Critical race theory | EPFL Graph Search

vignette|Un présentoir de livres contenant des ouvrages sur la Critical race theory. La critical race theory (littéralement « théorie critique de la race ») est un courant de recherche et un cadre de lecture axé sur l'application de la théorie critique aux relations entre la race, la loi, et le pouvoir. Elle est née d’une rencontre entre le champ de la réflexion universitaire et l’action pour les droits humains. Elle interprète la notion de race comme construction socio-juridique et socio-politique, ce qui en fait un courant constructiviste, et critique notamment l’égalitarisme ignorant la couleur (en anglais - daltonisme racial en français), qui soutient que pour réaliser la justice sociale, il faudrait ne tenir aucun compte des distinctions raciales. Ainsi, les théories critiques de la race opèrent un déplacement de l’attention prêtée aux préjugés et attitudes intentionnellement racistes, vers des processus sociaux considérés comme créat

A generalized mountain-pass theorem: the existence of multiple critical points

Hans-Jörg Ruppen

We analyse the existence of multiple critical points for an even functional J : H -> R in the following context: the Hilbert space H can be split into an orthogonal sum H = Y circle plus Z in such a way that inf{J(u) : u is an element of Z and parallel to u parallel to = rho >= alpha > J(0) and that here exits a point b is an element of H with parallel to b parallel to > rho and with J(b)

Springer Heidelberg2016

Images des microcosmes flottants

Olivier Nicolas Meystre

This research focuses on the premise that depiction is quintessential to the conception of an architectural project. The representation also provides insights regarding how the architects design the architecture. This thesis is intended towards understanding new forms and paradigms of design mediation that have emerged over the last two decades in Japan. It unravels and highlights the historical, theoretical aspects and analyses the evolution, convergence and major trends in the field of architectural representation. Based on bibliographical sources and exclusive, unpublished interviews with the prominent Japanese architects of the period under consideration, this work presents six cross-functional themes with the objective to identify and examine the critical tools that could be used in the conception and representation of the contemporary Japanese architecture. The understanding of the underlying techniques reveal a very hybridised landscape of digital and analog tools with a paradoxical objective of imparting a manual effect to the entire expression. The treatment of light in the images of the project is characterised by overexposure and dispersion that adds an elusory, unseizable dimension to the objects and spatial limits. In a similar fashion, the graphical limits, are either diminished or diluted giving an impression of a space with evolving outlines. The pseudo-naive expression of multiple images, achieved by the profusion of familiar objects, obliterates the orthodox hierarchy among the architectural elements and opens up the possibility of evoking and imagining tiny, soothing universes in an architecture which is otherwise radical to the beholder. The point of view used in images transcend the Euclidean realism, producing an imagery that seems to float in free space. Finally, the genealogy of relationship between masters and students permits the tracing of the lines of influence, how the craftsmanship changed hands and percolated down the professional world. The specificities in the Japanese representation are a testimony to the complex approach of the architects towards an architectural project, where all the attributes of space are questioned and redefined but still the undercurrent of tradition continues to have a pivotal influence.

EPFL2015

A Third Way Alternative; Critical Assessments from the Model of the Yugoslav City

Jana Konstantinova

This dissertation aims to demonstrate the development, meaning and significance of cultural infrastructure in the cities of Skopje, Belgrade and Sarajevo (1945-1991). In the historic context, culture became the fundamental critical tool with which to yield a vivid cultural scene, and it coincides with the emergence of remarkable cultural artefacts - including 'the right architecture'. The thesis recognizes a common (Yugoslav) Creative Model behind this âmovementâ, which stimulated and anticipated the emergence of the elements that eventually form the cultural artefacts. For the purpose of studying the strengths and weaknesses of the model, the exercise investigates the extensive body of cultural creations which emerged through the model. As such, the thesis highlights the flow of creativity, and the particular understanding of creativity as a âlife qualityâ in support of the theoretical concept of balance which emerged in the local context - striving for equilibrium between the man-made, the human (civic) and the natural environment. The aims of the research are threefold. Firstly, to understand the objectives on which the model is created; secondly, to reposition the object â cultural artefact â as a departure point of analysis of the model; and thirdly, to analyze the evolution of the cultural infrastructure in the environments to trace the transformations of the model. To that end an analysis of the entire cultural creation of the epoch has been carried out in relation with the specific interest of the thesis. The exercises are conducted by drawing from the primary data sets (the press: both architectural and cultural magazines) and the secondary sets of data (original documents and testimonials with the protagonists: wider cultural milieu). Bridging the epistemological gap in the academic discourse, exemplifying the selected cities not as isolated case studies but in comparative synthesis, the thesis positions these rich cultural, spatial and social qualities (collected in the form of a critical archive) and their common Creative Model as the possibility to depart from the neo-liberal paradigm still affecting regions globally and to re-imagine our own current models for human settlements in ways more open to people, nature and culture.

EPFL2021