A4471 Global Modernism
History/Theory SeminarGwendolyn Wright
INTRODUCTION
The decade following the end of WW2 witnessed an extraordinary embrace of modernism in virtually every country throughout the world. That globalism in turn fostered a renewed commitment to individual expression and claims of national, local or individual particularities, expressed in many forms. This seminar will explore both the commonalties and the differences, even divergences, that came to light during the decade or so after the war. We will examine texts anticipating 194X and postwar ideas evidenced in formal schemes and builtwork, exploring intentions and results in the efforts to find a balance between socialism and capitalism, rich and poor clients, skeptics and acolytes of modern architecture.
Particular sites to be analyzed include American redevelopment projects, European postwar rebuilding and new towns, as well as colonial and post-colonial expressions of a Third World alternative to capitalist or socialist paradigms of development.
Students are responsible for short seminar presentations and a 15-page term paper, due during exam week. Topics may focus on any place or typology; the focus of the class will move between construction materials and architectural symbols on the one hand, and urban settings on the other.
TOPICS
1. Introduction
2. The triumph of a modernist vision
3. Rebuilding the freedom of expression
4. New towns and transportation links
5. Housing options from center city to suburbs
6. New aesthetic modes and identities
7. New materials and technologies
8. Centers and periphery
9. The South Asian subcontinent
10. Latin America
11. The Middle East
12. Europe and the U.S.
13. Conclusion