2013 Art History Class
History of Architecture: Ancient to Contemporary
16 weeks from September 5 to December 19 – Thursday 10:00-11:30
Place: 339 5th Avenue #501, New York, NY 10016 (Between 33rd & 34th St. on 5th Avenue)
Course Description
The course examines architectural intentions in human history from prehistoric ages to the contemporary age. The primary objective is to help people develop their own historical perspective in interpreting the built environment. With a primary focus on Western civilizations, the course also includes Non-Western civilizations in order for people to procure a comparative perspective for understanding architectural history across cultural difference. The course demonstrates the interaction between form and idea in architectural creation. As a result of the course, people are expected to understand how history defines the horizon of human dwelling. Throughout the course, meaning and expression will be stressed. It is hoped that certain basic principles of design will become apparent and, as a result, principles that will prove useful to personal, cultural and professional growth will be learned.
As a survey of major movements this course presents Western Architecture and urbanism from antiquity through the twentieth century, and an introduction to developments in vernacular and high style architecture outside the West in pre-colonial and/or post-colonial periods.
