Arch History I
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE HISTORY
History and Theory of Architecture I
SYLLABUS
CONTENT
This course traces the history of Architecture from the early developments in the Paleolithic Age (Early Stone Age) to the 15th Century. The various theories and formal languages (styles) that shaped the history of Architecture within the specified time span will be explored through the close examination of a select group of buildings and the specific cultural, social, political, and economic contexts of their design and construction. Our coverage will encompass the architectural achievements of the cultures of Europe, the Middle East, South, Southeast, and East Asia, the Americas, and Africa.
OBJECTIVE
Treating the history of architecture as a history not of buildings per se, but of cultural beliefs and ideas, values, and aesthetic ideals actualized through architectural forms and experiences, this course seeks to foster the students’ ability to analyze and understand the unique formal vocabulary of architecture and its expressive potential, as well as the complex and instrumental dialogue between architecture and culture.
NAAB PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
PC.4 History and Theory—How the program ensures that students understand the histories and theories of architecture and urbanism, framed by diverse social, cultural, economic, and political forces, nationally and globally.
PC.8 Social Equity and Inclusion—How the program furthers and deepens students' understanding of diverse cultural and social contexts and helps them translate that understanding into built environments that equitably support and include people of different backgrounds, resources, and abilities.
FORMAT
This course will meet online twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM for lecture, presentation, and discussion sessions.
READING
The required text for this course, available through the campus bookstore, is:
Richard Ingersoll
World Architecture: A Cross Cultural History
Oxford University Press, 2018
The textbook has an associated website that offers extensive useful resources. You need to register at the site to access the material.
The site address is: https://learninglink.oup.com/access/ingersoll2e
The reading assignments for each week are listed in the Lecture Outline.
The lectures and the reading assignments do not necessarily cover the same material, nor do they necessarily follow the same sequence in presentation. Instead, they are intended to complement each other, provide different perspectives on each subject and help the students develop a critical approach to studying architecture and its history.
In addition to the required text for this course, you may wish to consult and review any of the following similar texts:
Francis D. K. Ching, Mark M. Jarzombek, Vikramaditya Prakash
A Global History of Architecture
John Wiley & Sons, 2010
Marian Moffett, Lawrence Wodehouse, Michael Fazio
A World History of Architecture
McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008
Leland M. Roth
Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, And Meaning
Westview Press, 2nd edition, 2006
Marvin Trachtenberg & Isabelle Hyman:
Architecture - from Prehistory to Post-Modernism
Second Edition, New York: Pearson, 2002
Dan Cruickshank (Editor)
Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture
Architectural Press, 1996
Spiro Kostof, Gregory Castillo, Richard Tobias
A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals
Oxford University Press, 1995
You may substitute any one of these texts for the required text at your own risk.
REQUIREMENTS
Your performance is evaluated based on the individual command of course material and the assigned readings as evidenced by effective synthesis of course material and completion of three online exams. You will complete each exam online at Canvas in class on the following dates:
Exam 1: Monday, February 21, 2022
Exam 2: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Exam 3: Monday, May 9, 2022
In addition to the three exams, you are required to complete a research term paper on a building of your choice from a provided list of buildings. Please refer to the Term Paper Assignment appended to this syllabus for a detailed description of this assignment. The term paper will be due:
Term Paper: Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Please submit your term paper online at Canvas as a Microsoft word or a pdf document. Please label your file using your name, e.g., JaneDoe.doc Please make sure your file is appropriately labeled.
All due dates should be strictly observed. In fairness to all, exceptions will only be made due to medical or personal emergencies.
The exams and the term paper will each count for 25% of the final grade for the course.
Your success in this class depends on constant and effective engagement with the course material. To this end, you are required to complete the assigned readings prior to each class and to write a one to two-page synopsis of the material covered in lectures and assigned readings for each week. These will be of great assistance to you in answering the exam questions. Please carefully read the detailed explanation of the exam requirements at the end of this syllabus.
EXTRA CREDIT
You may choose, at your own discretion, to take an extra credit exam covering the course content from the first and the second exams. This voluntary exam should be helpful to anyone who may not have done as well as hoped in the first two exams. The extra credit exam will be given on:
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
If you choose to take this extra credit exam, your final grade will be based on four exams and a paper (20% each), rather than three exams and a paper (25% each).
ATTENDANCE
You are required to attend every class via Zoom and actively participate in class discussions. For the duration of the class, your video should be turned on. Every unexcused absence will lower your final grade by a third of a numeric grade (for example, from C+ to C). Four or more unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the course. Absences will be excused by prior or timely notice due to family emergencies, medical conditions, and established religious holidays.
Online
You can access this syllabus online at Canvas or directly at Arch 5220.
Individual dates in the Lecture Outline of the online syllabus will be linked to a video of the visual material presented in class on that date.
You can download a list of buildings that may be covered in Lectures here: Building List
CONTACT
Please feel free to contact me or the Teaching Assistant by e-mail with any questions or concerns you may have or set up a time to meet at a mutually convenient time. My e-mail address is amir.ameri@ucdenver.edu. I will also be available to answer any questions you may have after each class. My office is in CU Building, room 515.
The Teaching Assistant for the class is Jenna McKnight. She can be reached at jenna.mcknight@ucdenver.edu
UNIVERSITY-WIDE POLICIES
Please review the following university-wide policies:
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Discrimination and Harassment Policy and Procedures
LECTURE OUTLINE
____________________________________
Lecture Topic
Tentative Date
Reading Assignment
____________________________________
Prehistory - 3000 BCE
Megaliths and Stone Circles
January 19
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.1-11, 23-32
____________________________________
3000 - 1500 BCE
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.33-67
___________________________________
1500 - 750 BCE
Egyptian and Aegean Architecture
January 31 - February 2
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.68-104
____________________________________
700 - 200 BCE
Greek, Persian, and Indian Architecture
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.105-149
____________________________________
February 21 First Exam
____________________________________
200 BCE - 300 CE
Roman, Chinese, and Mexican Architecture
February 23 - 28, March 2 - 7 - 9 - 14
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.150-194
____________________________________
300 - 800
Early Christian, Byzantine, and Indian Architecture
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.195-268
____________________________________
March 21 - 23 Spring Break
____________________________________
800 - 1200
Romanesque, Islamic, Chinese, and Mayan Architecture
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp. 269-318
____________________________________
March 30 Second Exam
____________________________________
April 6 Term Paper
____________________________________
1200 - 1350
Islamic, Indian, and Early Gothic Architecture
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.319-373
____________________________________
1350 - 1500
Late Gothic and Early Renaissance Architecture
Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.374-428
____________________________________
May 9 Third Exam
____________________________________
May 11 Extra Credit Exam
____________________________________
Exams
Chartres is made of stone and glass. But it is not just stone and glass; it is a cathedral, and not only a cathedral, but a particular cathedral built at a particular time by certain members of a particular society. To understand what it means, to perceive it for what it is, you need to know rather more than the generic properties of stone and glass and rather more than what is common to all cathedrals. You need to understand also - and, in my opinion, most critically - the specific concepts of the relations among God, man, and architecture that, since they have governed its creation, it consequently embodies. (Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, Harper, New York, 1973)
To every work of architecture, there is a what, and there is a why. The what pertains to its tangible characteristics. The why pertains to the intangible reasons, ideas, beliefs, and ideals that condition every work of architecture and transform the work into a cultural artifact.
Every work of architecture is essentially a composition, i.e., it is comprised of distinct parts placed in a particular relationship to each other for a particular purpose. Understanding a work of architecture requires, first and foremost, an analysis of the work. It entails separating and identifying its constituent parts and their specific relationship to each other and the whole work, e.g., the specific relationship between solids and voids, horizontals and verticals, of the inside to the outside, of structure to skin, of the building to its site, ornamentation, articulation, and so on. This is, however, merely a first step. The more important step in understanding a work of architecture is the why of the work.
From a certain vantage point, architecture is an impossible task. Faced with multiple possibilities, the architect has no ground for the delimitation of her/his options. The functions of an edifice suggest no one form and much less a direction. In deference to biological needs, function is nebulous and multi-directional. However, function assumes a trajectory and becomes highly prescriptive when it is appropriated by culture and transformed into a ritual. Though by no means singular, a ritual is distinct and unidirectional. It has unique spatial requirements. It demands a specific setting. It is this and similar prescriptive cultural appropriations that make architecture possible.
Every work of architecture points to a process of delimitation intended to give expression to a particular cultural proposition, theorem, or thesis. As such, every work of architecture serves to transform a culture’s assumptions about the world into a factual experience of them. The work shapes the world, in other words, after our image of it. In this process, economy, ecology, and technology play an important role. They make the realization of certain dreams possible and others not. The shape any work of architecture takes is invariably conditioned by the interaction of these three forces within the broader cultural context.
Therefore, to understand the why of any work of architecture is to understand the cultural rituals it is meant to provide for, the cultural experiences it is meant to instigate, and the ideas, the ideals, and the beliefs it is meant to embody and express.
Throughout the term, we will address both the what and the why of every work of architecture we examine. Lectures will specifically emphasize the why. Your aim throughout the term should be to understand architecture in the sense explained above. In this vein, the point and purpose of the three required exams for this course are not to test your command of the facts, names, dates, and places, per se. Although you are expected to command the facts fully, the exams intend to test your understanding of architecture. Mere and passive acquisition and repetition of information are not what is at issue. The exams are meant to test your active engagement with and the ability to comprehend and effectively synthesize diverse bodies of information and points of view provided in the lectures and reading assignments. They are meant to foster your ability to effectively analyze and hierarchically organize this information into a coherent and multi-layered picture encompassing both the what and the why of architecture.
For each exam, you will be presented with multiple questions and asked to ascertain the accuracy of each.
For each exam, you’ll be presented with multiple questions and asked to ascertain the accuracy of each.
You will complete each exam online at Canvas in class on the following dates:
Exam 1: Monday, February 21, 2022
Exam 2: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Exam 3: Monday, May 9, 2022
All due dates should be strictly observed. In fairness to all, exceptions will only be made due to medical or personal emergencies.
The exams will each count for one-fourth of the final grade.
Your success in this class depends on constant and effective engagement with the course material. To this end, you are required to complete the assigned readings prior to each class and to write a one to two-page synopsis of the material covered in lectures and assigned readings for each week. These will be of great help to you in answering the exam questions. Make sure you do not fall behind in completing your weekly reading assignments at all costs. Given the complexity and scope of the material covered, you will not be able to comprehend and effectively answer the exam questions if you do not complete your weekly assignments on time.
Exam Grade
If your exam score is 93 or higher, you will receive an A for the exam. If your exam score is 89 to 92, you will receive an A- for the exam. If your exam score is 85 to 88, you will receive a B+ for the exam. If your exam score is 81 to 84, you will receive a B for the exam. If your exam score is 78 to 80, you will receive a B- for the exam. If your exam score is 75 to 77, you will receive a C+ for the exam. If your exam score is 71 to 74, you will receive a C for the exam. If your exam score is 68 to 70, you will receive a C- for the exam. If your exam score is 65 to 67, you will receive a D+ for the exam. If your exam score is 61 to 64, you will receive a D for the exam. If your exam score is 58 to 60, you will receive a D- for the exam. If your exam score is less than 58, you will receive an F for the exam.
Term Paper
Chartres is made of stone and glass. But it is not just stone and glass; it is a cathedral, and not only a cathedral, but a particular cathedral built at a particular time by certain members of a particular society. To understand what it means, to perceive it for what it is, you need to know rather more than the generic properties of stone and glass and rather more than what is common to all cathedrals. You need to understand also - and, in my opinion, most critically - the specific concepts of the relations among God, man, and architecture that, since they have governed its creation, it consequently embodies. (Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, Harper, New York, 1973)
To every work of architecture, there is a what, and there is a why. The what pertains to its tangible characteristics. The why pertains to the intangible reasons, ideas, beliefs, and ideals that condition every work of architecture and transform the work into a cultural artifact.
Every work of architecture is essentially a composition, i.e., it is comprised of distinct parts placed in a particular relationship to each other for a particular purpose. Understanding a work of architecture requires, first and foremost, an analysis of the work. It entails separating and identifying its constituent parts and their specific relationship to each other and the whole work, e.g., the specific relationship between solids and voids, horizontals and verticals, of the inside to the outside, of structure to skin, of the building to its site, ornamentation, articulation, etc. This is, however, merely a first step. The more important step in understanding a work of architecture is the why of the work.
From a certain vantage point, architecture is an impossible task. Faced with multiple possibilities, the architect has no ground for the delimitation of her/his options. The functions of an edifice suggest no one form and much less a direction. In deference to biological needs, function is nebulous and multi-directional. However, function assumes a trajectory and becomes highly prescriptive when it is appropriated by culture and transformed into a ritual. Though by no means singular, a ritual is distinct and unidirectional. It has unique spatial requirements. It demands a specific setting. It is this and similar prescriptive cultural appropriations that make architecture possible.
Every work of architecture points to a process of delimitation intended to give expression to a particular cultural proposition, theorem, or thesis. As such, every work of architecture serves to transform a culture’s assumptions about the world into a factual experience of them. The work shapes the world, in other words, after our image of it. In this process, economy, ecology, and technology play an important role. They make the realization of certain dreams possible and others not. The shape any work of architecture takes is invariably conditioned by the interaction of these three forces within the broader cultural context.
Therefore, to understand the why of any work of architecture is to understand the cultural rituals it is meant to provide for, the cultural experiences it is meant to instigate, and the ideas, the ideals, the beliefs it is meant to embody, and express.
Throughout the term, we will address both the what and the why of every work of architecture we examine. Lectures will specifically emphasize the why. Your aim throughout the term should be to understand architecture in the sense explained above. In this vein, the point and purpose of the term paper are to give you an opportunity to acquire a more thorough understanding of the formal and theoretical issues and concerns, ideas, and ideals of a generation of architects working within a specific cultural, social, political, and economic context that on the whole is of particular interest to you.
You are, therefore, to choose one of the following periods in the history of Western Architecture: Ancient Greek, Roman, Early Christian & Byzantine, Carolingian & Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance. Within this period, you should choose an exemplary building of particular interest to you from the provided list of buildings.
The task is then fourfold:
Your paper should be approximately 4500 words, excluding bibliography and images. It should, therefore, be well organized, concisely written, and economically worded. Every quotation should be identified as such and properly credited. Quotations should not exceed 10% of the paper. Footnotes should appear on the same page and the bibliography on the last page, in MLA format. The paper, on the whole, should demonstrate extensive research above and beyond the assigned readings and lecture material, as well as a thorough understanding of the architectural period chosen.
Your research should be based exclusively on peer-reviewed academic journals and book publications. Your research should not be based on nonacademic web sources, travel guides, etc.
The paper is due April 6, 2022.
Before submitting your paper, please have your paper proofread by Grammarly. It is a free online service at https://www.grammarly.com.
Please submit your term paper online at Canvas as a Microsoft word or pdf document. Please label your file using your name, e.g., JaneDoe.docx.
Graded papers will be returned to you by the week of May 2, 2022.
Evaluation Criteria
Your paper will be evaluated based on the following criteria. Please make sure you effectively address each criterion in your paper.
The paper will be given a numeric grade from 1 to 5 for criteria 1 through 8. An excellent and exemplary response to a criterion will receive a 5. A very good and comprehensive response will receive a 4. A satisfactory response will receive a 3. An incomplete response will receive a 2. An unsatisfactory response will receive a 1.
If the average of all the numeric grades is between 4.6 and 5, the paper will receive an A. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 4.3 and 4.6, the paper will receive an A-. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 4 and 4.3, the paper will receive a B+. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 3.7 and 4, the paper will receive a B. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 3.3 and 3.7, the paper will receive a B-. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 3 and 3.3, the paper will receive a C+. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 2.7 and 3, the paper will receive a C. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 2.3 and 2.7, the paper will receive a C-. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 2 and 2.3, the paper will receive a D+. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 1.7 and 2, the paper will receive a D. If the average of all the numeric grades is between 1.3 and 1.7, the paper will receive a D-. If the average of all the numeric grades is less than 1.7, the paper will receive an F.
Building List for Term Paper
Architecture of Ancient Greece
Archaic period
Temples:
Temple of Hera I, Paestum, Italy, 530 B.C.E.
Temple of Hera II, Paestum, Italy, 460 B.C.E.
Classical period
Ackropolis of Athens:
Propylaea, 437-432 B.C.E.
Temple of Athena Nike, 427-424 B.C.E.
Parthenon, 447-438 B.C.E.
Erchtheum, 420 B.C.E.
Hellenistic Period
Temples:
Temple of Apollo, Bassae, Greece, 420-410 B.C.E.
Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey, 300 B.C.E.
Sancturay of Asclepius, Kos, Greece, 2nd Century B.C.E.
Alter of Zeus, Pergamon, Greece, 197-159 B.C.E.
Bouleuterion:
Miletus, Turkey, 175 B.C.E.
Roman Architecture
Theaters:
Theater of Marcellus, Rome, Italy, 1st Century B.C.E.
Amphitheaters:
Colosseum, Rome, Italy, 72-80 C.E.
Forums:
Forum of Trajan, Rome, Italy, 113 C.E.
Basilicas:
Basilica of Maxentius, Rome, 307-312 C.E.
Basilica, Trier, Germany, 4th Century C.E.
Baths:
Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy, 211-217 C.E.
Markets:
Markets of Trajan, Rome, Italy, 100-112 C.E.
Temples:
Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestrina, Italy, 80 B.C.E.
Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118-128 C.E.
Emperial Palaces:
Nero's Golden House, "Domus Aurea", Rome, Italy, 64-68 C.E.
Hadeian's Villa, Tivoli, Italy, 118-134 C.E.
Palace of Diocletian, Split, Yugoslavia, 300 C.E.
Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture
Churches:
Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, 532-537
S. Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, 526-547
Martyriums:
Sta. Costanza, Rome, Italy, 350
S. Stefano Rotondo, Rome, 468-483
Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture
Churches:
Palatine Chapel, Aachen, Germany, 796-805
Speyer Cathedral, Speyer, Germany, 1030-1080
St.-Foyes, Conques, France, 1050-1120
St.-Sernin, Toulouse, France, 1080-1120
S. Ambrogio, Milan, Italy, 12th Century
S. Miniato al Monte, Florance, Italy, 12th Century
Pisa Cathedral complex, pisa, Italy, 12th Century
Monastery:
Cluny III, Cluny, France, 1088-1121
Gothic Architecture
French Gothic
Churches:
St. Denis, Paris, France, 1140-44
Laon Cathedral, Laon, France, b. 1160
Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, 1194-1220
Amiens Cathedral, Amiens, France, b. 1220
Ste.-Chapelle, Paris, France, 1241-48
Italian Gothic
Churches:
S. Francesco, Assisi, Italy, 1228-53
S. Croce, Florence, Italy, b. 1296
Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, b. 1296
Renaissance Architecture
Filippo Brunelleschi
Public Buildings:
Ospedale degli Innocenti - Foundling Hospital - Florence, Italy,1419-1424
Syllabus
Lecture Outline
Exams
Term Paper
Arch History I
Arch History I