Undergraduate Course: What is Modernism? (ARHI10012)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Architecture - History |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Despite predictions of its demise, and the subsequent critique aimed at broadening its agenda, Modernism dominated architectural culture in the twentieth century. It continues to evolve and provide arguably the most fruitful and authentic form of expression for contemporary architecture. The course will investigate the nature of 20th-century architectural thought, through focusing on a number of significant underlying themes. These will be drawn from various inter-related domains of culture, including technological and social developments, and artistic and philosophical ideas. Architecture will be seen not as an isolated artefact but, as much as possible, in a physical and cultural context.
The lectures will focus on the following themes: 1. Technology, 2. Utopia, 3. The culture of the city, 4. The contemporary public realm, 5. Perspectivity and non-perspectival space, 6. The artist - originality vs. tradition, 7. 20th-century Dwelling: collective living vs. private retreat, 8. History, memory and the museum, 9. The problem of meaning, 10. The fragment. Selected examples of significant cities, architecture and works of art will be discussed as an expression of the themes under discussion. There will be one specialist guest lecture. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students must have honours entry to History of Art or its combined degrees or honours entry to Music or by agreement of Head of Subject Area. |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| The honours course requires that students read and research in a more self-directed way than in previous years. They are called upon to organise more diffuse and challenging material, constructing more sophisticated architectural-historical argument, informed by analysis of primary sources and corrected by critical awareness with regard to secondary texts. They will be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of the works under examination; that is, to assess their validity and understand their implications for subsequent architectural thought. The course will run for the entire Semester 1 (11 weeks of teaching). It will consist of two three-hour blocks of formal teaching per week, one of which will be devoted to lectures, the other to student-led tutorials. Each student will write one essay, and prepare and present a short tutorial presentation. |
Assessment Information
1X2500 word essay (50%)
1x2 hour examination (50%) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Leonardo Benevolo: History of Modern Architecture, 2 Vols, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1985.
Marshall Berman: All that is Solid Melts into Air, London: Verso, 1991.
Herschel Chipp: Theories of Modern Art. A Source Book by Artists and Critics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.
Alan Colquhoun: Essays in Architectural Criticism: Modern Architecture and Historical Change. Cambridge Mass., 1985.
Ulrich Conrads, ed.: Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1970.
Le Corbusier: The Radiant City. London: Faber, 1967.
Towards a New Architecture, London: John Rodker, 1927.
Kenneth Frampton: Studies in Tectonic Culture. The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Modern Architecture: a Critical History. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007.
Karsten Harries & Alberto Pérez-Gómez: The Ethical Function of Architecture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1997. Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1993.
Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter: Collage City. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1978.
Dalibor Vesely Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 2004.
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Dagmar Weston
Tel: (0131 6)50 2327
Email: Dagmar.Weston@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Claire Davies
Tel: (0131 6)51 5925
Email: c.davies@ed.ac.uk |
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