Architecture 170B
A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism: 1400-Present
University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2007
Prof. William Littmann
Office hours: 360 Wurster, Wednesdays 11:30-2:00 and by appointment
e-mail:
wlittmann@calmail.berkeley.edu
GSIs:
GSI office: Wurster
Hall, Room 338.
Course website:
http://www.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/courses/arch170/
Lectures:
Tuesday/Thursday,
12:30-2:00, plus one 1-hour section meeting to be arranged.
This course explores the history of architecture and urbanism from the Renaissance to the present.
Although the focus is on high-style architecture in Europe and the United States, attention will also be given to Asia, Latin America, and to vernacular architecture.
Our aim is to expose you to the architectural heritage of recent centuries in its social and historical context.
The course is a continuation of Architecture 170A.
During the semester, we will look at the many themes, including the growing interest in the architectural past to guide new design and the expression of religious, political, and economic power through architecture and the landscape. We will also consider how architects have continually searched for rational methods to guide their architectural practice.
Later in the course will come to see how our architectural heritage has been shaped by the rise of new modes of transportation and communication and the development of innovative structural technologies. We will address the development of new building types, including the art museum, skyscraper, and department store. We will also examine the role of patrons and users in shaping building design and the rise and development of the architectural profession. Finally, we will
consider the nature of architectural history itself and how we come to study certain buildings as well as ask questions about the way we tell the history of our built environment.
By the end of the course, students will be able to identify and compare a range of internationally recognized buildings, landscapes, and city forms. They will understand the influences that contributed to the creation of the modern built environment and will have developed a vocabulary for discussing buildings and cities.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
[Note: in order to pass the course you must
complete all of the requirements.
]
1.
Regular attendance at lectures.
2.
Faithful attendance and participation in sections.
3.
Completion of all reading assignments.
4.
Term-paper proposal, draft, and a term paper with a
text of at least 10 double-spaced, typed pages, not including notes,
bibliography, or illustrations.
5.
Mid-term and final examinations.
Examinations in Architecture 170 differ significantly
from those in non-visual courses because they include slide questions.
These,
and to a certain degree all other questions, require precise information stored
in your memory.
Without knowing the names, dates, and locations of the
buildings and cities you have seen, it is difficult to discuss their place in
history and their importance to the cultures we are studying.
Similarly,
without some knowledge of the general styles and periods it would be impossible
to discuss individual monuments.
The examination format varies from year to year.
Past
exams have included slide identifications and slide comparisons between
buildings or complexes which may or may not have been discussed in lectures or
in section.
Beyond this visual material, the examination may also
include brief definitions of terms and proper names, questions based on the
reading, and an essay touching upon some major concern of the course.
You must turn in work on time. Late work will be marked down 1/3 of a grade. Work should be turned-in in hard copy, not by email. No work later than a week will be considered.
REQUIRED READING
Spiro Kostof,
A History of Architecture: Settings
and Rituals (available at ASUC
bookstore on Bancroft Way) and the 170B reader.
THE TERM PAPER
The purpose of this three-step exercise is to
introduce you to the process of scholarly research and the techniques of modern
historical writing.
It will help to show you how historians arrive at
conclusions and how they communicate their findings.
On
a more general level, the project will require you to get to know the library
system, learn to track down specific information, and practice your writing
skills.
You are expected to utilize many of the wide range of
resources available to students on this campus.
A few words on plagiarism: The official definition of plagiarism is the "intentional or knowing representation of words, images, concepts, or ideas of another as one's own in any academic or studio exercise." Do not use the words of others in work you submit for a grade. This will result in you failing the class. This includes taking phrases and sentences from any on-line source or a previously-written term paper.
PLAGIARISM IS A SERIOUS OFFENSE. IT WILL NOT BE EXCUSED FOR ANY
REASON. ANYONE GUILTY OF IT WILL
RECEIVE AN "F" FOR THE COURSE, AND POSSIBLY BE SUBJECT TO UNIVERSITY
DISCIPLINE. IF YOU ARE UNCERTAIN
WHAT PLAGIARISM IS, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR GSI.
The term paper consists of three parts:
1.
An
annotated bibliography and project
proposal, 2-3 pages.
Your bibliography must include at least 3 citations of
articles from scholarly journals.
2.
A
partial draft or in-depth outline of
your paper which you will discuss with your TA in an appointment.
You
must submit the draft/outline in order to pass the paper requirement.
3.
An
analytical essay, 10-12 pages of text
(2500-3000 words).
Please take into account that there is usually a shortage of materials in the libraries during the last two weeks before the term paper is due.
The topic
A historian begins a research project with a question.
S/he
then develops a thesis that attempts to answer that question and continues to
gather data from the particular point of view set out by the thesis.
Along
the way the thesis is continually checked against new conclusions drawn from
the accumulating data.
Finally, a point is reached when the question seems
satisfactorily answered.
Choose a building, a group of buildings, an urban
agglomeration or a landscape built within the chronological boundaries of the
course.
GSIs will help you choose an interesting subject that
is well documented. Use an
analysis of this work to answer one of the following three questions:
(1) How does architecture communicate meaning to those
who design, construct, and use it?
In some cases, these meanings may become imperceptible or change over
time.
(2) How do architectural ideas change across space and
time? What are the economic,
political, and cultural contexts for these transformations?
(3) Buildings and urban forms can be expressions of
power. Analyze such an environment
and note whether ethnicity, gender, or class play a role in this expression.
The annotated bibliography
The historian who asks new questions never finds sources
which give straight answers.
S/he plays detective, piecing together the story from
all sorts of angles.
Sources might include the building itself, experienced
in person and through drawings and photographs; primary documents, such as
contemporary descriptions or contracts; and secondary materials, such as
travelers' journals or modern articles and monographs.
Sources need to be evaluated.
How
careful was the author? What was the author's point of view? How do his or her
prejudices and intended audience affect the usefulness of the work for your
research project?
After choosing a topic, begin to build a bibliography
of useful sources.
The assignment should include a 1-2 page discussion of
your research objective, including the building(s) you are studying, the
questions you are seeking to answer, and the way you plan to answer them.
This
should be an overview of your project, showing where you are going and how you
plan to get there.
Following this discussion of your project you should
list the sources you will be using, following standard bibliographical form and
describing in a few sentences how each source pertains to your project.
At
least three of your sources must be articles from scholarly journals.
You
can locate them through standard references such as the Humanities index,
Architecture index, and the Avery index.
This assignment
must be typed with double spacing on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper.
Writing the term paper
Any good scholarly essay or book has an introduction,
a main body, and a conclusion.
The point of view, the concept, the thesis, the focus,
or whatever one calls the guiding idea is set out in the introduction.
Then
the thesis is supported by offering evidence that builds an argument clearly
and logically.
Finally, a conclusion sums up and restates the thesis.
You should have little trouble organizing an essay
once you have made a proposal and annotated bibliography.
You
will know just which books and articles you need to read and take notes on.
You
will know what it is that you are looking for when you read, and will note
facts and theories that both support and contradict your thesis.
While you are reading, begin to construct the outline
for your essay.
The process will help you see relationships between
ideas.
It will steer you toward a coherent paper in which
1.
The most important facts are given prominence
2.
Facts are not gratuitous, but support the thesis
3.
Analysis, not description, predominates.
The draft
The partial draft or detailed outline should indicate
your thesis and show how the thesis will be developed.
What
is the organization of the paper? What evidence will be used? The draft should
show that you have done your research and have begun to assemble both
description and analysis into a coherent essay.
The draft should
also display your writing skills.
The draft assignment helps you
to make orderly progress in the assignment -- a paper written at the last
moment is not your best effort.
It allows you to receive
comments from your TA, either on substantive or analytical issues, additional
ideas or sources to use, or writing mechanics.
The final paper The final paper must be typed on 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper
and stapled in the upper left-hand corner.
No fancy covers!
All ideas, information, and quotations taken from your sources must be
footnoted according to the format set forth in Kate Turabian's
A Manual for
Writers or the
Chicago Manual of Style. Footnotes or
endnotes are acceptable.
Your bibliography should follow a standard format.
You
should also include appropriate illustrations.
Illustrations,
footnotes, and bibliography do not count in the 10-12 page length assigned for
the paper.
CLASS MEETINGS, READINGS, AND DUE DATES
Tuesday, January 16: Introduction to Course/Introduction to Renaissance
Thursday, January 18: Renaissance in Florence and Rome
Reading: Kostof, 375-94
Tuesday, January 23. Renaissance Urbanism and Outside of Italy
Thursday, January 25: Safavid Persia and Ottoman Turkey
Reading: Kostof, 403-31, 453-83; Necipoglue, The Age of Sinan
Tuesday, January 30: India 1400-1700
Thursday, February 1: The Natural and the Artificial in China
Reading: Lewandowski, "The Hindu Temple in South India"; Zhu, "Chinese Spatial Strategies"
Tuesday, February 6: Early Modern Japan
PAPER PROPOSALS & ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES DUE IN SECTION
Thursday, February 8: Indigenous Architectures in America
Reading: Kostof, 433-51; Edgerton, Theaters of Conversion; Coaldrake, Architecture and Authority in Japan,
Tuesday, February 13: Feel the Power: The Baroque in Rome
Thursday, February 15: Baroque Outside of Italy
Reading: Kostof, 485-543
Tuesday, February 20: Baroque Urbanism
Thursday, February 22: Midterm
Reading: Friedman, "Architecture, Authority, and the Female Gaze"
Tuesday, February 27: Neoclassicism/Palladianism
Thursday, March 1: Picturesque Architecture and Landscapes
Reading: Kostof, 547-69; Bergdoll, European Architecture
Tuesday, March 6: The American Scene: Defining a New Nation
Thursday, March 8: Industrialism and Architecture
Reading: Kostof, 571-633
Tuesday, March 13: New Buildings for a New Society
Thursday, March 15: Designing Paris and the Ecole des Beaux Arts
Reading: Bergdoll, European Architecture
Tuesday, March 20: Cities and the Suburbs in the Nineteenth Century
PAPER DRAFTS DUE IN LECTURE
Thursday, March 22: Skyscraper Cities
Reading: Kostof: 635-67; Wright, "Victorian Suburbs"
Tuesday, April 3: The Arts and Crafts Movement Around the World
Thursday, April 5: Avant-garde Architecture at the Turn of the Century
Reading: Kostof: 669-693; Wright, "Art and Craft of the Machine"
Tuesday, April 10: Modern Architecture in France and Germany
Thursday, April 12: The Architecture of Totalitarianism and the New Deal
Reading: Kostof: 695-719; Le Corbusier, "Five Points Towards a New Architecture"
Tuesday, April 17: The International Style and Corporate Modernism
Thursday, April 19: Modernism in Asia and Latin America
Reading: Kostof, 721-743; Rowe and Kuan, "Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China"
Tuesday, April 24: Landscapes of the Second World War and the Cold War
TERM PAPER DUE IN LECTURE
Thursday, April 26: Suburbanization of Community and Work after the War
Reading: Waldie, Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir (excerpt)
Tuesday, May 1: Architectural trends in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s
Thursday, May 3: Postmodernism and Preservation
Reading: Kostof: 745-761; Venturi and Scott-Brown, Learning from Las Vegas
Tuesday, May 8: The Contemporary Scene and Review
Wednesday, May 16: FINAL EXAM (5pm-8pm)