02736 - History of Architecture

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student will know the main architectural language from the Middle Ages to contemporary times. In particular, s/he will be able to place a building in its historical context of origin through reading about the characterizing elements.

Course contents

The course is divided into lectures and laboratory activities. The lectures (40 hours) will fellow a didactic itinerary that will allow the student to critically focus on the most significant moments in the history of western architecture from the Middle Ages to the contemporary age. The program will address the following topics:

1) Romanesque architecture in Europe and Italy

2) Gothic architecture in Europe and the first experiences in the Italian peninsula

3) Gothic style in Italy. From reworking to later experiences

4) The Renaissance in Florence: Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti

5) The diffusion of Renaissance language outside Florence

6) Bramante and architectural classicism in the first half of the sixteenth century

7) Michelangelo and the second half of the sixteenth century in Rome

8) Italian architecture of the second half of the sixteenth century. The works of Giulio Romano, Sansovino, Palladio and Vignola

9) Architecture in Rome in the first half of the seventeenth century: Baroque style

10) From the spread of Baroque to Rococo

11) From the rediscovery of the Ancient to the historicist Eclecticism

12) The search for new shapes and the influence of artistic avant-gardes

13) Rationalism and its variants

14) The architectural tendencies from the Second World War to the New Millennium

Laboratory activities (16 hours) will be devoted to the analysis of a building or a site representative of historical periods investigated and present in Ravenna or in the region. Location visits will therefore allow a direct relationship with the work: it will then be possible to analyse the architecture in its three dimensional form and highlight the outcomes of its compositional and stylistic nature (the relationship with the surrounding environment, constructive solutions and the typical elements of architectural style) as well as its technical and material nature (materials used and restoration or modernization works).

Readings/Bibliography

The exam bibliography will indicate the parts of the manual to be studied (with reference to the topics discussed in lectures) and will contain a complete list of further reading.

The reference manual is: N. Pevsner, History of European Architecture, Bari, Laterza 1966 (subseq. ed.); to be compared with: D. Watkin, History of Western Architecture, Bologna, Zanichelli 1986 (subseq. ed.).

Among the further reading texts are: Umberto Menicali, I materiali dell'edilizia storica. Tecnologia e impiego dei materiali tradizionali, Nuova Italia Scientifica, 1st ed. 1992.

The student is also invited to consult texts and repertoires featuring photographs, charts and didactic apparatus; for example: "Biblioteca di Storia dell'arte", "Saggi", and "Storia dell'arte italiana" (Einaudi), "Storia dell'arte in Italia" (UTET) and, above all, "Storia dell'architettura" (Electa, curated by P.L. Nervi). Useful reference books are: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Architecture and Urbanism, edited by P. Portoghesi, Rome, Ist. Ed. Romano, 1969, 9 vol .; N. Pevsner, H. Honor, J. Fleming, Dictionary of Architecture, Turin, Einaudi, 1981; The architect’s nomenclature, Rosemberg and Sellier, 1993.

Teaching methods

Lectures and laboratory activities.

Assessment methods

The exam will be an oral interview on the different topics dealt during the lessons.

Teaching tools

Lessons will take place with constant use of grafic and photographic material that will be presented through ppt projections. Students will be provided with a digital copy of the presentations slides.

Office hours

See the website of Davide Righini