the considerable research component that characterizes the course. In this perspective, mapping and exploiting online open-source archives and research databases constituted a preliminary objective – and significant result – of the research work, integrating the “traditional” database based on over 145 journals built in the previous years. Furthermore, the international composition of the class - where some students were carrying out their Erasmus exchange under unprecedented circumstances - continued prompting investigations beyond European and North American periodicals, considering databases and original publications from less-explored contexts, such as Turkey, China, India, or Iran. Besides, an ad-hoc WordPress course website kept students posted on the program, acting as a collector of references and information. Also, the virtual circumstance allowed the involvement of a variety of scholars, presenting exemplary cases drawn from their ongoing and past research. The course investigates periodicals as systems of knowledge, where mapping operations constitute a methodology for both pedagogic and research agendas. Architecture journals, observed in their graphic, material, and cultural dimension, structure rich systems of interrelations that were represented through engaging quantitative and qualitative graphic syntheses. Bi-dimensional visualizations adopted multilayered timelines, pie charts, histograms, and clouds, while thematic cartography and interpretative maps geolocated projects to document the ever-evolving attention towards specific geographies or topics, recording the recurrence or disappearance of themes and terms. A system of such mappings outlines different potentialities. On the one hand, it suggests further eventual expansions and contaminations with tools coming from the digital humanities. On the other, it encourages the adoption of a transnational perspective, as well as an interpretation of journals as catalysts for the circulation and transfer of forms of knowledge. This framework inevitably suggests alternative forms of teaching, communicating, learning, and researching in/for the history and theory of architecture, contributing to cement or dispute narrations of consolidated historiography through an emphasis on the nuanced and often untold mobility of people, models, discourses, and ideas.