This PhD thesis examines the use of bodies as vessels in architectural pedagogy. In searching for answers to the pressing topics of ecology, technology, globalisation, and social justice, this thesis looks to 1970s pedagogies where bodies served as a tool for radical education.During this period, bodies left the typical classroom to travel, built ephemeral structures, discover the countryside, party, protest for better education, demand equality, and question the institutions.

Through an analysis of selective pedagogical experiments such as the Global Tools in Florence, the First Friday Dances inNew York, The Halprin Workshop in California, and the F+F in Zurich, this thesis explores the possibility of “learning form”.  As Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi suggest, “learning from” other bodies before us, serves not as a blueprint to replicate but, rather, as a tool for understanding that aims to develop something new from the past.

To this aim, this thesis discusses (1) the historical relationship between bodies and architectural pedagogy, and its critical role in shaping the design studio processes; (2) the milestone of 1970s pedagogical experiments where bodies redefined teaching and learning methodologies in architecture; and, (3) the possibilities of learning from and building upon to improve today’s studio processes.

Through a series of systematic examinations and action research, this PhD thesis explores the ways in which bodies can be used as a tool with which to address current pedagogical issues, drawing inspiration and learning from 1970s radical pedagogical experiments.