CONTENT
This course traces the history of Architecture from the mid-19th century to the turn of the 20th century. The various theories and formal languages (styles) that shaped the history of Architecture within the specified period 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.
Emphasis will be on the concept of Modernity, the cultural, technological, political, and economic context of its development, and the theoretical, spatial, temporal, and experiential ramifications of Modernity worldwide. We will explore the diverging and heterogeneous body of goals and objectives, ideas and ideals that constituted the Modern Movements in architecture and follow their aftermaths.
OBJECTIVE
Treating the history of architecture as a history, not of buildings per se, but cultural beliefs and ideas, values, and aesthetic ideals made tangible through architectonic forms and experiences, this course seeks to further your 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. Emphasis will be placed on developing an analytical approach to the study of architecture.
PREREQUISITE
History of Architecture I & II or equivalent.
FORMAT
This course will meet twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays in room 490 from 9:00 AM to 10:15 PM for lecture, presentation, and discussion sessions.
Please note that electronic devices such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops are not allowed during class.
READING
The required text for this course is:
William J R Curtis
Modern Architecture Since 1900
Phaidon Press, London, 1996
In addition, the recommended text is:
Richard Ingersoll
World Architecture: A Cross Cultural History
Oxford University Press, 2018
The latter textbook has an associated website that offers extensive useful resources. You need to register at the site to access the material.
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 points of view on each subject, and aid you in developing a critical approach to the study of 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:
Colin Davies
A New History of Modern Architecture
Laurence King Publishing, 2018
Kenneth Frampton
Modern Architecture: A Critical History
Thames & Hudson, 4th edition, 2007
Alan Colquhoun
Modern Architecture
Oxford University Press, 2002
REQUIREMENTS
Your performance is evaluated based on the individual command of course material and the assigned readings, as evidenced by the effective synthesis of course material and completion of three exams. You will complete each exam in class and once done, enter your answers online on Canvas on the following dates:
Exam 1: Monday, February 24, 2025
Exam 2: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Exam 3: Monday, May 12, 2025
Your success in this class depends on constant and effective engagement with the course material. To this end, you must complete the assigned readings before each class. You are also required to write a one to two-page synopsis of the material covered in the lectures 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 and the weekly assignments at the end of this syllabus.
You must submit your weekly assignments on Canvas each Monday before class in Word or PDF format. Please label your file using your name, e.g., JaneDoe.doc or .pdf.
All due dates should be strictly observed. In fairness to all, exceptions will only be made due to medical or personal emergencies.
Each missed or incomplete assignment will lead to a 10% reduction in the final weekly assignment grade.
Submitting an AI-generated essay as one’s own is plagiarism. It is subject to all University policies on plagiarism and can lead to dismissal from the university, in addition to a failing grade for the course.
Exams one and two and the cumulative weekly assignments grade will each count for 22% of the course's final grade, and the third exam will count for 34% of the final grade.
EXTRA CREDIT
At your discretion, you may choose to either:
- take an extra credit exam covering the course content from the first and the second exams. The extra credit exam will be given on: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- complete a research project for extra credit. The extra credit project will be due on: Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
If you choose to take the extra credit exam or complete a research project, your final grade will be based on three exams, the project or extra credit exam, and the weekly assignment grade (exams one and two, the project or extra credit exam, and the weekly assignments: 18% each; the third exam: 28%).
ATTENDANCE
You are required to attend every class and actively participate in class discussions. Absences will be excused by prior or timely notice due to family emergencies, medical conditions, and established religious holidays. An unexcused absence will equate to a missed/incomplete assignment for that week.
ONLINE
You can access this syllabus on Canvas or at Arch 6212/4212.
Individual dates in the Lecture Outline of the Online syllabus will be linked to an mp4 video of the visual materials presented in class on that date.
You can download a partial list of buildings covered in lectures here: Building List.
CONTACT
Please feel free to contact me by e-mail with any questions and concerns or to set up a time to meet at a mutually convenient time. My e-mail address is amir.ameri@ucdenver.edu. My office is in the CU Building, room 515. I will also be available to answer any questions you may have after each class.
UNIVERSITY-WIDE POLICIES
Please review the following university-wide policies:
LECTURE OUTLINE
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Lecture Topic
Tentative Date
Reading Assignments
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THE PRELUDE TO MODERNITY
____________________________________
Transformations
Cultural, Experiential, and Ephemeral Landscapes
January 22 - 27
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp.705-709
____________________________________
THE DAWN OF THE GREAT EPOCH
____________________________________
The Form of the New
Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, and the Viennese experience
The Chicago experiments
January 29, February 3
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.777-793
____________________________________
Evolution and Modernity
Modernity and Natural Selection: Sullivan and the California architects
Organic Modernism: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School
February 5 - 10
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 705-711, 742--776
____________________________________
The Economy of the New
Deutscher Werkbund and the German Industrial Complex
Futurism and Warfare
February 12 - 17
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 99-111, 131-147
____________________________________
FROM LIBERATION TO THE DEPRESSION
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The Pedagogy of Modernity
Bauhaus and the Wiemar Republic
Abstraction and De Stijl
February 19 - 26
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 149-159, 183-199
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 824-829
____________________________________
February 24 First Exam
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Modernity and Machine Aesthetics!
Le Corbusier, Spirit Noveau, and Spirit de Corps
March 3 - 5
Required: William J. R. Curtis 163-181, 275-285
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 810-815
____________________________________
The Politics of Modernity
Constructivism and the New State
Modernity and the totalitarian state
March 10 - 12
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 201-215, 287-303, 351-369
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 815-824, 830-845
____________________________________
FROM DEPRESSION TO MIGRATION
____________________________________
Dissemination and Obsession
Housing Modernity
Corporate Modernism and The International Style
March 17 - 19
Required: William J. R. Curtis 217-273
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture: pp.794-802
Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson,
The International Style, pp. 35-77
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March 24 - 28 Spring Break
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COMING OF AGE
____________________________________
Mastery and repetition
The age of masters
Perpetual Modernity
March 31, April 7 - 9
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 287-327
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 802-809
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April 2 Second Exam
____________________________________
Extensions and Transformations
Migration and Reinterpretation
Modernism and the Politics of Economic Depression
April 14
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 329-391
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 846-873
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HEGEMONY AND MONUMENTALITY
____________________________________
New Paths / Different Horizons
Modernism and Corporate Capitalism
Maturity and Monumentality
Beyond the Traditional Bounds
Required: William J. R. Curtis 395-511
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp.874-890
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THE VOICE OF THE NEXT GENERATION
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What Modernism Wants To BE
The New Modernism
Dissenting Voices
Critical Consequences
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 513-587
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 891-909
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AFTER MODERNITY
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The Trajectory of Post-Modernity
The Battle of Greys and Whites
The Age of Memory
Remembering Modernity
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 589-633
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 910-931
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CONTINUITY AND DISJUNCTION
____________________________________
The Century After (Presentations)
May 7
Required: William J. R. Curtis, pp. 635-689
Recommended: Ingersoll-World Architecture, pp. 932-974
____________________________________
May 12 Third Exam
____________________________________
May 14 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 specific 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 delimitating 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 express 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. Economy, ecology, and technology play an essential role in this process. 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, ideals, and beliefs it is intended to embody and express.
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, ideals, and beliefs it is intended 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 are intended to test your understanding of architecture. Mere and passive acquisition and repetition of information are not 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.
You will complete each exam in class and once done, enter your answers online on Canvas on the following dates:
Exam 1: Monday, February 24, 2025
Exam 2: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Exam 3: Monday, May 12, 2025
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 must complete the assigned readings before each class and write a one to two-page synopsis of the material covered in lectures and assigned readings 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-. If your exam score is 85 to 88, you will receive a B+. 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-. If your exam score is 75 to 77, you will receive a C+. 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.
Weekly Assignments
Your success in this course depends on constant and effective engagement with the course material. To this end, you must complete the assigned readings before each class. You are also required to write a one to two-page synopsis of the material covered in the lectures for each week. These will help you prepare for each exam.
For your weekly assignments, please focus on the lecture content and the above-referenced why of the architecture discussed in the lectures. You do not need to address every building presented or reiterate the place, date, or related factual information about any building. You should not quote or reference the reading assignments or any external sources. The synopsis should be entirely in your own words.
Please choose two or more exemplary buildings from the week’s lectures and discuss their significance and contribution to the architecture of their epoch. Broadly and in no particular order:
What were the ideas and theories behind these buildings?
What were the cultural beliefs and rituals these buildings embodied?
In what ways are these buildings with their unique characteristics emblematic of their epoch?
In what ways did these buildings shape and/or advance the architecture of their epoch?
You must submit your weekly assignments on Canvas each Monday before class in Word or PDF format. Please label your file using your name, e.g., JaneDoe.doc or .pdf.
All due dates should be strictly observed. In fairness to all, exceptions will only be made due to medical or personal emergencies.
Each missed or incomplete assignment will lead to a 10% reduction in the final tallied weekly assignment grade.
Before submitting your weekly assignment, please have your paper proofread by Grammarly. It is a free online service at https://www.grammarly.com.
The weekly assignments will be marked as complete or incomplete, depending on the rigor and thoroughness of the synopsis.
Submitting an AI-generated essay as one’s own is plagiarism. It is subject to all University policies on plagiarism and can lead to dismissal from the university, in addition to a failing grade for the course.
Extra Credit Research Project
This assignment is meant as an opportunity for you to better understand the current architectural issues and concerns and the broader social, cultural, and political forces that shape them. This would be through a comprehensive study of an influential contemporary architect's building projects and writings.
You are to choose an architect from the list below whose work is of particular interest to you:
Tadao Ando, Elizabeth Diller, Peter Eisenman, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Herzog and de Meuron, Steven Holl, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault, Renzo Piano, Alvaro Siza, Bernard Tschumi, Jeanne Gang.
You will compile and record your research as a 20-minute video presentation at the culmination of the semester. The presentation is due Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
Your research and presentation should include:
- A concise discussion of the theoretical concerns and views of the architect you have selected as put forth and discussed in her or his writings. Your discussion should address the authors' particular understanding of architecture and its history, including, as relevant, his or her position on the relationship of form and function, ornamentation, the structure and its expression, construction materials and techniques, etc., as well as his or her particular views on the place and role of architecture and the architect within the broader social, cultural, economic, and political context.
- A concise analysis of one or more exemplary works of the selected architect in relation to and as an expression of the views and concerns already noted. This analysis should address the particulars of the overall spatial organization of the building(s), the relationship of parts to the whole, the inside to the outside, the particular emphasis on volume or mass, solid or void, the particular expression of structure and material, the particular articulation of facade, ornamentation, proportion, scale, etc. This should all be in relation to the views and concerns discussed. At issue here is, in part, an examination of the connections and gaps between the architect's ideals and his or her design constrained by social, cultural, political, economic, ecological, and technological factors. You should focus on the architect’s current state of thought and practice from the past 30 years.
- A concise discussion of the chosen architects' particular contribution to the development of contemporary architecture. Your discussion should point to the similarities and differences between the views and works of the architects chosen and those of his or her influential contemporaries, as well as the possible reasons for the similarities and differences identified. Your discussion here should demonstrate a clear understanding of the history of 20th-century architecture based on, among other potential sources, the assigned readings and class lectures.
Your recorded presentation should not exceed 20 minutes in duration. It should, therefore, be carefully thought out and economically worded. It should be prepared, written, rehearsed, and recorded in advance. It should include graphic documentation that is thoughtfully organized to demonstrate your points. Your coverage of the material and the presentation should go far beyond the reading assignments and pertinent lecture materials. Your work will be evaluated based on your comprehensive understanding of the subject matter and effective coverage of the above areas, as evidenced by your presentation. Please feel free to seek my advice and help throughout the process.
You may wish to consult these general sourcebooks as a first step:
- K. Michael Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2000
- A. Krista Sykes, Constructing a New Agenda: Architectural Theory 1993-2009, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010
Evaluation Criteria
Your presentation will be evaluated based on the following criteria. Please make sure you effectively address each criterion in your project.
- How well does the presentation evidence a clear understanding of the chosen architect's theoretical concerns and views as put forth and discussed in her or his writings?
- How well does the presentation provide a careful and analytical discussion of the formal attributes of the chosen project(s) and the context of its development?
- How well does the presentation demonstrate the integral relationship between the formal attributes of the chosen project(s) and the architect's theoretical concerns and ideals?
- How well does the presentation evidence a clear understanding and explanation of the cultural, social, political, and economic context within which and in response to which the chosen project was developed?
- How well does the presentation analyze and discuss the chosen architect's particular contribution to the development of contemporary architecture?
- How well does the presentation demonstrate extensive research above and beyond the assigned readings and lecture material?
- Is the presentation content well organized, logically sequenced, and coherently presented within the allotted time?
- Is the presentation well-designed graphically and visually compelling?
- Are there any errors of fact in the presentation?
The presentation will be given a numeric grade from 1 to 5 for criteria 1 through 9. 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.
The project will receive an A if the average of all the numeric grades is between 4.6 and 5. The project will receive an A- if the average of all the numeric grades is between 4.3 and 4.6. The project will receive a B+ if the average of all the numeric grades is between 4 and 4.3. The project will receive a B if the average of all the numeric grades is between 3.7 and 4. The project will receive a B- if the average of all the numeric grades is between 3.3 and 3.7. The project will receive a C+ if the average of all the numeric grades is between 3 and 3.3. The project will receive a C if the average of all the numeric grades is between 2.7 and 3. The project will receive a C- if the average of all the numeric grades is between 2.3 and 2.7. The project will receive a D+ if the average of all the numeric grades is between 2 and 2.3. The project will receive a D if the average of all the numeric grades is between 1.7 and 2. The project will receive a D- if the average is between 1.3 and 1.7, t The project will receive an F if the average of all the numeric grades is less than 1.7.