Haec autem ita fieri debent, ut habeatur ratio firmitatis, utilitatus, venustais. (Now these [aspects of building] should be so carried out that account is taken of strength, utility, grace.)
Vitruvius
In architecture as in all other operative arts, the end must direct the operative. The end is to build well. Well-building hath three conditions: Commoditie, Firmeness, and Delight.
Sir Henry Wotten
Accordingly, nothing in the human world can be merely utilitarian: even the most
ordinary buildings organize space in various ways, and in so doing they signify, issue some kind of message about society’s priorities, its presuppositions concerning human nature, politics, economics, over and above their overt concern with the provisions of shelter, entertainment, medical care, or whatever.”
Terrance Hawkes
COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE + PLANNING, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH ARCH 3210 & ARCH 6320 SURVEY OF WORLD ARCHITECTURE 1
Course Syllabus
Fall Semester 2006
9:20 am to 10:10 am, MWF, Arch 127
William Miller, FAIA, Professor
Office hours: 10:30 am to noon, MWF, and by appointment
Office phone: 581-7116; CA+P fax: 581-8217
email: ; web page: www.arch.utah.edu/miller
Course Overview
This course is a survey of architecture and related design disciplines in addition to being an introduction to topically considered problems of architectural form and ideas. The course is structured around a chronology of architectural developments in order to recognize the evolution of ideas and the continual reworking of architectural formulations and typologies. This does not preclude the insertion of topically considered issues in order to recognize trans-temporal or cross cultural examples. Buildings and urban forms are explored and analyzed as demonstrations of human responses to site and context, material selection and building systems, means of expressing architectural order and spatial composition, and cultural and world views. Discussions also include architectural theory and the history and evolution of the profession of architecture.
The course seeks to provide a basic architectural literacy through forming a working vocabulary of buildings, architects, concepts, and intellectual approaches toward building design as represented by various cultures and societies which will form (and hopefully inform) the broader discussion of architecture as it unfolds during the professional program at the CA+P. The course intends to be the skeleton upon which additional and more sophisticated ideas and explorations may build.
Course Texts, Study Aids, and Web Pages
There are two required texts for the course:
M. Moffett, M. Fazio, and L. Wodehouse, Buildings Across Time: An Introduction to World Architecture. New York: McGraw Hill, 2004 (with CD). This book is available at the book
store.
Christian Norberg-Schulz, Meaning in Western Architecture. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978. This book is out of print but the chapters required are available on my web page (hyperlink above) under readings.
Along with the texts, there are two study aids to assist you to better understand the course content and for meeting the course requirements.
Architecture is a concrete phenomenon. It comprises landscapes and settlements, buildings and characterizing articulation. Therefore it is a living reality.
Architecture is therefore concerned with something more than practical needs and economy. It is concerned with existential meanings. Existential meanings are derived from natural, human and spiritual phenomena, and are experienced as order and character. Architecture translates these meanings into spatial forms.
Christian Norbert-Schulz
First is the CD that comes with Buildings Across Time. The CD not
only has illustrations for the architectural works in each chapter of the text, but has a micro media flash component that allows you to engage in a variety of study activities that could prove beneficial in preparing for the exams. The second study aid is found on the course web page which is at, http://students.arch.utah.edu/courses/Arch3210m/index.html. Here you can find the lecture based visual information (images of plans and drawings, buildings, details, etc.), as well as other background or study information.
Lastly, on the instructors web page (hyperlink above) you can find the course syllabus and schedule, other related course information, and the readings from Norberg-Schulz’s Meaning in Western Architecture. You will be provided the user name and password in class to enable you to access the protected information on any of these sites.
Course Requirements and Grading
The final course grade will be determined by three in class examinations (each 25% of the final grade) and a group project (25% of the final grade). The exam schedule and project due date can be found on the course schedule at the end of this syllabus, and on the instructors web page. There will be no make-up exams without a documented medical excuse.
Please note, no materials or electronic devices will be permitted in the class room during examinations (i.e., books, cell phones, pagers, black berries, signal flags, etc.). Students found having any form of material or an electronic device in the exam room will be asked to leave and will receive a failing grade for that exam.
The project will be done in teams of 4 undergraduate students or 5 graduate students, and will consist of developing a paper and power point presentation on a significant architectural work representative of one of the periods or cultures under discussion in this course. Each team will produce a project with two elements: First a research paper examining a significant architectural work, and second, a power point presented in class discussing the architectural work researched. The paper and power point should analyze the building according to type, spatial conception and ordering system, structural system and the materials and construction employed, the manner in which the building is articulated, and the social and physical context. The paper should be 2500 words (excluding endnotes, bibliography, and illustrations), and the power point presentation should be a 12 to 15 minute synopsis of the findings. This will be presented to the entire class. More information about the project can be found on the instructor’s website under “Project”.
Course Communication
Email is an official means of communication and notification for the university, college, and this course. Please make sure you regularly check your college account, or have email forwarded from that account to your preferred address, to ensure you receive all information concerning the conduct, meetings, and assignments for the course.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the notion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
T. S. Eliot
Instructor Absence
Faculty members are involved in scholarly and creative endeavors, professional and theoretical practice, professional service, and other activities. As such, I may be absent from time to time during the semester. Every effort has been made to minimize the times away, and the “Semester Schedule” indicates any dates I anticipate being away.
Access to the Course
The University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for peoples with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in the class, reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Union Building, 581-5020 (V/TDD). CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for accommodations.
Given the anticipated content of this history survey, at this time the instructor sees no necessity to consider content accommodations.
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SEMESTER SCHEDULE
Date Topic Reading
Week 1
August 23 W Introduction BAT, Chapters 1 & 2
25 F Beginnings
Week 2 28 M Mesopotamia
30 W Egypt MWA, Chapter 1
September 01 F Egypt
Week 3 04 M Holiday – Labor Day
06 W Pre-Columbian America BAT, Chapter 10
08 F Pre-Columbian America
Week 4 11 M India and Southeast Asia BAT, Chapter 3
13 W India and Southeast Asia
15 F China BAT, Chapter 4
Week 5 18 M China/Japan
20 W Japan
22 F Examination #1
Week 6 25 M Greece BAT, Chapter 2
27 W Greece MWA, Chapter 2
29 F no class (wm out of town)
Week 7 02 M Greece/Roman BAT, Chapter 5
October 04 W Roman MWA, Chapter 3
06 F Holiday – Fall Break
Week 8 09 M Roman
11 W Roman
13 F Early Christian/Byzantine BAT, Chapter 6
Week 10 16 M Early Christian/Byzantine MWA, Chapter 4
18 W Islamic BAT, Chapter 7
20 F Islamic/Africa
Week 11 23 M Examination #2
25 W Romanesque BAT, chapter 8
27 F Romanesque MWA, Chapter 5
Week 12 30 M Romanesque
November 01 W Gothic BAT, Chapter 9
03 F Gothic MWA, Chapter 5
Week 13 06 M Gothic
08 W The Medieval City
10 F Renaissance BAT, Chapter 11
Project Due in Class
Week 14 13 M Renaissance MWA, Chapter 7
15 W Renaissance
17 F High Renaissance MWA, Chapter 8
Week 15 20 M High Renaissance
22 W Examination #3
24 F Holiday – Thanksgiving Break
Week 16 27 M Student Presentations (3)
28 W Student Presentations (3)
December 01 F Student Presentations (3)
Week 17 04 M Student Presentations (3)
06 W Student Presentations (3)
O8 F Student Presentations (3) [Reading Day – if necessary]
Finals
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