Open Pedagogy

The programme is oriented towards providing a platform for a collaborative, non-certificate centric pedagogy. It is for anyone interested in architecture, urbanism and environment. It has introductory components to orient participants to concepts and issues as well as advanced sections for analysis, deep reading, and use in their professions. It will be useful to teachers, policy makers, architects, planners, urbanists, environmentalists, urban and housing experts, researchers, scholars, and civil society workers engaged in the issues of contemporary urbanisation and environment. While it has components of ‘expertise’ and domain specific ‘technicalities’, it invites everyone to join the course to enhance the work they are currently doing.

The courses will be delivered in English and will be open to anyone with a graduate degree and also to advanced students of architecture / planning / engineering (4th & 5th year students). The programme will be delivered in an online mode through a series of core and special modules.
















Core Modules


Core Modules shall be offered every year by the faculty of the Centre in collaboration with other scholars and experts.



Spatial History of Humanity
This course orients participants to the history of the built-environment and habitation using a typological analysis. The course takes the participants into a journey where one explores questions like - Where did the idea of school / hospital come from?, Where did the idea of prison come from?, etc. Through this historic journey, the course interrogates existing spatialities and provokes speculations on the future of spatiality.




South Asian & Indian Architecture
This course familirises the participants with the history of  built-form in the subcontinent and provides conceptual apparatuses to understand them. The course will take the participants through pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial experiments in the built environment and its role in the society. The questions of identity, locality, colonialism, and the  production of built-form shall be discussed critically. The course will also familiarise participants with important practices in the past 100 years. 


Emerging Indian Urbanisation & its Experience
This course takes the participants through the history of urbanisation in India and the world and also introduces key concepts in understanding this. It will then familiarise participants with current debates on urbanisation from across the world. The course will further engage with specific technicalities of planning and managing cities covering issues of land, property, planning, finance, legislation and governance.


Environment & Spatiality
This course will orient participants to current discussions on environment and its relationship to builtform. It will also familiarise the participants with technicalities of climate change, resource audit, resource management in builtform, etc. One of the agendas of this course is to introduce the participants to alternative conceptualizations around ideas of everyday engagements, experience and care of the environment.

Contemporary Architecture & Its Practice
This course introduces the participants to the various trajectories of spatial practice in the South Asian subcontinent since the 1990s. Through a critical consideration of the built environment,, this course will map the shifting contours of  architecture within the landscape of South Asia.  The discussions trace tendencies of the managerial impetus, the focus on environment and heritage, the rise of artisanal and communitarian agendas, the urgency of urbanistic thinking leading us into the space of the digital.



Theoretical Orientations in Practice of Space
This course familiarises the participants with concepts that shape our thinking of space. It will undertake discussions on the idea of type, pattern, phenomenology, semiotics, power, visual culture, etc. The course will also introduce artistic enterprises that shape our thinking of space along with discussing ethical agendas in a spatial practice. The course is centred around the question: What are the mechanics of experiencing space and how does one read / analyse / evaluate architecture?



Reframing the Housing Question

After discussing the idea of house and home, this course will discuss the housing question and different kinds of policies, programmes and projects undertaken from around the world. It will also discuss emerging questions of housing in relation to contemporary urbanisation. The course will also delve into technicalities of housing tenure, finance, planning, and delivery systems.



Spatial Research & Pedagogy
This course is specifically designed for researchers and teachers and will aim at orienting participants towards undertaking spatial research and pedagogy. Along with familiarising participants with methods and processes, it will train them in developing a detailed research / course proposal on the area of their choice.






Special Modules



Special Modules shall be conducted by either faculty of the Centre or by invited Guest Scholars / Experts. These will be offered over 2/3 consecutive days and shall have typically 10-15 hours.

The fees for modules offered by guest scholars / experts shall vary depending upon resources required. These shall be announced along with the courses.




We invite individuals and groups to be guest faculty of the Centre and propose special courses. Please write to us at css@sea.edu.in 



Contact us at css@sea.edu.in for further details.