Rosalie Stafford (homepage lifeloom.com)
rosalie_stafford@yahoo.com
office hours by appointment

AR263
Spring, 2008
Friday, 2:00-4:00 pm

Syllabus

History of Architecture

Chiswick House, Lord Burlington, 1725
Neoclassic to Modern

Drawing, 
Paul Rudolph, 1961

 
Le Corbusier: "Architecture goes beyond utilitarian needs.  You employ stone, wood, and concrete and, with these materials, you build houses and palaces.   That is construction.  Ingenuity is at work.  But suddenly you touch my heart.  You do me good and I am happy and I say, This is beautiful.  That is Architecture.  Art enters in."  
 

Course Description: This two-unit lecture course is a survey of Western architecture from 18th, 19th, & 20th centuries

 

Student Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to identify and discuss within their historical framework:

  • major architectural movements of the last three centuries;
  • important buildings of the last three centuries; and
  • major architects of the last three centuries.

Coursework will develop the student's ability

  • to coherently communicate architectural ideas in written and oral forms;
  • to write formal analyses of various architecturally-important buildings, and
  • to research and write a term paper in MLA format on an architectural topic.
 

Contents:    Required textbook    :    Supplemental textbook    :    Reading   :    Writing assignments   :    Procedures for written work   :    Oral Presentations     :     Term Papers  :    Suggested Topics for Analysis — Buildings   :    Suggested Topics for Analysis — Architects   :   Suggested Topics for Analysis — Movements    :   Suggested Topics for Analysis —  Expositions   :   Examinations   :    Evaluation    :    Scoring    :    Plagiarism    :    Free internet resources     :     Attendance     :    Office hours    :     Weekly Schedule    :    Week 1   :    Week 2    :     Week 3    :    Week 4     :     Week 5    :     Week 6   :     Week 7     :     Week 8     :     Week 9   :     Week 10    :   Final Exam 

 

Required textbook:  Curtis, William J. R.  Modern Architecture since 1900.  3rd ed.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997.

Supplemental textbook:  Trachtenberg, Marvin; Isabelle Hyman.   Architecture from Prehistory to Postmodernity.  2nd ed.  New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002.

 
Reading:   Weekly reading assignments, outlined in the lecture schedule below, should be completed before the appropriate class.  Ideas broached in the weekly reading assignments will be discussed in class.  Ideas found in weekly reading assignments will form the basis for writing assignments.

 

Writing assignments

Three short formal analyses (totalling 1,500 words) and one short term paper (totalling 1,000 to 2,500 words) are assigned for the course. The term paper involves a formal and historical analysis of a building or site, taking account of the following criteria:

  • Building typology, use,
  • Style, historical context,
  • Materials, construction,
  • Form, expression, relation to site,
  • Contemporary architectural theory,
  • Interpretations of previous scholars.

For the term paper, students need not choose a building that has been discussed in class; however, before undertaking the research, approval for the choice should be obtained from instructor. 

For the three formal analyses:

  • the first will consist of a basic formal analysis of a building
  • the second will consist of a stylistic comparison of two buildings of the same type (for example, Louis Sullivan's 1907 Northwestern Bank of Owatonna & Gunnar Birkerts's Federal Reserve Bank of 1969) OR
  • the second will consist of a stylistic comparison of two buildings of different periods designed to work together (for example, McKim, Mead, & White's 1888 Boston Public Library & Johnson/Burgee's 1973 Boston Public Library Extension)
Possible topic for second formal analysis

     

Wright's Guggenheim and the addition by Gwathmey

 
  • the third will consist of an analysis of the theoretical and historical context of a building OR
  • the third will consist of an analysis of the theoretical and aesthetic contribution of an architect OR
  • the third will consist of an analysis of the theoretical and aesthetic contribution of a movement or exposition.
  • See http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/arthistory.html for information on writing a formal analysis.

    See "Kedleston_Hall  &  Roos House section in  "Bernard Maybeck in San Francisco (1904-1916)  &  "Dulles International Airport Terminal"   for examples of formal analysis of a building.

    See "Proposed Inclusion under Mills Act: 1622, 1628, 1630 J Ave, National City, California" for example of an analysis of the theoretical and historical context of a building.

     

    Procedures for written work

    Bring syllabus, notebook, and textbook to every class meeting.

    All drafts of homework and print-outs of downloaded research materials must be handed in along with final draft.

    Final drafts must be typed in 16 point sans serif font, not bold. (Go to FORMAT… FONT: TAHOMA; FONT STYLE: REGULAR; SIZE: 16 to format according to specifications.) If  papers are not properly formatted, they will not be accepted and will be considered late.   Please do not place formal analysis papers or term paper in any kind of folder or binding; the sheets should simply be stapled in the top left-hand corner.  For the term paper, the use of illustrations is encouraged.

    Papers must be formatted according to MLA rules.  Use this site for MLA style information: http://owl.english.purdue.edu.

    Place formal analyses and exams in a porfolio and turn them all along with the term paper Week 10.  Instructor will examine entire corpus of work.  Portolios will be returned.

    Oral Presentations

    Students will share the results of their research projects (term papers) in brief oral reports which will be timed and will not exceed 10 minutes.  Handouts and visual aids (such as posters, models, or powerpoint presentations) are to be used. 

    Term Papers

    Research projects are to be submitted in two forms: paper and word.doc via email.  Graded papers will be returned to students.  Selected emailed word.docs will be published to the web (with permission of author) so as to constitute archives of research which would be of interest to future Newschool students.

    Suggested Topics for Analysis Buildings

    San Diego Area Buildings:

    • Scripps Institute for Oceanography (Irving Gill, 1908)
    • La Jolla Women's Club (Irving Gill, 1913)
    • The Salk Institute (Louis Kahn, 1964)
    • First United Methodist Church of San Diego (Perkins & Will, 1964)
    • Library at UCSD (Pereira & Assoc., 1972)

    Los Angeles Area Buildings:

    • Gamble House (Greene & Greene, 1907)
    • Hollyhock House (FLWright, 1920)
    • Schindler Studio and Residence (Rudolf Schindler, 1922)
    • Eastern Columbia Building (Claud Beelman, 1930)
    • Orange County Courthouse (Richard Neutra, 1964)
    • Art Center College of Design (Craig Ellwood Assoc., 1974)
    • Bonaventure Hotel (John Portman & Assoc., 1975)
    • Crystal Cathedral (Philip Johnson, 1979)
    • California Aerospace Museum (Frank Gehry, 1982)
    • San Juan Capistrano Regional Library (Michael Graves, 1983)

    Chicago Area Buildings:

    • Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio (FLW, 1889)
    • Reliance Building (Burnham & Root, 1890)
    • Carson, Pirie, Scott Store (Louis Sullivan, 1900)
    • Unity Temple, FL Wright, 1906)
    • Tribune Tower (Howels & Hood, 1923)
    • Lake Shore Drive Apartments (Mies Van der Rohe, 1948)
    • S. R. Crown Hall at IIT (Mies Van der Rohe, 1955)
    • Assembly Hall at UI (Max Abramovitz, 1959)
    • Federal Center (Mies Van der Rohe, 1963)
    • Lake Point Tower (Schipporeit & Heinrich, 1967)

    Minnesota & Michigan Buildings:

    • Northwestern National Bank of Owatonna (Louis Sullivan, 1907)
    • Dain, Old Rand, Tower (Holabird & Root, 1928)
    • Cranbrook Academy of Art (Eliel Saarinen, 1941)
    • Mount Zion Temple (Eric Mendelsohn, 1950)
    • General Motors Technical Center (Eero Saarinen, 1951)
    • St. John's University Church (Marcel Breur, 1956)
    • Tyrone Guthrie Theater (Ralph Rapson & Assoc., 1962)
    • Walker Art Center (Edward Larrabee Barnes, 1969)
    • Federal Reserve Bank (Gunnar Birrkerts & Assoc., 1969)
    • IDS Building & Cystal Court (Philip Johnson, 1969)
    • Center for Creative Studies (William Kessler & Assoc., 1974)

    New York Buildings:

    • Flatiron Building (Daniel H. Burnham, 1901)
    • Woolworth Building (Cass Gilbert, 1911)
    • Chrysler Building (William van Alen, 1928)
    • Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb, & Harmon, 1929)
    • Rockefeller Center (Reinhard, et al, 1931)
    • Lever House (Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, 1950)
    • TWA Flight Center, JFK International Airport (Eero Saarinen, 1958)
    • CBS Building (Eero Saarinen, 1963)
    • Whitney Museum (Marcel Breur & Hamilton Smith, 1964)
    • World Trade Center (Yamasaki & Assoc., 1966)
    • American Telephone & Telegraph Headquarters (Philip Johnson, 1979)

    Massachusetts Buildings

    • Crane Library (H. H. Richardson, 1883)
    • Boston Public Library (McKim, Mead & White, 1888)
    • Trinity Church (H. H. Richardson, 1897)
    • Gropius Home (Walter Gropius, 1938)
    • M.I.T. (Eero Saarinen, 1953)
    • Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (Le Corbusier, 1961)
    • Southeastern Massachusetts University (Paul Rudolph, 1965)
    • New England Aquarium (Cambridge Seven, 1967)
    • Public Library Addition (Philip Johnson, 1969)
    • State Service Center (Paul Rudolph, 1971)
    • John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library (IM Pei, 1977)
    Suggested Topics for Analysis Architects
    • Lord Burlington
    • Robert Adam
    • Claude Nicholas Ledoux
    • Thomas Jefferson
    • A. W. Pugin
    • John Ruskin
    • Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
    • Charles Garnier
    • Joseph Paxton
    • Isambard Kingdom Brunel
    • John Augustus Roebling
    • Frederick Law Olmsted
    • Gustave Eiffel
    • Karl Friederich Schinkel
    • William Morris
    • Henry Hobson Richardson
    • Otto Wagner
    • McKim, Mead, and White
    • Burnham and Root
    • Louis H. Sullivan
    • Charles F. A. Voysey
    • Gustav Stickley
    • Tony Garnier
    • Rudolf Steiner
    • Frank Lloyd Wright
    • Charles Rennie Mackintosh
    • Louis Sullivan
    • Peter Behrens
    • Greene & Greene
    • Gerrit Rietveld
    • August Perret
    • Albert Kahn
    • Irving Gill
    • Frank Lloyd Wright
    • J. M. Olbrich
    • Henry van de Velde
    • Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon
    • Eliel Saarinen
    • Walter Gropius
    • Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
    • Erich Mendelsohn
    • Rudolf M. Schindler
    • Le Corbusier
    • Gerrit Rietveld
    • Pier Luigi Nervi
    • Richard Neutra
    • Alvar Aalto
    • Louis I. Kahn
    • Marcel Breuer
    • Philip Johnson
    • Eero Saarinen
    • Edward Larrabee Barnes
    • Lawrence Halprin
    • I. M. Pei
    • James Stirling
    • Paul Rudolph
    • Ricardo Bofill
    • Oscar Niemeyer
    • Robert Venturi
    • Minoru Yamasaki
    • Michael Graves
    • Serero Architects

    Suggested Topics for Analysis Movements

    • Neoclassicism
    • Romanticism
    • Nineteenth-century revivalism
    • Victorian eclecticism
    • Arts & Crafts
    • City Beautiful
    • Garden City
    • Art Nouveau
    • De Stijl
    • Vienna Secession
    • Futurism
    • Bauhaus 
    • Art Deco
    • International Style
    • Twentieth-century industrial design
    • Streamline Moderne
    • Populuxe
    • New Plasticism

     

    Suggested Topics for Analysis Expositions

    • Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry (London, 1851)
    • Exposition Universelle (Paris, 1889)
    • World Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893)
    • Exposition Universelle (Paris, 1900)
    • Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, 1901)
    • Cheap Cottages Exhibitions (Hitchin, England, 1905 &1907)
    • Cologne Exhibition (1914)
    • Panama-Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco, 1915)
    • Panama-California Exposition (San Diego, 1915)
    • Bauhaus Exhibition (1923)
    • International Exposition of Decorative Arts (Paris, 1925)
    • Weissenhof Estate (Stuttgart, 1927)
    • International Exposition (Barcelona, 1929)
    • Century of Progress International Exposition (Chicago, 1933)
    • World's Fair (New York, 1939)
    • Expo 67 (Montreal, 1967)

     

    Utopian Cities

    • Ideal City of Chaux (Claude Nicholas Ledoux, 1804)
    • Industrial City (Tony Garnier, 1918)
    • Broadacre City (Frank Lloyd Wright, 1932)
    • Radiant City (Le Corbusier, 1935)

     

    Examinations

    Three exams plus a final comprehensive exam will be given.

    Exams will consist of slide identifications.  The following information may be requested: name of building, architect, location, approximate date. Dates of these exams are listed in the lecture schedule below. All of the images to be covered in the exams are available for study on this website.

    The final exam, in addition to slide identifications, will also include three questions to be answered in three short essays.

    No makeup exams will be given without a medical excuse from a doctor.

     

    Evaluation

    Grades will be based on measures of performance which include the following: exams; formal analyses, term paper; class participation; effort & improvement in work; presentations in class. Assignments, attendance, participation, effort, improvement, etc. are all included in computation of grades.  Late papers may be accepted and marked down 10% to 30% at instructor's discretion.

     

    Scoring

    • Slide exams 1, 2, & 3  — 10 slides each exam, 10 points each exam, 30 points total
    • Comprehensive slide exam (timed: 20 minutes) — 20 slides, 20 points
    • Final essay exam — three short essay-answers (timed 90 minutes), 50 points each essay, 150 points total
    • Essay 1 (formal analysis of one building) — 500 words, 50 points
    • Essay 2 (formal analysis / stylistic comparison of two buildings) —  500 words, 100 points
    • Essay 3 (theoretical/historical/aesthetic analysis of building/movement/architect) — 500 words, 150 points
    • Research paper — 1,000 to 2,500 words, 300 points
    • Presentation — 50 points (optional: necessary for A but not necessary to pass)
    • Participation — 10 class meetings, 15 points per meeting, 150 points
    • Total points possible — 1000
    • 1000 - 901 — A
    • 900 - 801 — B
    • 800 - 701 — C
    • 700 - 601 — D

     

    Plagiarism is the act of using a source without giving proper credit (MLA style). Plagiarism is stealing and is prohibited by your Student Code of Conduct. Even unintentional plagiarism is unacceptable; ignorance will not be accepted as an excuse. The proper use of the ideas or words of another requires correct source acknowledgement. Close attention to MLA rules protects you from receiving an F for plagiarism: all essays are to be written in proper MLA form.  Any student who engages in plagiarism, deliberate or unintentional, will automatically receive an F.

     

    Free internet resources

     
    Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class. Absence is noted in 15-minute increments. Per Newschool policy, more than six hours’ total absence (30% scheduled classtime) will result in failing grade for course. Attendance is taken into account when participation is graded.

     

    Office hours by appointment. Please email instructor (rosalie_stafford@yahoo.com)anytime during the course of this class with questions or comments or to schedule office hours.

    This syllabus contains information important to success in this class. All students are responsible for understanding the instructions contained in this syllabus, and homework will be graded in accordance to the instructions contained in this syllabus. Ask questions if you don’t understand any of the instructions. Although the instructor reserves the right to make possible minor changes to the following weekly schedule of activities, the planned course will progress according to the following weekly schedule:

     

    Weekly Schedule

     

    Week 1
    11 April 2008

    FINDING MORAL VIRTUE IN THE PAST 

    • Neoclassicism
    • Classical & Anti-Classical
    • Romanticism
    • Gothic Revival
    • Augustus Pugin
    • John Ruskin
    • Arts & Crafts
    • William Morris

     

    Week 2
    18 April 2008

    NEW MATERIALS: IRON, GLASS, STEEL, CONCRETE

    • Henri Labrouste
    • Joseph Paxton
    • Isambard Kingdom Brunel
    • Sir Gilbert Scott
    • Woodward & Deane
    • John Augustus Roebling
    • Gustave Eiffel
    • August Perret
    • Le Corbusier

    Trachtenberg, chapters 10, 11, 12.

     

    Week 3
    25 April 2008

    CHICAGO SCHOOL / COMMERCIAL STYLE

    • Unknown architect
    • Henry Hobson Richardson
    • Burnham & Root
    • William LeBaron Jenney
    • Adler & Sullivan

    Curtis, Part One, chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

    1st formal analysis due

     

    Week 4
    2 May 2008

    THE TOTAL HOUSE        

    • Frank Lloyd Wright
    • Art & Crafts
    • Art Nouveau
    • Deutscher Werkbund

    Curtis, Part One, chapters 6, 7, 8, 9.  

     

    Week 5
    9 May 2008

    "MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE"

    • De Stijl
    • Futurism
    • Cubism
    • Loos
    • Bauhaus
    • Gropius  

    Curtis, Part Two, chapters 10, 11, 12, 12, 14, 15

    2nd formal analysis due

    1st slide exam covering weeks 2, 3, & 4

    Week 6
    16 May 2008

    "A MACHINE FOR LIVING IN"
    • Le Corbusier
    • Art Deco
    • Streamline Moderne

    Curtis, Part Two, chapters 16,  17,  18,  19,  20,  21

     

    Week 7
    23 May 2008

    "SIMPLE, GOOD, UNDECORATED THINGS"
    • Mies Van der Rohe
    • Alvar Aalto
    • Louis Kahn
    • Eero Saarinen

    Curtis, Part Three, chapters 22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27

    3rd formal analysis due

    2nd slide exam covering weeks 5 & 6

     

    Week 8
    30 May 2008

    DESIGNERS

    • William Morris to Charles Eames

    Curtis, Part Three, chapters 28,  29,  30,  31,  32

    3rd slide exam covering weeks 7 & 8

     

    Week 9
    6 June 2008

    VISIONARIES

    • Ledoux
    • Sant'Elia
    • Corbu
    • Frank Lloyd Wright

    Curtis, Part Four, chapters 33,  34,  35

     

    Week 10
    13 June 2008

    Expositions

    • Crystal Palace (London, 1851)
    • World's Fair (Chicago, 1893)
    • World's Fair (Paris, 1900)
    • Panama-Pacific Exposition (San Franciso, 1915)
    • International Exposition of Decorative Arts (Paris, 1925)
    • Weissenhof Estate (Stuttgart, 1927)
    • International Exposition (Barcelona, 1929)
    • International Exhibition of Modern Architecture (New York, 1932)
    • International Exposition (Paris, 1937)
    • World's Fair (New York, 1939)
    • Expo 67 (Montreal, 1967)

    California Modern

    • Irving Gill
    • Rudolph Schindler
    • Richard Neutra

     

    Week 11
    20 June 2008

    Term paper due

    COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM

    Part I: Slide exam covering all images covered in class — 20 slides (timed 20 minutes)

    Part II: Essay exam covering concepts — three short essays (timed 90 minutes)

    Sample questions (for three 30-minute essays in final exam):

    • Discuss the influence of three regional or international expositions on modern design
    • Discuss the influence of 19th century engineering on modern architecture
    • Discuss the influence of William Morris and the Arts & Crafts Movement in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright
    • Discuss the influence of the Bauhaus in 20th century industrial design
    • Compare/contrast the utopian vision of Frank Lloyd Wright to that of Le Corbusier
    • Compare/contrast the aesthetic vision of Le Corbusier to that of Mies
    • Discuss the use of glass in seminal American and European buildings (commercial and residential)
    • Discuss the work (including historical influences) of an architect who designed for "the total house"
    • Discuss the influence of Futurism in American architecture (including the later work of Wright and the work of Eero Saarinen)