78046 - History of Contemporary Architecture (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students will:

- know the general outline of the history of contemporary architecture;

- recognize, historically contextualize and critically evaluate the major architectures of the contemporary age;

- know the major formal and constructive aspects of the works considered;

- know how to connect architecture with other art disciplines.

Course contents

This course intends to introduce students to the knowledge of contemporary architecture by analyzing significant works, personalities and issues. The study of the works will focus on the analysis of some topics such as pattern and ornament, polychrome and coating, the questions of truth and nature of materials, the role and forms of structure, and the configuration of space. This course will also deal with works by artists whose creative process has contributed to focus on concepts often decisive for architecture.

By the end of this course, students will be able to evaluate architectures considering the connection between idea, conception, form and materials, and to understand the cultural, technical and artistic issues related to their realization. Studying the various architectural experiences will allow students to deal with some issues that may suggest their initiating personal research.

Course contents

• Polychromic architecture systems: from Quatremère de Quincy to Jakob Ignaz Hittorff
• From the principle of polychrome to the coating principle: Gottfried Semper
• Construction and structure systems: Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
• Chicago School Architecture: from the frame to the curtain wall
• Louis Henri Sullivan: the symbolic function of the ornament
• Frank Lloyd Wright: the enclosure of the space
• Otto Wagner, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann, Josef Plečnik: order and truth of the coating
• Adolf Loos, from the law of coating to Raumplan
  
• Auguste Perret, order and truth of the structure
• Mies van der Rohe: search for absolute structure
• From the avant-garde to the Bauhaus
• Le Corbusier, from the ornamental composition to the "espace indicible"
• Radical architectures

Readings/Bibliography

Basic texts (required):

- G. Fanelli, R. Gargiani, Il principio del rivestimento. Prolegomena a una storia dell'architettura contemporanea, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1994

For the drafting of the final report it will be necessary to study the book:

- S. Giedion, Spazio tempo ed architettura. Lo sviluppo di una nuova tradizione, Milano, Hoepli, 1984

For further information (optional):

- W. J. R. Curtis, L'architettura moderna dal 1900, London, Phaidon, 2006

- G. Fanelli, R. Gargiani, Storia dell'architettura contemporanea. Spazio, struttura, involucro, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2006

Essays for tests in progress:

During the final examination, non-attending students will be questioned on the bibliography for the tests in progress

First test

- G. Semper, Origine tecnica delle principali forme-base, tipi e simboli dell’architettura, in Id., Lo stile, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1992, pp. 39-49 (1a ed., Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten oder praktische Ästhetik. Ein Handbuch für Techniker, Künstler und Kunstfreunde, vol. I, Frankfurt am Main, 1860)

- G. Semper, Il sostegno, in Id., Lo stile, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1992, pp. 219-229 (1a ed., Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten oder praktische Ästhetik. Ein Handbuch für Techniker, Künstler und Kunstfreunde, vol. II, Frankfurt am Main, 1863)

Second test

- A. Loos, Das Prinzip der Bekleidung, in “Neue Freie Presse”, 4 settembre 1898, trad. it., Il principio del rivestimento, in Id., Parole nel vuoto, Milano, Adelphi, 1991, pp. 79-86

Essays (required)

M. Cometa, L’architettura italiana tra policromia e storicismo, in Id., Il Romanzo dell’Architettura. La Sicilia e il Grand Tour nell’età di Goethe, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1999, pp. 299-325 

B. Lampariello, Il “discorso per immagini” di Superstudio: dal Monumento Continuo alla Supersuperficie, 1968-1971, in “ArcHistor”, 2016, n. 5, pp. 106-136 

A. Rosellini, La Ville Contemporaine di Le Corbusier e Pierre Jeanneret, o del paesaggio svizzero sublimato in metropoli, in La Cittа Nuova. Oltre Sant’Elia. Cento anni di visioni urbane, Milano, Silvana Editoriale, 2013, pp. 67-79

A. Rosellini, Unité d’Habitation in Marseille - Experimental Artistic Device, in Ruth Baumeister, What Moves Us? Le Corbusier and Asger Jorn in Art and Architecture, Zurich, Scheidegger & Spiess, 2015, pp. 38-45

The texts for the examination are the same for attending and non-attending students

Teaching methods

Lectures, workshop

Assessment methods

1. Tests during the course

2. Written report

3. Oral examination on the report, the topics discussed during the course and the contents of the bibliography 

1. Tests during the course (attending students – during the final examination, non-attending students will be questioned on the bibliography for the tests during the course).

These tests consist of oral presentations by the students during the seminars.

Students will be given extracts of essays on the course topics from which they are expected to develop personal reflections to be expounded at the seminars. Students are expected to develop reflections on the text analyzed making use of the knowledge acquired from the lectures’ contents, and to find iconographic material to comment on the work. With this material, students shall prepare a presentation (power point, pdf) and expose their research results in the classroom.

• Students shall:
• know the author of the essay
• know the contents of the essay
• know the context in which the essay was drawn up
• develop reflections on the contents of the essay
• find the iconographic material necessary to accompany their reflections
• participate actively during the seminar lectures

Tests will be graded from 0 to 6 points. In order to pass, students shall achieve at least 4 or higher. The grades obtained will be considered for the outcome of the final examination.

2. Written report (attending and non-attending students)

A week before the examination, each student shall submit a written report, accompanied by images, on a topic a subject chosen from the book: S. Giedion, Spazio tempo ed architettura. Lo sviluppo di una nuova tradizione (text length: minimum 10,000 bars, spaces included, any number of images, each image must be accompanied by a caption. The report must be delivered in digital format via e-mail).

They also will be assessed the connection between text and image and the pagination.

The structure of the report shall consist of:

• Introduction (summary description of the work and its purpose, presentation of the topic chosen)
• Central body (subject development), subdivided into paragraphs, if necessary
• Conclusions (concluding considerations clarifying the reflections and summarizing the work)
• Bibliography

The text shall include footnotes.

In preparing the report, please refer to the EDITING RULES for the preparation of the FINAL REPORT

3. Oral examination (attending and non-attending students)

To pass the oral examination, students are required to demonstrate that they have achieved a critical knowledge of the topics treated during the course, the bibliography and the architectures of the period dealt with. The analysis shall not be limited to the formal aspects of individual works; students are expected to break down the architectures, showing their understanding of all the aspects related to the central topics of the course and the aesthetic and formal reasons that guided certain architectural choices.

It will be assessed as excellent the performance of those students achieving an organic vision of the course contents, the use of a proper specific language, originality of reflection and familiarity with the tools of architecture analyze. It will be assessed as discrete the performance of those students showing mostly mechanical or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, disarticulated synthesis and analysis capabilities, or a correct but not always appropriate language, as well as a scholastic study of musical architecture analyze. It will be assessed as barely sufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, lack of knowledge of the tools of architecture analyze. It will be assessed as insufficient the performance of those students showing learning gaps, inappropriate language, no orientation within the recommended bibliography and inability to analyze the architecture analyze.

Teaching tools

Students will be provided with the images projected in lesson and part of the bibliography

Links to further information

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HistoireArchitectureHistoireBeton/

Office hours

See the website of Anna Rosellini