Renaissance & Baroque Architecture

Catalog description

This course provides a survey of architectural history in Europe from 1400-1750, stressing a critical approach to architecture through the analysis of social and cultural context, expressive content, function, structure, style, building technology, and theory. Lectures will range from close examinations of specific monuments to broader engagements with architectural forms as they cut across time. Particular attention will be paid to the socio-cultural dimensions of architecture and the ways in which individual buildings and the built environment have shaped humanity’s experience of the world. Class meetings will focus on a range of issues, including civic and corporate identity, political and religious power, the status of the architect, the dissemination of architectural knowledge, building technology, construction techniques, patronage, and symbolic meaning.