This seminar explores the ways in which the logistics industry is transforming the built environment. Once the domain of the industrial engineer or the quartermaster, logistics now affects increasingly large areas of everyday life, including significant aspects of architecture and urbanism. Through readings, discussions, and case studies, the seminar examines the historical and theoretical sources of logistics before looking more closely at a series of corporate actors that define themselves through logistics in significant ways, including Walmart, Amazon, IKEA, and Tesla. Through these discussions, the seminar engages debates related to infrastructure, automation, mobility, policy, publicness, labor, and aesthetics. The work of this course includes both visual and textual analysis as well as written and graphic production. Participants in the seminar develop an archive, a research paper, and original visualizations that investigate a contemporary logistical actor or technology. Limited enrollment.

All Semesters

4240b
Spring 2018
Landscapes of Fulfillment: Architecture and Urbanism of Contemporary Logistics
Jesse LeCavalier