ARTH 583CTheories of Architecture

Catalog

Any study of architecture should encompass not only its spatial realities and built forms, but also the complex and often abstract ideas underlying those forms. This course considers the various theories that have justified, explained, proscribed, and defined architectural principles since around 1700. Through close readings of primary texts and secondary analyses, we will discover how architectural theory not only develops the framework (both philosophical and terminological) for architectural discourse, but also how it articulates and sets the social and political stakes of the architecture of its era. This course is intended to be useful not only to students who specialize in architectural history, but also to those interested in the broader intellectual history of the built environment. Fulfills AUS and post-1800 requirement for art history major or minor.