ARCH3008: Contemporary is Always Over

2026 unit information

Discussion of contemporary works is critical to architectural education because they frame the context in which our graduates will practice. This class aims to generate conversation around influential architects who rose to prominence after the 2008 financial crisis and now shape global discourse. Rather than surveying all architecture produced in our time, the course focuses on the work of nine pairs of practices we see as emblematic of the present condition. Their projects will serve as entry points to discuss (with a touch of irony) topics such as ridiculous originality, precise ambiguity, cynical criticality, welfare states, social awareness, new phenomenologies, beautiful roughness, and common-sense laws. The key question is how to interrogate architecture today in ways that move beyond the contemporary. Our aim is not just to map the present, but to create a space to navigate the recent past and speculate on possible futures.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning

Details

Study level	Undergraduate
Academic unit	Architecture
Credit points	6

Enrolment rules

Prerequisites: ?	None
Corequisites: ?	None
Prohibitions: ?	None
Assumed knowledge: ?	None

Learning outcomes

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Unit availability

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There are no availabilities for this year.

Session	MoA ?	Location	Outline ?
Semester 1 2026	Normal day	Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney	Outline unavailable

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