L to R: Paimio Sanatorium, Finland 1932 (Aalto); Therme Vals, Switzerland 1996 (Zumthor); Sea Ranch, USA 1965 (MLTW), Castelgrande, Switzerland 1983-89 (Galfetti)
ARCH 3105
ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY AND THEORY — 20TH C.
Dalhousie University
School of Architecture
Winter 2017
Professors:
Teaching assistants:
Class times:
Calendar Description:
Christine Macy / [email protected]
Elisa Dainese / [email protected]
Kim Chayer / [email protected]
Sarah Gilmore / [email protected]
1-1/2 hours of lecture each week: Tuesday 10:30 am - 12:00 pm in Room H19
1 hour of seminar each week: Thursday 9-10 am, 10:15-11:15 am, 11:30-12:30 in Rooms HB4, HD4 (Green Room)
and Dean’s Office.
This course is a survey of modernist architecture, focusing on Europe and North America. Buildings and urban
projects are situated in their social and political contexts and the theoretical constructs that influenced their
development. Students are exposed to extramural archives and resources to research local modern buildings and
their architects.
th
Learning objectives:
• To acquire knowledge of 20 c. architecture in its cultural context. Students are expected to be familiar with key
works of modern architecture and to be able to situate these in terms of the societal, economic and technological
circumstances under which they were produced.
• To develop skill in researching a work of architecture — the material artifact, the circumstances of its commission,
the context of its creation, the context of its reception, the historiographical perspective.
• To develop skills in historiography — analyzing and interpreting a work of architecture as a response to the social,
technological and intellectual contexts of its creation, and to reflect on its value for the present time.
• To develop competence and skill in essay writing, particularly argument, outline, the sue of evidence, writing style.
Required texts:
• William J.R. Curtis, Modern Architecture Since 1900, 3rd ed. London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1996. Textbook readings
will average 30 pages each week. Available at the Sexton Campus Bookstore.
• Seminar readings will average 40 pages each week.
Assignments:
There are six components to the course mark, weighted as follows:
Lectures and seminars
10% (individual)
Attendance at lectures (marked by professor)
15% (individual)
Participation in seminars (marked by TAs)
25% (individual)
Seminar report (marked by TAs)
Research paper
10% (group)
10% (individual)
30% (individual)
Research dossier (marked by professor and TAs)
Essay outline (marked by professor)
Final essay (marked by professor)
In an assignment is resubmitted, the final mark will be an average of the two marks. Late submissions will be
penalized by reducing the final mark at the rate of 2% per day. No work will be accepted after 7 April 2017 without an
authorized excuse.
L to R: Grain elevator 1920s (Mendelsohn photo), Citta Nuova 1914 (Sant’Elia), Rush City 1923-7 (Neutra), Scotia Square, Halifax 1967-69 (Alward & Guinlock), SESC Pompéia, Brazil 1982 (Bo Bardi)
SCHEDULE
2
Note: This schedule indicates class times and schedules only when these differ from the regular schedule.
Week 1 | 1905-15
Tu 1/10 10:00 am
11:00 am
Th 1/12
9:30 am
Course introduction in Room HA19
Workshop 1: Developing a research dossier. Rooms HA18 and HB4.
Lecture 1: A Search for the Simple Life. Room HA 19.
Authenticity and Craftsmanship (Maybeck)
Concrete Minimalism (Gill)
An ‘American’ architecture, textile blocks (Wright’s west cost houses)
Innovative living and elemental construction (Schindler)
Textbook:
3. The Search for New Forms and the Problem of Ornament
5. Arts and Crafts Ideals in Britain and the USA
7. The Architectural System of Frank Lloyd Wright
Week 2 | Professional Practice Week
Week 3 | 1915-35
Tu 2/24
Lecture 2: Urban Visions for the growing metropolis
The Garden City combining best of town and country (Ebenezer Howard, Letchworth, German Garden Cities,
Hydrostone)
American Garden Cities adapted for the automobile (Radburn, Broadacre City)
The City of Circulation (Garnier’s Industrial City, Le Corbusier’s Contemporary and Radiant Cities)
Textbook:
4. Rationalism, the Engineering Tradition and Reinforced Concrete
10. Le Corbusier's Quest for Ideal Form
14. The Ideal Community: Alternatives to the Industrial City
Th 1/26
Seminar 1: Modernity and avant-gardes
Le Corbusier. The City of Tomorrow, 1924.
Week 4 | 1915-35
Tu 1/31
Lecture 3: Collectivization: Skyscrapers and Soviets
Americans seeking cultural validation by dressing up the massive new building type in historic garb (Woolworth
Tower, Chicago Tribune Tower Competition)
Avant-garde Europeans drawn to the idea of the Skyscraper (Mendelsohn, Mies, Vesnin Brothers, El Lissitzky)
Americanized Bolshevism: Concentrated (Rockefeller Center > Narkofim) or Dispersed (Fordism > Milyutin’s city
planning)
Textbook:
6. Responses to Mechanization: The Deutscher Werkbund and Futurism
12. Architecture and Revolution in Russia
13. Skyscraper and Suburb: The USA Between the Wars
Th 2/2
Seminar 2: Architecture as social engineering
• Walter Gropius. “Principles of Bauhaus Production (Dessau)” and Hannes Meyer. “Building,” Programs and
Manifestoes of 20th Century Architecture, ed. Ulrich Conrads, MIT Press, 1964, 95-97, 117-120.
• Sigfried Giedion. “Mechanization Encounters the Household,” Mechanization Takes Command, Oxford University
Press, 1948, 512-527.
• Susan R. Henderson. “A Revolution in the Woman’s Sphere: Grete Lihotsky and the Frankfurt Kitchen,”
Architecture and Feminism ed. Debra Coleman, Elizabeth Danze and Carol Henderson, Princeton Architectural
Press, 1996, 221-247.
5:00 pm
Due: Research dossier uploaded as pdf to Brightspace or a printed copy in a binder, placed in Faculty mailbox.
L to R: Maison de Verre, Paris 1932 (Chareau); Glass House, New Canaan CT 1949 (Johnson); CSH 4 1945 (Rapson); Westmount Subdivision, 1948 (Dumaresq for City of Halifax)
SCHEDULE , co nti nue d
Week 5 | 1935-45
Tu 2/7
3
Lecture 4: Modernism and Anti-Modernism in the Tennessee Valley Authority
TVA dams designed to express the “technological sublime”.
Interwar expressions of technological modernity: autobahns, expressive concrete (Ferriss, Maillart, Torroja, Nervi),
neotechnic materials.
TVA towns designed as a safeguard against the threat of modernization. Social engineering.
Textbook:
17. The Continuity of Older Traditions
18. Nature and the Machine: Mies Van Der Rohe, Wright and Le Corbusier in the 1930s
20. Totalitarian Critiques of the Modern Movement
Th 2/9
Seminar 3: Modern technologies and materials
• Lewis Mumford. Chapter 5 “The Neotechnic Phase” and Chapter 8 “Dissolution,” Technics and Civilization, 1934.
Reprinted Harcourt Brace, 1967, 212-234, 364-373.
• Jean-Louis Cohen. “The Motherland of Industry,” Scenes of the World to Come: European Architecture and the
American Challenge, 1893-1960, Flammarion, 1995, 63-83, 210-211.
Week 6 | 1945-55
Tu 2/14
Lecture 5: Nature preserved in the nuclear age: the Case Study Houses in Los Angeles
Expansion: A new sense of space in the postwar house (CSH 1-10)
Anxiety: Invisible threats surround us (CSH 16, 21)
Containment and Leftover Landscapes (CSH 24, fallout shelters)
Textbook:
21. International, National, Regional: The Diversity of a New Tradition
22. Modern Architecture in the USA: Immigration and Consolidation
Th 2/16
9:00 am
10:15 am
11:30 am
2:00 pm
Workshop 2: From research to outline — Elisa and Christine. Room HB4 and Dean’s Office.
Sharing your research findings. Developing an outline for each essay that advances the group project.
Seminar groups 1-2
Seminar groups 3-4
Seminar groups 5-6
Developing an outline — Sarah Gilmore. Room HB4.
Week 7 | Reading Week
Week 8 | 1945-55
Tu 2/28
Lecture 6: World Urbanization and the Construction of the Post-Colonial city
1945-56 Casablanca: modernization as a Colonial tool (Ecochard and Candilis-woods)
1946-53 New Gourna Village: Modernization between Nationalism and Romanticism (Hassan Fathy)
1947-57 Planning and Village Housing in Ghana (Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew)
1951-65 Chandigarh: Colonial Legacy in the Post-colonial City (Le Corbusier, Fry and Drew)
Textbook:
31. Modernity, Tradition and Identity in the Developing World
28. Monumentality: Louis I. Kahn
Fri 3/3
Seminar 4: Habitat and the Theory of Relations. Faculty Lounge, Furry Room, Dean’s Office.
• Vladimir Bodiansky. “Notes on the Subject of a Habitat Charter”, Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, vol.
24, no. 3 (Oct 1953); 289-294.
• Sigfried Giedeon. “The State of Contemporary Architecture, the Regional Approach”, Architectural Record, vol. 115,
no. 1 (Jan 1954).
• Francis Strauven. “Aldo van Eyck — Shaping the New Reality From the In-between to the Aesthetics of Number,”
Mellon lecture, Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2007.
• Martin Buber. I and Thou, trans. Ronald Gregor Smith. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1937. (Choose pages)
5:00 pm
Due: Outline uploaded as pdf to Brightspace.
(Left to right): Fallingwater, Bear Run, PA 1939 (Wright); Habitat 67, Montreal 1967 (Safdie); Exeter Library, NH 1971 (Kahn); Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore 1977 (Doshi)
SCHEDULE , co nti nue d
Week 9 | 1955-65
Tu 3/7
4
Lecture 7: Tradition and Modernity
Continuity and Synchronism (Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Aldo van Eyck)
Hybridization and Harmony, Mobility of Architecture (Amancio Guedes and Balkrishna Doshi)
Metabolism and Group Form (Fumihiko Maki and Kenzo Tange)
Textbook:
27. The Process of Absorption: Latin America, Australia, Japan
Th 3/9
Seminar 5: Typologies and Vernaculars
• Aldo Rossi, The Architecture of the City, MIT Press, 1982. Chapter 1: “The structure of urban artifacts”, 28-61; and
Chapter 2: “Primary elements and the concept of area, 62-101.
• Amos Rapaport. House Form and Culture. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
• Paul Oliver, ed. Shelter and Society. London: Barrie, Cresset Press, 1969.
• Christopher Alexander, Sarah Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein and the Center for Environmental Structure. A Pattern
Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
• Nicholas J. Habraken. Transformations of the Site. Cambridge, MA: Awater Press, 1988.
5:00 pm
Week 10 | 1965-75
Tu 3/14
Due: Revised outlines uploaded as pdf to Brightspace.
Lecture 8: Urban Technology, Pop- and Game-culture
London Exhibitions: Alison and Peter Smithson (Parallel of Life and Art, This is Tomorrow)
Urban Technology and Urban Infrastructure: Buckminster Fuller (Soft Architecture) and Yona Friedman (Game
Architecture)
Anti-architecture and Pop Imagery: Archigram and Utopie
Textbook:
29. Architecture and Anti-Architecture in Britain
30. Extension and Critique in the 1960s
Th 3/16
Week 11 | 1975-85
Tu 3/21
Seminar 6: Typologies and Genius Loci
• Christian Norberg-Schulz. “The Phenomenon of Place,” Architectural Association Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 4 (1976), 310.
• Gaston Bachelard. “The house from cellar to garret, the significance of the hut,” The Poetics of Space. New York:
Orion Press, 1964.
• Clare Cooper Marcus. "The house as a symbol of the self," Designing for Human Behavior: Architecture and the
Behavioral Sciences, ed. Jon Lang, Dowden, 1974, 130-146.
Lecture 9: Post-modernism
Reading of the Landscape and Mythical Interpreations (Sverre Fehn)
Structural Discipline and Sense of Place (Aurelio Galfetti, Livio Vacchini and Mario Botta)
Textbook:
32. Pluralism in the 1970s
33. Modern Architecture and Memory: New Perceptions of the Past
Th 3/23
Seminar 7: Ecology and sustainability
• William Cronon. "The Trouble with WiIderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature", Uncommon Ground,
Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York: W.W. Norton, 1983, 69-90.
• Lucy R. Lippard. the Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society. New York: New Press, 1997.
• Kenneth Frampton. “Prospects for a Critical Regionalism,” Perspecta, vol. 20 (1983), 147-162.
• Liane Lefaivre and Alexandre Tzonis. “the Grid and the Pathway: An Introduction to the Work of Dimitris and
Suzana Antonakakis”, Architektonika Themata, Architecture in Greece, no. 15 (1981), 164-178.
• Vincent B. Canizaro. Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity and Tradition. New
York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1990. (Barbara Allen essay?)
L to R: Cuadra San Cristóbal, México 1968 (Barragan); Olympic Stadium, Munich 1972 (Otto); Guggenheim Bilbao 1997 (Gehry), Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia 1993 (Piano)
SCHEDULE , co nti nue d
Week 12 | 1990-2000
Tu 3/28
5
Lecture 10: Sustainable design
William McDonough’s sermon on “Design, Ecology, Ethics and the Making of Things”
Post-industrial (Peter Latz)
Landscape Urbanism (Diller and Scofidio,Weiss Manfredi)
Eco-Tech (Behnisch and Partners)
Textbook:
34. The Universal and the Local: Landscape, Climate and Culture
35. Technology, Abstraction and Ideas of Nature
Th 3/30 9:00 am
Week 13
Tu 4/4
5:00 pm
Workshop 3: Writing an effective design statement — Kim Chayer and Sarah Gilmore. HB4 and H19.
Due: Essay uploaded as pdf to Brightspace.
SEMINARS AND SEMINAR REPORTS
Seminar readings
Participating in a seminar
Readings are downloadable from Brightspace.
You will be in a seminar group that meets weekly to discuss the assigned readings using questions prepared for
each seminar. Participation in seminar is mandatory. This means that you are expected to:
• have completed the readings and have given the seminar leader a copy of your reading notes ahead of the
seminar,
• arrive on time and participate in the discussion.
Leading a seminar
Over the course of the term, each person in the seminar group will have an opportunity to lead or co-lead a seminar.
The seminar leader:
• collects the reading notes from each person ahead of the seminar,
• directs the discussion using the questions (with the assistance of the TA),
• writes a seminar report and adds a selection of interpretive comments from the group.
Seminar report
The seminar report includes an abstract of the reading(s) and addresses the seminar questions, using the materials
provided by members of your group as a starting point. Format should not exceed four pages, 12 pt font, double
spaced. When quoting, paraphrasing or referring to the readings, please include footnotes with page references.
Also include the name of the seminar leader and participating group members, and attach the written submissions of
the group members. In the case of co-leaders, each will write their own seminar report, focusing on a major reading.
Academic integrity
Due date
At university we advance knowledge by building on the work of other people. Academic integrity requires us to
acknowledge this debt whenever we use the work of another person. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure this
standard is met. Some points to watch for:
• clearly indicate the sources used in your work (including text quotations, architectural works, images);
• do not use the work of another from the internet or any other source and submit it as your own;
• when you use the ideas of other people (paraphrasing), make sure to acknowledge the source;
• do not submit work that has been completed through collaboration or previously submitted for another assignment
without permission from your instructor.
If you are ever unsure about any aspect of your academic work, contact the professors or the TAs. Also, see the
Academic Integrity website, Writing Centre, Dalhousie Libraries.
The seminar report is to be submitted to the TAs by e-mail each Tuesday following the seminar. They will be
returned with comments within a week.
L to R: Weissenhof, Stuttgart 1921 (Le Corbusier); Maison Tropicale, Brazzaville 1951 (Prouvé); La MéMé Medical Faculty Housing, Belgium 1972 (Kroll), Marika Alderton House, Australia (Murcutt).
Essay: the uses of history in modern arc hitecture
6
The architect studies great works of architecture for the lessons they offer in design — how to situate, how to
organize space, how to compose a wall, how to capture light, how to detail a juncture of two materials. The historian
studies artifacts from the past to understand cultures and societies of the past — and through this, to gain insight into
the present. In this assignment, you are asked to work as a historian. Each great work of architecture is a response
to a specific set of circumstances and conditions. By understanding the contexts that lead to a work, the student of
architectural history gains a fuller appreciation of the reality of that work in all its dimensions.
Collaborating with two classmates from your seminar group, you will develop an essay about a well-known 20th
century building of your choice (see the next page for a list). Each member will investigate the building from a
particular historiographical perspective, so the set of essays build up a complete picture of the architectural work and
its significance. There are three steps to the essay. First create a research dossier, then write a detailed outline and
after getting feedback on the outline, each person writes one section of the final essay.
1 | Research dossier
Once you agree on a building, your first step is to assemble a research dossier as a group. This includes
architectural drawings, maps, articles about the building from the era, oral histories, scanned book chapters and
essays from scholarly journals. Organize the documents in files, according to topics that could be the headings of the
final research paper.
Due 2 February 2017. Upload dossier as pdf to Brightspace, titled Dossier_Building name_Last names of group
members. Alternatively, you may place a bound hard copy in the professor’s mailbox.
2 | Essay outline
The second step is to interpret the documents. Your task is to put the building into its historical context. Individually
and as a group, write an outline for the final essay that lays out the various components of the analysis and
interpretation. Each person in the group takes on one section. A detailed outline includes the following components:
a) Title, names of the authors (listed in the order they will appear in the document).
b) Abstract (a short description of the work being studied and why it is significant).
c) The three essays, one focusing on each of the following areas:
1. The building commission. This begins with the client who hires the architect. For each, what shaped their
view of architecture? What were they trying to accomplish in this building?
2. The context of its creation. What were the cultural, social, technological or economic contexts of this work?
Why was it considered original or exceptional? What did it
3. The discourse around the building. When and how was this work taken into the canon of ‘modern
architecture’? How was it viewed at the time of its creation? Was it viewed differently later, and if so, why?
A useful article to help you in structuring your essay is Michael Baxandall, “The Historical Object: Benjamin
Baker’s Forth Bridge,” Patterns of Intention, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987. Support your argument with
evidence you have discovered. In addition to using your research dossier, you will draw from the lectures and
other readings.
d) Bibliography. List, in alphabetical order by author, all the books and articles you will refer to in all the essays. Note:
Wikipedia references are not permitted.
Due 3 March 2017. Upload outline as pdf to Brightspace, titled: Outline_Building_Last names.
3 | Final essay
Marking criteria
Academic integrity
After getting feedback on the outline, working individually, address the various issues as you develop your final
essay. The completed essay is presented as a whole, with each author clearly identified. Essay length is 2,000
words per author, double spaced 12 point, plus image captions, footnotes and bibliography. Please include images
throughout the essay near the relevant text, and provide image captions/references. For footnotes, please use the
Chicago Manual of Style. Lastly, each person should write a 150 word abstract and place it at the start of the essay.
Include this in your process portfolio.
Due 4 April 2017. Upload as pdf to Brightspace, titled: Essay_Building_Last names.
Criteria for marking the final essay are the following:
• clear argument / thesis
• logic of how it is made/demonstrated
• each point of argument is supported by appropriate documentation and referenced
• a wide enough range of references (5 minimum)
• integration of visual material in the essay
• interesting conclusion drawn from the research
This is to be original work. You are encouraged to cite other authors to develop your argument, but all citations must
be put in quotation marks with authors credited and page numbers cited. The same rule applies to images — so be
prepared to reflect on the provenance and original purpose of the images you use.
L to R: Sendai Mediatheque, Japan 1995 (Ito), Vietnam Veterans Memorial, USA 1980 (Lin), Les Arcs, France 1967 (Perriand),
ESSAY: case study buildings
7
The following buildings/works are suggested for the paper because of their architectural merits, their
influence on modern architecture and the abundance of scholarly material on them. If a group wants to
select a work not on this list, they may do so with the approval of the instructor. Please do not choose a
building you already studied for B1 History, however it is o.k. if you are also working on a building for the
B2 Design Case Study assignment.
Gerrit Rietveld
Eileen Gray
Rudolf Schindler
Pierre Chareau
Alvar Aalto
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Alvar Aalto
Richard Neutra
Le Corbusier
Jean Prouvé
Le Corbusier & Niemeyer
Bruce Goff
SOM
Banning, Otto et alia
Mies van der Rohe
Bertrand Goldberg
Aldo van Eyck
Alvaro Siza
Louis Kahn
Chamberlin, Powell and Bon
Moshe Safdie
Charlotte Perriand
Herman Hertzberger
Ralph Erskine
Tadao Ando
Balkrishna Doshi
Lina Bo Bardi
Duany Plater-Zyberk et al
Arthur Erickson
Maya Lin
Architecture-Studio & Jean Nouvel
Richard Rogers Partnership
James Stirling
Ioeh Ming Pei
OMA
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Steven Holl
Pinós-Miralles
Toyo Ito
Snøhetta
SANAA
Shim and Sutcliffe
Zaha Hadid
Eduardo Souto de Moura
Schroder House, Utrecht The Netherlands
E1027, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin France
Kings Road House, West Hollywood CA
Maison de Verre, Paris France
Paimio Sanitorium, Finland
1925
1926-29
1927
1928-32
1929-32
Jacobs House, Madison WI
Fallingwater, Bear Run PA
Villa Mairea, Noormarkku Finland
1936
1936-39
1939
Kaufmann Desert House, Palm Springs CA
Unite d’Habitation, Marseille France
Maison Tropicale, Brazzaville Congo
1946
1947-52
1949-51
United Nations Secretariat Building, New York City
Bavinger House, Norman OK
Lever House, New York City
Interbau, West Berlin Germany
Seagram Building, New York City
Marina City, Chicago IL
1950-52
1951
1951-52
1956-57
1958
1959-64
Municipal Orphanage, Amsterdam The Netherlands
Boa Nova Tea House, Matosinhos Portugal
Philips Exeter Academy Library, Exeter NH
Barbican Estate, London UK
Habitat 67, Montreal
Les Arcs 1600 Ski Resort, Savoie France
Centraal Beheer, Apeldoorn The Netherlands
1960-61
1963
1965-71
1965-76
1966-67
1967-82
1968-72
Byker Redevelopment, Newcastle upon Tyne UK
Azuma House, Osaka Japan
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore India
SESC Pompéia, São Paolo Brazil
Seaside, FL
Robson Square
1969-82
1976
1977
1977-82
1978
1979-83
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC
Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris France
Lloyd's Building, London UK
Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart Germany
Louvre Pyramid, Paris France
1980
1981-87
1984
1984
1989
Kunsthalle, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia
St. Ignatius Chapel, Seattle University WA
Igualada Cemetery, Catalunya Spain
Mediatheque, Sendai Japan
1992
1993-98
1994-97
1994
1995-01
Oslo Opera House, Norway
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City
Muskoka Boathouse, Lake Muskoka ON
Maxxi Museum, Rome Italy
Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais Portugal
2003-07
2003-07
2004
2009
2009