ARCH-252D History and Theory of Architecture 4 Discussion

2 Credits

Arch 252, History and Theory of Architecture 4, is the fourth course in a required four-semester sequence of history-theory courses for Architecture majors. This discussion-based course examines the global history of architecture from roughly World War II to the present. This course must be taken with ARCH 252 L, a lecture which precedes each discussion section. In this class, we continue to examine architectural engagements with processes of social, technical, and cultural transformation through the twentieth and early twenty-first century in a global context. We trace debates in architectural culture and compare and engage positions taken by architects as they articulate visions for what architecture and building can and cannot accomplish formally, programmatically, and discursively. A particular focus of this course is in the ethics of design: the ways in which designers have engaged those that they design for, and the ways in which architects have dealt with the inequalities of modern culture. Through debates, discussions, close readings of buildings and texts, role-playing, writing workshops, and other in-class activities, students practice architectural analysis. Writing assignments in this class help students develop their own positions in relation to architecture, as well as the research and analytic skills they have developed in ARCH 152 and 251. Students write a paper with a comparative analysis of two precedents that they feel offer important lessons for the kinds of architectural practice they hope to engage in, and develop their own architectural theories in conversation with those of key historians, critics, and designers.