THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Architecture - History

Undergraduate Course: Architecture and Modernity, ca. 1900 (ARHI10054)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course probes the history of European and North American architecture between 1880 and 1914, emphasising the development of modernism and the ability of architects to respond to questions of geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic importance through a consideration of the major structures and movements along with prevailing historiography.
Course description This honours course considers the primary developments in European and North American architecture and urbanism at the dawn of the twentieth century. Its comparative approach during a relatively short time period invites students to relate and distinguish the various building paradigms invented and extended during a seminal period in the history of modern architecture. Through an exploration of phenomena such as the Arts & Crafts Movement, the emergence of the Prairie School, Art Nouveau, the German Werkbund, Catalan Modernisme, Italian Futurism, and the golden age of international expositions, we will seek to define what it meant to create a modern architecture in a great variety of geographic, cultural, political, socioeconomic, and material contexts, as well as to familiarise students with the major writings some of the key scholars of the field.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  19
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 10, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 12, Formative Assessment Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 171 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 60 %, Coursework 40 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Summative Assessment 1: (40% of the student's term grade) Creation of a journal with evaluation of each week's readings, to be submitted to the instructor through Turnitin by one hour before the class meets to discuss the assigned readings. Each week students should produce a critical assessment (not simply a summary) of one or more of the week's readings, totalling around 500 words for each week's entry. Students should submit the completed journal of around 5000 words during the Examination period.

Summative Assessment 2: (60% of the student's term grade) A two-hour exam, wherein students are asked to answer five out of ten questions relating to the course content in a short-answer or miniature-essay format. Questions on the exam may ask students to expand on or draw on the presentation they have made for one class session as formative assessment.
Feedback Each student will present one reading to the entire class (once a semester). The presentation will (1) summarize the content of the article or chapter, (2) introduce to the class who the author is and his/her stake and interest in the subject matter, and (3) critically assess the argument and methods used in the text, ideally providing questions to serve as jumping-off points for the discussion with the entire class that will follow the presentation. Students will receive a written evaluation of their presentation from the instructor subsequently and are encouraged to use the information and analytical skills they have marshalled for the presentation and suggestions made by the instructor in answering questions on the exam.
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate familiarity with the major structures, architects, and movements in design and urban developments between 1880 and 1914 in Europe and North America
  2. Identify and describe the underlying historical forces behind the development of a modern architecture appropriate to specific regions and geographies
  3. Identify and describe several key nodes of interchange in architectural thought and practice between architects and urbanists working in different geographic locations
  4. Demonstrate familiarity with and a critical perspective on key primary and secondary texts addressing the architecture of this period in Europe and North America
Reading List
+ Anderson, Stanford. 'Modern Architecture and Industry: Peter Behrens and the Cultural Policy of Historical Determinism.' Oppositions 11 (Winter 1977). 52-71.
+ Etlin, Richard. Modernism in Italian Architecture, 1890-1940. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 1990.
+ Greenhalgh, Paul. Fair World: A History of World's Fairs and International Expositions, 1851-2010. London: Papadakis, 2011.
+ Lane, Barbara Miller. National Romanticism and Modern Architecture in Germany and the Scandinavian Countries. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
+ Levine, Neil. The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press, 1996.
+ Ogata, Amy. Art Nouveau and the Social Vision of Modern Living: Belgian Artists in a European Context. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
+ Schorske, Carl. Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
+ Service, Alistair. Edwardian Architecture: A Handbook to Building Design in Britain, 1890-1914. London: Thames and Hudson, 1977.
+ Scully, Vincent. 'Louis Sullivan's Architectural Ornament: A Brief Note Concerning Humanism in the Age of Force.' Perspecta 5 (1959). 73-80.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills 1. A critical understanding of the principal buildings, architects, authors, and theoretical models during this period and geographic range.
2. A critical review and consolidation of knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in architectural history.
3. Demonstration of presentations skills that convey, formally and informally, information about specialised topics to informed audiences.
4. An exercise of autonomy and initiation in professional/equivalent activities.
KeywordsGeography,Modernism,Exhibitions,Urbanism,Globalism
Contacts
Course organiserDr Peter Clericuzio
Tel: (0131 6)50 2331
Email: pclericu@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Ellie Wallace
Tel: (0131 6)50 2309
Email: Ellie.Wallace@ed.ac.uk
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