A4349 History of Architecture II: 1895-1965
History/Theory LectureKenneth Frampton
The aim of this course is to trace the history of modern architecture from the point of view of its transformation under the influence of two major forces: the process of modernization and the development of ideology. The first of these derives from the material changes brought about by technology and industrialization; the second stems from the received idea of progress and from the utopian legacy of the Enlightenment. The period covered runs from the high point of the Art Nouveau to the death of Le Corbusier. Clearly many figures and developments are missing from this treatment. The European Avant Garde is given a particular emphasis at the expense of other figures such as Berlage, Wagner, and the early Wright. Thus instead of being a continuous chronological account it is structured about a series of thematic episodes which correspond to the break down of Modern Architecture: A Critical History , which serves as the general text. Required readings from this book are indicated in terms of page numbers at the head of each section, after the initials MA/CH. The requirements for the course will be a mid-term take home examination and a final paper. The topic and rough draft for this last is to be agreed with the tutor in the first week following the mid-term.
TOPICS
1. Reinforced Concrete and Utopian Socialism: Auguste Perret and Tony Garnier, 1895-1925
2. The Deutsche Werkbund: Germany, Architecture, and Industry, 1892-1914
3. Adolf Loos and the Viennese Crucible: 1895-1931
4. The Pursuit of the Millennium: Italian Futurism and the First World War: 1900-1918
5. Dutch Neoplasticism: 1917-1930
6. Russian Constructivism: 1917-1930
7. Le Corbusier and Purist Culture: France 1918-1929
8. The Weimar Republic and the New Objectivity: Germany and Holland, 1918-1933
9. Alvar Aalto and Finnish National Romanticism: 1923-1954
10. Italian Rationalism and the New Rome: 1922-1942
11. Frank Lloyd Wright, Agrarianism and Motopia: USA 1904-1944
12. Mies van der Rohe and the New Monumentality: Germany & America 1920-1965
13. The International Style in America: 1932-1965