The objective of the two semester sequence Architecture History I, II is to provide students with a basic critical understanding of major developments in European (and to a lesser extent, American) architectural history during what is frequently considered the modern period, from the late seventeenth century to the post-World War II era. The course emphasizes moments of significant change in architecture, whether they be theoretical, economic, technological, or institutional in nature. Each lecture usually focuses on a theme, such as positive versus arbitrary beauty, enlightenment urban planning, historicism, structural rationalism, social utopianism, etc. Topics sometimes involve changes generated by developments internal to architecture itself, other times by events external to the discipline, at least as it was conceived at that moment in time. The readings and lectures stress the link between theory and practice, and more generally, the relationship between architecture and the broader cultural, social, and political context.

Lecture Schedule

1. Theories of Beauty: Claude Perrault and Christopher Wren (9/8)

2. Rococo: Le Gout Moderne (9/15)

3. Origins: The Greco-Gothic Ideal (9/22)

4. Piranesi (9/29)

5. The English Garden and the Picturesque (10/6))

6. The City of the Enlightenment (10/13)

7. Character and Type: Boullée, Ledoux, Lequeu (10/20)

8. Fragmentation of the Classical Ideal: Dance, Adam, and Soane (10/27)

9. An Architecture of National Identity: Jefferson, Latrobe, Mills (11/3)

10. Historicism: Goethe, Schinkel (11/10)

11. Utopian Socialism and the Architecture of Social Control (11/17)

12. The Gothic Revival: Pugin and Ruskin (12/1)

13. The Academy Reassessed: Romanticism, Rationalism, and the Neo-Grec Movement (readings required during exam week)

Course Requirements

Sections: There will be 6 section meetings (approximately every other week) to discuss themes relevant to readings or lectures. All readings must be finished before class meetings. Attendance is required, and if for some reason you cannot attend, the instructor should be informed before class. See attached sheet for section topics and readings.

Section essays: A short, double-spaced typed essay (about 3 p.) will be required in conjunction with each section, except the last. Students are allowed to skip one short paper (4 out of 5--in general, it's best to save this option for later in the term). Topics, as well as detailed requirements, will be handed out in the course of the term. The due dates of these papers will be announced in class. In general, papers should be handed in to the section leader at the beginning of the related section meeting. These papers, like all written assignments, are to be done independently and must be footnoted properly.

Final Assignment: Students have the option of taking a take-home examination or writing a 15-page research paper.
Option 1, Final Exam: A take-home examination will be due December 17. This will consist of several essay questions. The exam must be typed. Students are to complete the exams and preliminary study independently. Questions will be distributed following first-year design reviews. All reading assignments should be completed before the questions are distributed so that the exam week can be devoted to organizing material and ideas, and to writing.

Option 2, Final Paper: A 15 page (approximately) research paper, due December 19. A series of topics will be distributed in the course of the semester. Students may choose an alternative topic, but they must discuss this topic and have it approved by instructor before October 21. In preparation for this essay the student should use primary texts. A preliminary description of the topic (typed, approximately 1 page) and complete bibliography are due October 28.

Plagiarism: Unfortunately, we have had several cases of plagiarism at the GSAPP in the past few years. This is unacceptable and is grounds for dismissal from the university. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please consult your section leader or Mary McLeod.

Note: Any students whose English skills are weak are strongly encouraged to enroll in Columbia University's American Language Program at the beginning of the semester. Classes are free, and most students who take them find them useful. Please see Loes Schiller, the Dean of Admissions, for further information. Enrollment occurs at the beginning of the semester. Good English ability is especially essential for AH 1, as this lecture course demands considerable skills in reading and writing. If you have any question about this, please talk to your section leader or Mary McLeod.

Readings
Students are expected to read the required readings before each lecture. Additional readings are also listed to enable those students who wish to pursue a topic further to do so. Students who have already read some of the required readings in previous courses should substitute those readings with suggestions from the supplemental list. In general, those readings listed first in the Additional Readings section are considered most relevant to the lectures. The list, however, is quite extensive in order to help students who wish to pursue themes in their short essays in further depth. If students have not had a previous survey in 18th- and 19th-century architecture, they should consult regularly and read the relevant sections in Alan Braham, The Architecture of the French Enlightenment (Berkeley: University of California, 1980), *Barry Bergdoll, European Architecture 1750-1890 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), and Robin Middleton and David Watkin, Neoclassical and Nineteenth Century Architecture (New York: Rizzoli, 1983). All books marked with an * on the reading list should be available for purchase at Labyrinth Books on 112th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam. Students who have never had a lecture course on nineteenth-century architectures will find reading Bergdoll's book extremely useful as a supplement to the lectures and should consider buying it. The bibliography is also very helpful and should be consulted by students electing to write a final paper. Besides Bergdoll's and Braham's surveys, it might be helpful to purchase Marc Antoine Laugier, Essay on Architecture; William Pierson, American Buildings and Their Architects: Vol. 1 The Colonial and Neo-Classical Styles; and Kenneth Clark, The Gothic Revival, as large sections of these books will be assigned. Store books are returned at mid-semester. Therefore students should purchase books for the last half of the class early in the semester. A reader of selected shorter texts is available for purchase. All required readings are also on reserve at Avery Library.