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ARCH 2315: Survey of World Architectural History, Renaissance through Post-Modern
TR: 3:30 – 4:50, Room 214, AG
Clifton Ellis ()
Office Hours: TR: 5:00 – 7:00 pm, Office # 1003-B
Course Title: Architecture of the 18th, 19th, & 20th Centuries
Course #: ARCH 2315
Location: AG 214
Class Time: TR 3:30 – 5:00
Instructor: Clifton Ellis
, 742-3136 ext. 244
Office Hours: TR 5:00 - 6:30,and by appointment
Course Summary
The periods of architecture we will study this semester, the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, are among the most dynamic and complex in the history of architecture. The world we know today -- the world we call 'modern' -- actually began forming not in the twentieth century, but in the eighteenth century. It was the eighteenth century, the period we call the Enlightenment, which gave birth to our modern ways of thinking -- to our standards of objective scientific inquiry; to our notions of individual autonomy; and to our ideal of democratic forms of government. The eighteenth century marked a radical break with the past in which people no longer recognized themselves as part of a continuum, part of a tradition linked through time and space by shared experiences and common trials, tribulations, and even common goals. Rather, people of the eighteenth century self-consciously sought to define themselves as different from the past even as they became increasingly distraught over the implications of such a break from old ways of seeing the world.
The eighteenth century, however, was also a time of wonder, awe, anticipation, and delight in both, the past and the future. The past revealed itself, for example, in new and unexpected ways as in the archaeological excavations at Pompeii, while the future seemed to promise miraculous advances in human knowledge and capacity as with the awesome implications of Newton's newly formulated laws of the Universe.
Architecture was in the forefront of the debates and propositions over what it meant (and means) to be 'modern'. This course is about the ideas and systems of thought that produced architecture. It is about the cultural context in which architecture is made. We will engage buildings in this course not as a series of names, dates, and places, but as active agents in the creation of a new world. We will follow themes in this class having to do to with the new systems of thought and action developed at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Thus, we will begin our study of architecture in the eighteenth century focusing primarily on the consumer revolution and the rise of merchant capitalism that helped spread the architecture of Neo-Palladianism, Neo-Classicism, and such Eclecticisms as evidenced in Chinoiserie .
As we move into the nineteenth century, we will retain our interest in consumerism, but will note the way that architecture responded to the evolution of capitalism as it developed into the great, mighty, frightening industrial form it would hold until the mid-twentieth century. Here, in the maelstrom of the industrial revolution, was born on the one hand a revolt against all things modern and on the other, a faith in a better future thanks to modern discoveries and inventions. Here, too, in the dirty, gritty, hellish heat of the new Bessemer iron furnace was born a new debate over architecture -- its materiality, its meaning, its value to a society in the throws of change. The Gothic Revival, the Greek Revival, the great Battle of the Styles, all were manifestations of a
century’s conservative reactions and liberal advances in the arts and sciences, in economic and social systems. An increasingly influential bourgeoisie, eager for a material expression of their new social and economic status, demanded new styles, new venues for their work and leisure.
The twentieth century brought still more debate over architecture and what it meant to society. The revolutionary Werkbund and the avant-garde Bauhaus sought an architecture that was deliberately linked to and integral to a new economic order -- an order based on the ideas of social and economic justice that were introduced by philosophers of the eighteenth century.Modernism, that movement in architecture most readily associated with the early twentieth century, was meant to be the material manifestation of a democratic ideal born of the revolutionary eighteenth century; it was meant to be a response to the industrial capitalism that had quickly spread over the globe. Alas, the ideal was lost, but a myth was born of the domination of International Modernism as a style. The last half of the twentieth century, already racked by two world wars, in the midst of a cold war that threatened nuclear annihilation, and increasingly dominated by the economic and military might of the United States, inspired a remarkable variety of architecture, from the Critical Regionalism of Hassan Fathy to the exuberant Postmodernist 'blob' architecture of Frank Gehry.
Over the course of the semester we will consider the architecture of these three dynamic centuries as a series of manifestations of several ‘isms’: consumerism; capitalism; industrialism; and post-industrialism. In addition to these ‘isms’ we will be guided in our examination of modern architecture by three broad themes. First, there is the theme of a fundamentally new vision of the relationship of architecture to the historical past. Second, there is the theme of architecture's response to the explosion of scientific inquiry, both in the natural realm and in the human sciences. Finally, there is the theme of a new public for architecture -- the fine arts, architecture in particular, were no longer the privilege of an elite aristocracy, but began to respond to new social and economic classes, the bourgeoisie in particular.
Thus, this is a course about ideas -- for architecture is first and foremost an idea. To pursue the art and craft of architecture, it is therefore imperative that you prepare yourself for a life of critical inquiry, of questioning, of the search for and the making of meaning. In this course, you will be pushed to expand your intellectual limits, to push beyond names, dates, and places, and to articulate what architecture can mean in its cultural context. It's my privilege to lead you in this inquiry, and I hope you will follow with enthusiasm, if not devotion.
Course Information and Operating Procedures:
Course Title: Architecture of the 18th, 19th, & 20th Centuries
Catalogue Description:Pre-requisite: ARCH 2311.Survey of the development of World Architecture from the Enlightenment in Europe to the present.
General Methods of Instruction: Lecture and essay examinations
National Architectural Accreditation Board Educational Objectives:
Criterion #4: developing critical thinking skills
Criterion #10: understanding the Western tradition of architecture
Criterion #11: understanding the non-Western traditions of architecture
Criterion #12: understanding the national and regional traditions of architecture.
Equal Opportunity and Access to Facilities:The University is committed to the principle that in no aspect of its programs shall there be differences in the treatment of persons because of race, creed, national origin, age, sex, disability, or sexual orientation, and that equal opportunity and access to facilities shall be available to all. If you require special accommodations in order to participate, please contact the instructor. Students should present appropriate verification from Disabled Students Services, Dean of Students Office. No requirement exists that accommodations be made prior to completion of this approved University process.
Attendance Policy:You have an assigned seat in this class. Attendance will be checked at the beginning and during each class meeting. If you are not in your designated seat when roll is taken, you will be marked absent. If you are late, see a TA after class. If you anticipate having to leave early from a lecture, notify the TA BEFORE class.The College of Architecture follows the class attendance policy set out in the Undergraduate Catalog, 2004-2005, pages 52-53. The College supports the definition of four unexcused absences as being excessive and constitutes cause for having the student drop the class or receive a grade of “F”. Four (4) unexcused absences result in a grade of “F” for the course. Three (3) late attendances or early departures result in one unexcused absence. Eight (8) absences of any type may result in a grade of “F” or “W” depending on the circumstances. Illness or injuries requiring a visit to the doctor, death of an immediate family member, military or legal obligations, and religious observances are excused absences requiring appropriate written documentation as indicated in the Undergraduate Catalog.
Conduct:I expect each student to help maintain a civil environment conducive to learning. Do nothing to disturb my lecture or another student. Breaking the peace in this class will bring upon you a certain, swift, and most righteously just retribution.No tobacco products. No communication devices – anyone who surfs the net or uses text messaging during class will be IMMEDIATELY expelled from the class for the entire semester. No talking. Etc. I’m sure your parents taught you manners: use them. While understandable, quiet naps are discouraged. Cheating and its consequences, WHICH INCLUDES SUSPENSION FROM THE UNIVERSITY, are described in the Undergraduate Catalogue.
Required Text:Moffett, Fazio, and Wodehouse.Buildings Across Time: And Introduction to the World of Architecture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. This is the newest edition and it is sometimes listed as World Architecture. Either text may be used in this class, and both are also available in the library as a non-circulating volume.
Reading and Studying:The syllabus lists reading assignments from the textbook. You should expect to spend 9 hours per week (including class time) preparing for this class.
SPECIAL NOTE: Class Format
This is a lecture class, and most of the material is in ADDITION to that of the text. Therefore, YOU MUST TAKE NOTES during the lecture. This requires that you listen to the lecture, look at the images, AND write in your notebooks. This process requires effort and it will make you tired, but it is the ONLY WAY TO PASS this class. Again:YOU MUSTTAKE NOTES. If you have questions, please raise your hand and speak clearly.
Examinations and Grading:
Blue Books are provided for each exam; you are not allowed to use your own Blue Book.
There are no unscheduled quizzes and there is no ‘extra credit’ for this course. Therefore, it is essential that you prepare thoroughly for each exam.Grades will be posted by student Random ID Number outside our classroom. Individual grades may be discussed during office hours. The final exam might have an essay that covers the material over the entire semester.
Sixty to seventy (60-70 points) of each exam will be in the form short and/or long essays. The Graders will be leading study sessions on how to prepare for these essays.
There are FOUR EXAMS in this class. All exams are worth 100 points each and are averaged to determine the final grade in the course. The final exam might have a comprehensive essay covering the entire semester.
Grade Scale:
A = 95-100% C+ = 77-79%
A- = 90-94% C = 74-76%
B+ = 87-89% C- = 70-73%
B = 84-86% D = 60-70%
B- = 80-83% F =00-59%
SCHEDULE OF EXAMS:
EXAM #1: Tuesday, February 8
EXAM #2: Tuesday, March 8
EXAM #3: Tuesday, April 5
EXAM #4 (Final): Tuesday, May 11, 7:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. AG Room 214
Images related to the each exam will be available for study on the Web Page one week before exams.
NOTICE:
Make-up exams: Students who miss exams must have documented excused absences. All make-up exams will be given on “Dead Day”, Wednesday, May 5 at 1 p.m.
Schedule of Classes (subject to change)
The Renaissance: Chapter 11
Thursday, Jan. 13: Beginnings of the Renaissance
Tuesday, Jan. 18:Renaissance
Thursday, Jan. 20:High Renaissance
Tuesday, Jan. 25: Mannerism
Thursday, Jan. 27:French and English Renaissance
Sunday, January 30, through Saturday, February 5:
Essay Writing Workshops,
5 p.m. Room To Be Announced
The Baroque: Chapter 12
Tuesday, Feb. 1: Italian Baroque
Thursday, Feb. 3: Northern Baroque: Germany, France, England
Tuesday, Feb. 8: Exam I
The Eighteenth Century; Chapter 13
Thursday, Feb. 10:Pre-Contact America
Tuesday, Feb. 15:French Neo-Classicism
Thursday, Feb. 17:Neo-Palladianism in England
Tuesday, Feb. 22:Visionary and Revolutionary Architecture
Thursday, Feb. 24: The Picturesque, Sublime, and Associationism
Tuesday, Mar. 1: The Picturesque Landscape
Thurs. Mar. 3: English Neo-Classicism. ACSA Conference. Possible Cancelation
Tuesday, Mar. 9: Exam II
The Nineteenth Century: Chapter 14
Thursday, Mar. 10:International Neo-Classicism
Tuesday, Mar. 15 SPRING BREAK
Thursday, Mar. 17 SPRING BREAK
Tuesday, Mar. 22:Innovations in Iron
Thursday, Mar. 24: The EcolePolytechnique and the Beaux Arts
Tuesday, Mar. 29:Reactions to Change: Pugin, Ruskin, and Associationism
Thursday, Mar. 31:The Arts and Crafts
Tuesday, April 5: Exam III
The Twentieth Century and Modernism: Chapter 15
Thursday, April 7: The Chicago School and precursors to Modernism
Tuesday, April. 12: Early Modernism: The Werkbund and Bauhaus
Thursday, April 14: The Modernists: Mies and Corb.
SAH Conference. Possible Cancelation.
Tuesday, April 19: Mid-Century Modernists
Thursday, April 21: Mid-Century Modernists
Late Twentieth Century: Chapter 16
Tuesday, April 26: Postmodernism
Thursday, April 28:Deconstructivism
Tuesday, May. 3: “Isms” and the Last Word
Saturday, May 7: Final Exam 7:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. AG Room 214