ARCH 342 MODERN ARCHITECTURE

FALL 2008 Tuesday, 6:30-9:30 ANNE BORDELEAU – room 3013

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Duncan Patterson – room 2023

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Modern Architecture can refer to a canonical body of work, or General works of reference (for consultation only)*:
be more generally applied to the architecture created in the
modern period. On the one hand, what Modern Architecture Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture
includes hinges on how modernity is defined, on the other George Baird, The Space of Appearance
hand, it is dependent on the characteristics that have been Hilde Heynen, Architecture and Modernity
associated with Modern Architecture within these different Alan Colquhon, Modern Architecture
conceptions of modernity. In the narrowest understanding, Reyner Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age
Modern Architecture has been located somewhere between Peter Collins, Changing Ideals in Modern Architecture
1910 and 1960. In its most inclusive definition, a 'modern' Anthony Vidler, Histories of the Immediate Present
architecture originates in the Renaissance and is still being Geoffrey Scott, The Architecture of Humanism
defined today. In the course description posted online, the Leonardo Benevolo, History of Modern Architecture
birth of Modern Architecture is said to have occurred in the Manfredo Tafuri, Theories and History of Architecture
nineteenth and early twentieth century. Throughout the William J. R. Curtis, Modern Architecture, since 1900
semester, we will seek to uncover some of the different Dalibor Vesely, Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation
trends that have lead to such variable definitions of
modernity. In order to do so, we will be approaching Modern
Architecture from different viewpoints, moving between the * see page 6 for full references
texts of philosophers, historians, critics and architects written ** required readings in normal font in weekly schedule
over the span of the two last centuries. *** suggested readings in light grey and smaller font

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WEEK 1: Modernity Introduction: outline, projects, assessment, required and - Hilde Heynen, Architecture and Modernity, pp. 8-24.
SEP -09 suggested readings, trajectories. - Anthony Vidler, Histories of the Immediate Present, Inventing Architectural
Modernism.
- Siegfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture, pp. 1-28.
Definitions of modernity in themes and in time. Survey of - David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, pp. 10-38.
some of the different histories of Modern Architecture:
Siegfired Giedion, Emil Kaufman, Henry Russell Hitchcock,
Nicholaus Pevsner, Rayner Banham, Colin Rowe, Manfredo
Tafuri, Leonardo Benevolo, Kenneth Frampton, Hilde
Heynen, George Baird.

WEEK 2: Context Technological, political and social conditions of 'Modernity 'in - Jürgen Habermas, "Modernity – and incomplete project", in The
SEP -16 the West. Themes, venues and buildings of the different Anit-Aesthetic, Essays on Postmodern Culture, ed. Hal Foster,
World Exhibitions will serve as different reference points from Washington: Bay Press, pp. 3-15.
London 1851, Paris 1889, Chicago 1893, Paris 1900, - Georg Simmel, "The Metropolis and Mental Life."
Brussels 1910, Ghent 1913, Barcelona 1929, Chicago 1933,
Paris 1937, Rome E42/EUR, Brussels 1958, Montreal 1967, - William Morris, News from Nowhere
- Marshall Berman, All that is solid melts into air
Osaka 1970, Hannover 2000, Aichi 2005, and Shanghai
2010.

WEEK 3: History Survey of different perceptions of history and time in - Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Advantage and Disadvantage of
SEP -23 modernity. Origins and definitions of Modern Architecture in History for Life, tr. Peter Preuss, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
relation to shifting conceptions of the relation between Company, 1980.
architecture and history. "Battle of the Styles" in England, the - Adrian Forty, "history", pp. 196-205.
Germane debate "In what style should we build", Neo-Gothic
architecture in England and France. Concepts of historicism, - Manfredo Tafuri, Theories and History of Architecture, ch. 1: Modern Architecture
and the Eclipse of History, pp. 11-77.
historicity, postmodernism, and post-history.

WEEK 4: Time Architecture and imaginariness – Arkhitektura / Mnimosti - Edwin A. Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions,
SEP -30 The origins of the soviet avant-garde rationalist architecture Dover Publications, 1992.
in the Russian mystical-philosophical and mathematical - El Lissitzky: texts to be determined.
intellectual tradition.
Guest lecturer: Elizabeth English

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WEEK 5: Ornament The duality between the intangible essence of architecture - Adolf Loos, "Ornament and Crime," in Ornament and Crime,
OCT -07 and its tangible expression. Theories of ornaments as they Selected Essays, intro. Adolf Opel, trans. Michael Mitchell,
relate to memory, history, society, technology, design and California: Ariadne Press, pp. 167-176.
form. Critical survey of different movements (Arts and Crafts, - Siegfried Kracauer, "The Mass Ornament", in The Mass
Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Vienna Secession, Art Deco); Ornament, Weimar Essays, ed.Thomas Y. Levin, Cambridge, MA:
ornamented architecture and gesamtkunstwerk; discussion Harvard University Press. pp. 75-86.
of the rejection of ornament, the mass ornament, and of the - Joan Ockman, "Between Ornament and Monument."
significance of ornaments today.
- Alan Colquhoun, Modern Architecture, pp. 73-87.

WEEK 6: Structure From biology to linguistics: architecture and the different - Adrian Forty, "Structure", pp. 276-285.
OCT -14 meanings of structure. Viollet-le-Duc's rational structure and - Barry Bergdoll, introduction, The Eiffel Tower, Princeton:
developments through modernity (Gaudi, Horta, Guimard, Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 7-16.
Berlage); structuralism and deconstruction. Case study of the - Siegfried Giedion, "Gustave Eiffel and his Tower," in Space, Time
Eiffel Tower as a structure, an experience of structure and a and Architecture, Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 277-290.
structural element. - Roland Barthes, "The Eiffel Tower," in The Eiffel Tower and
Other Mythoogies, New York: Hill and Wang, pp. 3-17.

WEEK 7: Form A short history of the concept of form. Modern 'form' as an - Adrian Forty – "Form", pp. 149-172.
OCT -21 antidote to the ornamented, as opposed to barbarism, as - Moholy-Nagy, The New Vision, pp. 90-160.
opposed to function: Werkbund and form; Aldo Rossi and
type. From the form to the formless: Dada, Surrealism and
the Situationists.

WEEK 8: Function Whether form follows function or vice versa, and of its - Adrian Forty, "Function", pp. 174-195.
OCT -28 relevance to architecture. Sullivan and Adler; Functionalism - Louis H. Sullivan, Kindergarten Chats and other writings, New
and Sachlichkeit; the social function of architecture: Adolf York: Goerge Wittenborn, pp. 42-49.
Behne, Hans Scharoun, Hugo Häring, Erich Mendelsohn;
Modern architecture and functionalism as portrayed in - George Baird, The Space of Appearance, pp. 59-97.
- Adolf Behne, The Modern Functional Building
Giedion, Pevsner and Hitchcock.

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WEEK 9: Space Empathy, space-time, phenomenological and social space. - Moholy-Nagy, The New Vision, pp. 161-204.
NOV -04 Redefinition of space in art, architecture and society: - Adrian Forty, "Space", pp. 256-275.
Cubism, constructivism, Moholy-Nagy at the Bauhaus,
Kiesler "La cité dans l'espace", Giedion's space-time, Henri - Heidegger, "Building, Dwelling, Thinking", in Poetry, Language, Thought.
- Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space
Lefebvre and the social production of space. The notion of - Lianne Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis, Aldo van Eyck
'dwelling'.

WEEK 10: Materials Iron, concrete, glass and the definition of a Modern style. - Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky, "Transparency: Literal and
NOV - 11 Survey of histories and experiences related to a new Phenomenal", Perspecta, Vol. 8, 1963, pp. 45-54.
materiality: the work of Bruno Taut, Auguste Perret, Eugène
Fressynet, Pierre Charreau and Mies van der Rohe; the - Siegfried Giedion – Building in France, building in iron, building in ferro-concrete
- Peter Collins, Concrete
writings of Siegfried Giedion, Peter Collins and Colin Rowe;
- Scheerbert, The Grey Cloth
the art of Donald Judd, Robert Morris and Barnett Newman. - Carl Botticher, "The principle of Hellenic and Germanic styles of building", in In
What Style should we Build (see reference page 6)

WEEK 11: City/House City, housing and modernity: between uniformity and - Le Corbusier, The City of Tomorrow and its Planning, Dover
NOV - 18 individuality, from community to society. Chandigarh, Publications, 1987.
Brazilia, le Havre and Tel-Aviv; Cities from urban renewal to - Philip Johnson, "House at New Canaan, Connecticut", The
urban revitalization. Houses from modernity to post- Architectural Review, v. 108, 1950, pp. 152-59.
modernity: Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, - Rayner Banham, "A home is not a house," in Architecture Culture
Mies van der Rohe, Buckminster Fuller, Michael Graves, 1943-1968, ed. Joan Ockman,. 370-78.
Robert Venturi, Peter Eisenman.
- Alan Colquhoun, Modern Architecture, pp. 209-230.
- Beatriz Colomina, Publicity and Privacy

WEEK 12: Modernity? Modernity now: new modern, post-modern, supermodern, - Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, University of
NOV - 25 post-history? Survey of the explorations of surface, facade, Minnesota Press, 1984.
and image as expressive of different conceptions of - Frederic Jameson, "Postmodernism and Consumer Society", in
temporality, monumentality and meaning. Critical look at the The Anti-Aesthetic, pp. 111-25.
work of Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind,
Jean Nouvel, OMA and Herzog & de Meuron. Instrumentality - Jonathan Raban, Soft City
- David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity
and modernity. - Robert Venturi, Steven Izenour, Denise Scott Brown, Learning from Las Vegas
- Hans Ibeling, Supermodernism, Architecture in the Age of Globalization
- Felicity D. Scott, Architecture or Techno-Utopia, Politics after Modernism,
- Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition

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Evaluation

Essay (30% - October 7, 6:30pm):

What is, in your opinion, the most significant building of Modernity? Why?

Your answer should be based on a particular reading of modernity. You will need to specify what definition of modernity you are basing your
choice upon, and provide appropriate references. You can choose to expand on a conception of modernity discussed in class, or bring a
perspective derived from other readings. In explaining your choice, you must clearly convey what you consider to be the defining characteristics
of modernity, and how these were expressed in the work you have selected. Please support your answer with appropriate written sources and
your own graphic documentation.

Submission: essay of 1500 to 2000 words (maximum)

Project (30% - November 18, 6:30pm):

What is the image of architecture that you would want to project today that bears significance for the future? What is this architecture founded
upon? Express you idea in a design for the virtual pavilion of Shanghai 2010.

In teams of two to four people, address the need for the presence of a virtual architecture in the next World Expo. Your can challenge the idea of
a virtual pavilion; you may decide to extend it in time, or in space. You may wish to focus on the impact of the virtual pavilion during the
exhibition, or you may decide to consider its lasting impact after the exhibition. Your approach should be in relation to some of the concepts and
themes that we have explored in class. This may be done by casting your project either in continuity with one of these themes, or as a conscious
break from any one of them.

Submission: Each team will present one project (suggested format: 2 sheets of 11 x 17);
Each member of the team will write a text of 500 words (1 page maximum) that synthesizes the issues addressed in the project.

The projects should clearly take position with respect to either form, function, ornaments, structure, space or materiality. Projects should be
presented in a manner that conveys how the design of the virtual pavilion defines itself in relation to some of these concepts. Different team
members may wish to focus on different concepts in their individual texts. All should refer to class readings in defining their concept and clearly
establish how the discussion of the chosen concept relates to the design of the project.

Slide Test (40 % - December 6, 2pm):

The slide test will be held during the exam period. You will be asked to identify and discuss pairs of slide in relation to the themes covered in
classes and in reference to the required readings.

3 hours

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Other histories and perspectives on Modern Architecture and Modernity:
- Edwin Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Dover Publications, 1992
- Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1998
- George Baird, The Space of Appearance, Cambridge. MA: MIT Press, 2003
- Reyner Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, New York: Praeger, 1967
- Reyner Banham, Architecture of the well-tempered environment, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1984
- Leonardo Benevolo, History of Modern Architecture, 2 vols, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977
- Adolf Behne, The Modern Functional Building, tr. Michael Robinson, Santa Monica: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1996
- Barry Bergdoll, European Architecture, 1750-1890, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000
- Marshall Berman, All that is solid melts into air, Penguin Books, 1988
- Peter Collins, Changing Ideals in Modern Architecture, London: Faber & Faber, 1965
- Peter Collins, Concrete, the vision of a new architecture, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004
- Beatriz Colomina, Publicity and Privacy, Cambridge (MA): MIT Press, 1994
- Alan Colquhon, Modern Architecture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
- Le Corbusier, The City of Tomorrow and its Planning, Dover Publications, 1987
- William J. R. Curtis, Modern Architecture, since 1900, London: Phaidon, 1996
- Adrian Forty, Words and Buildings, London: Thames and Hudson, 2004
- Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture, London: Thames and Hudson, 2007
- Sigfried Giedion, Building in France, Building in Iron, Building in Ferroconcrete, Santa Monica: Getty Center,1995
- Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963
- David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, Oxford: Blackwelll, 1990
- Martin Heidegger, "Building, Dwelling, Thinking", in Poetry, Language, Thought, New York: Harper & Row, 1971
- Wolfgang Hermann (trans), In what style should we build? Santa Monica: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1992
- Hilde Heynen, Architecture and Modernity, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999
- Hans Ibeling, Supermodernism, Architecture in the Age of Globalization, Rotterdam: NAI publishers, 1998
- Lianne Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis, Aldo van Eyck: Humanist Rebel: Inbetweening in a Postwar World, Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 1999
- Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford: Blackwell, 1991
- Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, University of Minnesota Press, 1984
- Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, The New Vision: Fundamentals of Bauhaus Design, Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, Dover Publications, 2005
- William Morris, News from Nowhere, London: Routledge, 1972
- Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life, tr. Peter Preuss, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1980
- Nikolaus Pevsner, Pioneers of modern design from William Morris to Walter Gropius, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005
- Jonathan Raban, Soft City, London: Hamilton, 1974
- Paul Scheerbart, The Gray Cloth: Paul Scheerbart's novel on Glass Architecture, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001
- Felicity D. Scott, Architecture or Techno-Utopia, Politics after Modernism, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007
- Geoffrey Scott, The Architecture of Humanism, London: Methuen, 1961
- Vincent Scully, Modern Architecture and Other Essays, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003
- Manfredo Tafuri, Theories and History of Architecture, New York: Harper & Row, 1980
- Robert Venturi, Steven Izenour, Denise Scott Brown, Learning from Las Vegas, Cambridge (MA): MIT Press, 1977
- Anthony Vidler, Histories of the Immediate Present, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008
- Emile Zola, Ladies' Delight (alternative title: The Ladies' Paradise, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995)

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Academic Integrity:
To create and promote a culture of academic integrity, the behaviour of all members of the University of Waterloo is based on honesty, trust,
fairness, respect and responsibility.

Grievance:
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for
initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm

Discipline:
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for his/her
actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism,
cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate
Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline.
For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline,
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm

Appeals:
A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a
petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals,
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm

Penalties:
Students who hand in their essay, project or final exam late will be penalized. There will be a -5% penalty for delays ranging from 5 to 20 minutes
and a -10% for delays between 21 and 30 minutes. An additional 10% a day will be deducted for projects handed in any later than 30 minutes
after the deadline for essays and projects. Please hand in your work on time, it is really painful to take marks off on good papers, and dreadful
and potentially fatal for bad projects.