Fall 2007

Department of Architecture UC Berkeley

Ed 10

Jill Stoner

THE LITERATURE OF SPACE

The course, comprised of lectures and readings that conceptually frame the spaces we live in, is intended both for students inclined toward the design fields, and for students in the humanities as an introduction to the cultural and phenomenological aspects of designed space. While some of the material will be introduced in historical sequence, most of the content is delivered in a deliberately non-chronological order. In placing a Vitruvian text alongside one by Virilio, and looking at Panofsky’s theory of Gothic Architecture concurrently with Scott-Brown’s reading of Las Vegas, we begin to understand that the dimensions of space, and our approaches to them as designers, serve as a set of intellectual bridges across the grain of history.

The weekly topics are defined by spatial concepts, in two sets. The first set is organized around cultural issues, the second around phenomenological ones.

The readings are gleaned from both classic and lesser known texts, though the classics predominate. The intention is to build the students’ familiarity with a set of writings that can continue to serve and inspire throughout the study and practice of design, or as references to other humanistic disciplines.

Course Reader will include selections from the following texts:

Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture

Denise Scott Brown, Learning from Las Vegas

Erwin Panofsky, Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism

Manfredo Tafuri, Architecture and Utopia

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

Lars Lerup, “Stim and Dross”

Colin Rowe, “Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal”

Evans, “The Rights of Retreat and The Rites of Exclusion”

Samuel Mockbee, “Conversations”

Jane Jacobs, The Life and Death of Great American Cities

Margaret Crawford, Everyday Urbanism

Jill Stoner, “The Jar and the Field”

Adolf Loos, “Ornament and Crime”

Reyner Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age

Le Corbusier, Toward a New Architecture

Alison and Peter Smithson, Team 10 Primer

Anthony Vidler, “Transparency”

Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows

Alberti, Five Books on Architecture

Jorge Luis Borges, “The Library of Babel”

J. G. Ballard, “Concentration City”

Paul Virilio, The Landscape of Events

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish

The Futurist Manifesto

We will also read selections from 20th century poetry, view film clips, and look at some major developments in 20th century painting and sculpture, as analogues to the comprehension of the spatial ideas introduced through the readings. The lectures will broaden the context of the material through these interdisciplinary references, and through associations with major historical benchmarks, including the Enlightenment and the Second World War.

Class will meet three times weekly—twice in lecture with the instructor, and once in discussion section with the GSI’s. One of the weekly lectures will comprise a formal analysis of the assigned readings, complemented with visual slides. The second lecture period will be a more informal and interactive review of the material, with excerpts from student writings introduced as catalysts for discussion.

The course website will include a discussion forum, a posting of notes to supplement the lectures, and links to other sites relevant to course material.

Coursework.

Several short in-class responses, a take-home mid-term, and a 2000-word final essay.

The themes for the essays will be developed in disucssion sessions with GSI’s.


DRAFT

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES readings

INTRODUCTION

1. Shelter, Feng Shui and Axis

PART ONE: SPACE AND CULTURE

2. The Space of Reason Alberti, le Corbusier

3. The Space of Progress Futurists, Banham

4 The Space of Power Foucault, Tafuri

5. The Space of Place Smithsons, Jacobs

6. The Space of Meaning Panofsky, Scott-Brown

7. Local Space Crawford, Mockbee

PART TWO: SPACE AND PHENOMENA

8. Dream Space Bachelard, Tanizaki

9. Transparent Space Rowe, Vidler

10. Dense Space Borges, Ballard

11. The Interior Loos, Evans

12. Field Space Stoner, Lerup

13. The Landscape of Events Vitruvius, Virilio

CONCLUSION

14. The Space of the City

note:

This is a new course, currently in development. Details of the syllabus are subject to change.