Courses of Instruction

Core First-Year Courses

Architecture A4510 Preservation studio, I: understanding and documenting historic architecture . 6 pts
Ms. Bollack and Messrs. Dolkart, Otero-Pailos, and Wheeler

Preservation studio, I is the core course of the first year and revolves around the study of a section of New York City. Students begin by documenting individual buildings and move through the first semester with understanding and documenting ever-more complex elements of the built environment in the study area. Students explore buildings from the perspective of each of the sectors-conservation, design, history, and planning-under the direction of four faculty, each of whom is expert in one of the sectors. Studio work includes graphic presentations, written presentations, and oral presentations. The second semester studio builds on this work and culminates in the preparation of a Preservation Plan for the study area.

Architecture A6750 Preservation studio, II: planning for preservation. 4 pts
Mss. Miner and Bollack, and Messrs. Dolkart and Otero-Pailos.

Preservation studio, II continues the work of the fall semester Preservation studio, I and the same study area within New York, extending the understanding of that area from beyond its individual building components to the neighborhood and region. Issues of designing appropriate infill buildings on vacant or underutilized lots are explored in a design charette at mid-semester. Studio, II culminates in a preservation plan for the area, which evaluates the historic resources against local zoning, economic realities, physical assets and problems, and members of the study area's community, testing student ideas against neighborhood personalities and politics.

Architecture A6740 Historic preservation theory and practice. 3 pts
Mr. Stubbs.

An overview of the history and present state of the field of architectural preservation in the Western world as a basis for professional practice in the United States. Through lectures, readings, and class discussions, the background, theories, and present challenges in the field are examined. The course is organized under headings that represent the principal facets of the field, namely, history, theory, methodology, technology, urban issues, and professional practice. Within these headings specific subjects and disciplines such as archeology, museology, historical research, project planning, standards, legislation, and project management are addressed.

Architecture A4339 American architecture before 1876. 3 pts
Mr. Otero-Pailos.

Examination of the development of American architecture from the earliest European settlements to the centennial in 1876. Beginning with the earliest Spanish, French, Dutch, and English colonial architecture, we explore the American adaptation of European forms and ideas and the development of a distinctly American architecture. Lectures and readings examine high style and vernacular architecture in rural and urban environments throughout the settled parts of the United States. Supplemented with tours and the examination of original drawings and early architectural publications in Avery Library.

Architecture A4341 American architecture since 1876. 3 pts
Mr. Otero-Pailos.

A survey of architecture built in the United States and its territories between 1876, the country's first centennial, and 1989, the end of the cold war, a date that marked America's triumph as the only world superpower. Designed to help develop competence in identifying, understanding, and analyzing historic structures, their significance, types, and styles, and to develop proficiency in the use of the methodological, historiographical, visual, and intellectual tools necessary to fully grasp the meanings of historic buildings in their various contexts.

Architecture A4124 Structures, systems, and materials, I. 3 pts
Mr. Devonshire.

Structures, systems, and materials, I familiarizes students with the structures and materials of traditional building, beginning in this course with wood framing and load-bearing masonry walls. The introductory conservation course, it introduces how buildings are made, how they often fail, and what can be done about it. The organization of the course relies upon not only the study of the chronological development of the building arts and sciences, but as each building system is introduced, the discussion of the pathology modes and conservation approaches follows within the same week. Fieldtrips to see the situations discussed in class are integral to the course and occur weekly during the first half of the semester.

Architecture A6831 Structures, systems, and materials, II. 3 pts
Mr. Prudon.

Structures, systems, and materials, II builds on information introduced in Part I and brings this material up to the present in terms of understanding modern building systems and materials. It addresses how steel frame and concrete buildings are made and how they often fail. The organization of the course relies upon not only the study of the chronological development of the building arts and sciences, but as each building system is introduced, the discussion of the pathology modes and conservation approaches follows within the same week.

Architecture A6767 Historic preservation planning. 3 pts
Ms. Clark.

A comprehensive introduction to the field of preservation planning that examines the constitutional underpinnings of landmarks regulation and the emergence of historic preservation as a discipline analogous to urban planning. Also addressed are the issues of applying preservation planning tools, including local individual and historic district designations, National Register nominations, special zoning and conservation districts, easements, and restrictive covenants. Financial incentives for rehabilitation, including investment tax credits, property tax incentives, and revolving loan funds, are examined. Current issues in preservation planning including combating sprawl and preserving rural landscapes are addressed. Guest speakers highlight preservation in Chicago and Pittsburgh, illustrating similarities and differences in practices in the field in other American cities.

Architecture A6727 Architecture of additions. 3 pts
Mr. Byard.

An exploration of combinations of old and new architecture to understand how the new can extend the meaning of the old and how it extends that meaning when the old architecture is said to be "preserved." Additions sees combined works as one of the most challenging and illuminating of the contemporary building types, one having special relevance to almost all contemporary architectural practice.

Sector Requirements

Architecture Conservation
Messrs. Wheeler and Weiss.

The three-course sequence course is designed to provide a basic understanding of building materials, to demonstrate how to identify these materials and evaluate their conditions, and to show how to generate the information and data necessary to propose and evaluate conservation treatments. All three courses are required for all students selecting conservation as their sector of specialization. The courses are not sequential, and any student may take any course of interest without prior requirements.

Architecture A6764 Architecture conservation, I. 4 pts
(Spring)

The format of the course is lecture, laboratory exercises, and field trips. Conservation, I examines stone, brick, terracotta, and glass.

Architecture A6786 Architecture conservation, II. 4 pts
(Fall)

The format of the course is lecture, laboratory exercises, and field trips. Conservation, II examines concrete, mortar, stucco, and plaster.

Architecture A6788 Architecture conservation, III. 4 pts
(Spring)

The format of the course is lecture, laboratory exercises, and field trips. Conservation, III examines wood, paint, and other finishes to wood surfaces.

Architecture A6726 Planning workshop: preservation of cultural landscapes. 3 pts
Mr. Sampson.

The Hudson River Valley has been described by the National Park Service as "the landscape that defined America." In recent years, the valley has been named by Congress as a National Heritage Area, by President Clinton as an American Heritage River, and by New York State as the Hudson River Valley Greenway. Yet the valley continues to face great challenges to its character and historic context through the planned (and unplanned) development of cement plants, energy facilities, destruction of historic buildings, and through sprawl. This course, through readings, lectures, class dialogues, and case studies as well as field trips, examines the history of the preservation of cultural and natural landscapes and the techniques, such as regional planning, heritage tourism, and the use of conservation easements now in use nationally and internationally.

Architecture A6741 Conservation workshop. 3 pts
Mss. Jablonski and Berkowitz.

Builds and develops skills required by architectural conservators. A practical conservation course that includes both site and laboratory work. Sessions are designed to provide real world experiences that conservators in practice face, with on-site visits for sampling, analysis, and documentation, followed by laboratory sessions. Understanding materials of the 20th century is a focus.

Architecture A6305 Design workshop: design with historic architecture. 3 pts
Mr. Byard.

This workshop is taught with the third-year "Additions Design Studio" in the Architecture Program. The problem for the studio is a major addition to an important modern building that requires an understanding of the meaning of the old building-all of the ways its form and materials express the values it sought to represent and serve at the time-and the ways that meaning might or might not be extended, enriched, and brought forward by the addition. Studio design projects have included major additions to the Universidad Nacionale Autunomon de Mexico and to the capital complex at Chandigarh and Brasilia.

Architecture A6852 History workshop. 3 pts
Mr. Otero-Pailos.

Run as a seminar, this workshop provides an opportunity for in-depth research and analysis of the built environment, using the rich resources of New York City as the primary source. Each workshop focuses on a particular issue relating to architectural theory and practice. The multidisciplinary nature of contemporary environmental studies is evidence of the growing consciousness that the construction and interpretation of reality escapes any one discipline. The aim of this course is to familiarize students with contemporary ways of reconciling how we understand and how we transform the built environment. The underlying premise of the course is that traditional models of relating theory and practice are inadequate because they depend on the "closed" teleological principle of "striving towards completion." As such, they ultimately create the fiction that to be complete, theory must exclude practice, and vice-versa. Students are asked to consider alternative principles of "openness" for relating theory and practice, and to explore the correlative ways to imbricate the aesthetic and the intellectual in the production of interventions and interpretations.

Architecture A6795 Preservation law. 3 pts
Ms. Miner.

An introduction to legal mechanisms to protect historic resources in the built environment. The focus is on the legal principles underlying preservation laws, including the constitutional issues relating to governmental regulation or real property. Federal, state, and local historic preservation laws and their complementary relationships are studied in the context of relevant environmental and other land use laws.

Required Second-Year Courses

Architecture A6790 Historic preservation colloquium. 3 pts
Mr. Bentel.

A discussion-based seminar presented in the students' final semester, this course analyzes major preservation projects following the interdisciplinary format of the four sectors in the Historic Preservation Program: conservation, design, history/theory, and planning. Case studies are developed from student thesis work, and are critically analyzed in relation to the ways in which the theory and practice of preservation have been followed and implemented.

Architecture A6751 Thesis, I: fall semester. 1 pt
Architecture A6753 Thesis, II: spring semester. 6 pts

Thesis, I begins a student's work in defining a thesis question, work that continues through Thesis, II in the second semester. The thesis is a clear, well-researched substantial argument in support of a position on a question of general interest in the field of historic preservation. There are two thesis reviews during the fall semester, where students present their work before an audience of faculty and fellow students, and defend their basic arguments for a question in planning, design, history, or conservation. In the spring semester students present again to all members of the faculty to assess progress on the thesis. In April, the student meets for an hour with a jury of their adviser and readers to defend the thesis and polish their thoughts on the topic. At other times during the semester, the student should meet with Historic Preservation faculty as advisers to their work.

Electives

Architecture A6318 Cultural site management. 3 pts
Ms. Jerome.

Impetus for the preservation of cultural heritage has developed through the recognition of sites as nonrenewable resources. Training is readily available in the specific tasks required to implement preservation, such as documentation and conservation. However, with the exception of sporadic seminars, conferences, short courses, or on-the-job training, far less attention has been paid to the larger, more complex and comprehensive issues of management, the process by which the individual components of preservation are fit together and either succeed or fail. This course utilizes the conservation process in the Burra Charter as the basis for a rational approach to managing cultural sites. The focus is international and case studies are reviewed from both historic and archaeological sites. Divided into three parts, the first focuses on the compilation of background information and identification of the key interested parties; it progress to the analysis of the site significance and assessment of existing conditions and management constraints; and finally, it reviews the development of the management policy and strategies for its implementation. The delicate balancing act between cultural enhancement and exploitation is explored, as well as the need to periodically monitor and reassess management policy.

Architecture A6309 Archeological sites conservation and maintenance. 3 pts
Ms. Jerome.

Recently there has been a greater demand for architectural conservators at archaeological sites. As archaeologists become increasingly aware of their ethical responsibility to conserve the architectural remains uncovered, the need for this type of expertise is acutely felt. The first part of this course looks at philosophical and ethical differences between structures that can be rehabilitated as architecture and those that will be stabilized as ruins, while reviewing the international organizations and charters that have been set up for this purpose. The second part of the course deals with techniques of conservation, including site improvements, recording methods, reburial, consolidation, protection, sheltering, materials analyses, and state-of-the-art technology applicable to archaeological sites. Laboratory sessions, guest lectures, and field trips in the New York area supplement lectures and student readings and projects.

Architecture A6761 Seminar: stone. 3 pts
Mr. Wheeler.

The course begins with an outline of rocks and their properties in the context of their use in architecture. Emphasis on hand specimen identification as well as instrument methods such as x-ray diffraction, x-ray florescence, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy, and polarizing light microscopy in the identification of rocks and their constituent minerals. Major mechanisms of deterioration such as acid rain/dry deposition, salt crystallization, freezing water, biological growth, insolation and heat, and the composition and disposition of soiling on different stone substances are discussed. Concludes with demonstrations and discussions of major conservation activities: (1) cleaning (chemical, abrasive, water washing, laser); (2) stone repair or compensation; (3) consolidation and water repellents.

Architecture A6784 Seminar: the aesthetics and science of cleaning historic stone buildings. 3 pts
Mr. Wheeler.

A seminar-style course on stone as a building material, its deterioration through "dirt," and the reasons for and against cleaning, along with a discussion and practicum on the materials/techniques used in cleaning.

Architecture A6768 Seminar: metals. 3 pts
Mr. Pieper.

Reviews the structural and decorative uses of metals in buildings and monuments. Metals to be reviewed include iron and steel; copper and copper alloys including bronze and brass; lead; tin; zinc; aluminum; nickel and chromium. Examines the history of manufacture and use; mechanisms of deterioration and corrosion; and cleaning, repair, and conservation.

Architecture A6712 Architectural finishes in America. 3 pts
Ms. Jablonski.

The principles and practices of architectural finishes conservation, preservation, and maintenance. Students learn the skills to know what questions to ask about finishes conservation and how to begin answering them. Includes lectures, laboratory, and site work. Types of finishes covered include paint, plaster, stucco, murals, twentieth-century composite wall and ceiling finishes, tile linoleum, glass, and wallpaper.

Architecture A6734 The classical language and literature of architecture. 3 pts
Mr. Stubbs. (Taught alternate years ['06, '08] with Architecture A6773-International architectural preservation practice ['05, '07]).

An overview of the tradition of classical architecture, the course begins in antiquity and traces the survivals of forms and motifs through various revivals over 2,500 years. The components of classical architecture and a number of design possibilities are analyzed in detail, and landmarks in architectural literature that relate to the Orders are discussed in lectures. The subject is approached from the point of view of architectural design and encourages utilization of modern scholarship in the history and theory of architecture in the understanding of the aesthetic, social, historical, and political significance of classical architecture. Readings and lectures are structured in a developmental, chronological sequence and presume familiarity with the history of architecture.

Architecture A6773 International architectural preservation practice. 3 pts
Mr. Stubbs. (Taught alternate years ['05, '07] with Architecture A6734-The classical language and literature of architecture ['06, '08]).

Recent geopolitical shifts, the effects of "globalization," and radically improved communications and transportation have imposed extraordinary pressures for change in every country. The burgeoning field of heritage conservation has responded accordingly with one result being the creation of a variety of international architectural conservation and preservation programs and projects. An introduction to the key aspects of international architectural conservation practice, addressing its origins and present organization, principle, and procedures, legal bases for heritage protection, and "best practices" in various countries.

Architecture A6820 Architecture and social policy. 3 pts
Mr. Byard.

Seminar addressing the connection between architecture and social policy, notably, the way social policy both determines and reveals itself in architectural expression. Objective is to explore the importance that connection in turn gives architecture as an instrument of social leadership and a vivid and enduring form of public disclosure. Students study and "read" works like the Karl Marx Hof, the Viceroy's Palace, the League of Nations, UNAM, Pruitt-Igoe, Battery Park City, Experience Music, and the Reichstag for the case each of them seeks to make for the policies that brought them into being. The object is to understand the public interest in old and new architecture and provide support for the public argument in favor both of preservation and of significant new architecture.

Architecture A6705 The architecture and development of New York City. 3 pts
Mr. Dolkart.

Traces the development of New York City through its architecture and examines the history of architecture as it is reflected in the buildings of the city. Explores the architectural development of New York from the time the city was a minor colonial settlement, to its development as a great commercial and institutional center in the 19th century, through the 20th century, when New York became one of the great cities of the world. Discussion focuses on why various architectural developments became popular in New York; how these developments reflected the complex social history of the city; and what these developments mean to New York's history. Examines the major architectural monuments of New York's five boroughs, but also looks at the more vernacular buildings that reflect the needs and aspirations of the city's middle- and working-class residents.

Architecture A6901 (spring) or Architecture A8790 (fall) Research problems. 2 or 3 pts
Faculty adviser selected by student.

Students may develop a topic of particular interest to them as an Independent Study through a semester. Students should prepare a one-page summary of their topic of study and submit it to the Historic Preservation Office for approval, identifying the goals of the course and the final form of the presentation. Students must also identify a faculty member as an adviser

Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Columbia University 1172 Amsterdam Avenue New York, New York 10027