Arch.Uth Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Arch.Uth UTH.gr Ελληνικά
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III
ΘΚ0312, THEORY AND CRITICISM, GENERIC BACKGROUND
Obligatory, Semester 3, ECTS: 4
Cognitive Fields (2005/36/EU): , History and Theories.
The course offers a general survey of key ideas in architecture (and urbanism) of modernity: from the Enlightenment to the mid-20th century. The course focuses on important figures, events, buildings, studies and texts representative of major architectural movements. It seeks to understand broader historical, cultural, political and intellectual contexts through which “modern” architecture emerges as a field of discourses and representations (of man, body, society, space, city, culture, nature) and as an expanded practice of intervention in space and the built environment. The aim of the perspective adopted in the course is twofold: first, to understand the architectural ideas and practices that emerged in the period of modernity and which have undoubtedly influenced social perceptions, modes of design, and production up to the present day. Second, to understand the social, cultural, political, and environmental implications of architecture and to connect the history of architecture with current concerns in architectural design and theory. 
  

 

 

 

 

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course’s key objective is the consolidation of knowledge and the sharpening of critical thinking through interactive methods, seeking the greatest possible access and involvement of students in its activities. In this direction, the course employs traditional presentation tools, the use of rich audiovisual material, such as documentary and film clips, and material from the internet. The course fosters a culture of dialogue through critical commentary on texts, short interventions by guest speakers and through individual/group work and presentations. Upon completion of the course, students are expected to:

  • Have practiced the bibliographical study of modern architecture and the use of contemporary scholarly writings, books, academic articles, and online resources.  
  • They have practiced placing authors, projects, and texts on architecture in their respective historical, social, geographical, and intellectual contexts.
  • They have encounter the research process in the field of architecture (formulating questions, analytical thinking, and argumentation)
  • Have practiced writing text of academic standards and managing different sources (bibliography, electronic resources, visual archives, etc.) and recognize the importance of using references/references.
  • They have developed critical thinking and formulation of personal opinions through oral and written communication.
  • They have recognized the importance of historical knowledge and theoretical understanding in the wider education of the architect.  

 

SUBJECT

The course focuses not only on emblematic buildings, ideas, and leading figures but also on important texts by historians and theorists who have formed the historiographical 'canon' of modern architecture. Recent critical approaches that question and expand the 'canon' are also mentioned. By challenging linear/ teleological narratives, the course highlights multiple and complex histories of modern architecture (and urbanism) as shaped by colonial and post-colonial experiences outside Europe/'the West'. It brings forward also histories of women architects, designers, and urbanists as well as social groups and knowledges that have been marginalized by both modern architecture and its historiography.   

Through the course students will become familiar with the following issues:

  • With the concepts of 'modernity', 'modernization', and 'modernism' and their different interpretations in their respective contexts.
  • The emergence and crystallization of the main ideas of modern architecture, their application, transformation in different contexts, and attempts to revise them.
  • Architecture as a field of reflection shaped through the writings of architects, historians, theorists, and thinkers.
  • With the histories of materials in modern architecture, the aesthetic/social values associated with their use in buildings and domestic space, and the social/environmental implications of their processes of production.
  • With the shaping of exemplary sites of modernity (e.g. museums, hospitals, schools, railways, urban space) in the creation of which modern architecture and urbanism intersect with different disciplines such as medicine, hygiene, archaeology, and wider public debates.
  • The involvement of architecture and urban planning with forms of power, political ideologies, and authoritarian and democratic regimes.
  • The multiple actors involved in designing and shaping the built environment.

The main aim of the course is to cultivate a historical, cultural, and critical understanding of modern architecture. It also seeks to emphasize the increased importance of historical knowledge and theoretical understanding in architecture, contributing to the Department's goals of cultivating technically skilled architects equipped with social and cultural sensitivity. Through the educational methods of the course, students are expected to develop their analytical and critical abilities and the appropriate research intellectuals and tools to formulate their own opinions and thoroughly articulate them in oral and written discourse.

COMPULSORY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frampton, Kenneth. Μodern Architecture: A Critical History. London: Thames and Hudson. 2020.

Cohen, Jean-Louis. The Future of Architecture Since 1889: A Worldwide History. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2016.

James-Chakraborty, Kathleen. Architecture Since 1400. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

e-CLASS LINK

https://eclass.uth.gr/courses/ARCH_U_282/