Architecture 200: History of Ideas in Architecture I

Course Orientation

Introduction

Welcome to ARCH 200 History of Ideas in Architecture I, a three-credit, junior-level course in which we examine the principles and ideas that shaped architecture and cities in the Ancient and Medieval worlds from about 3500 BCE to about 1400 CE. You will first examine how the principles of the Ancient World were altered after ca. 600 BCE in Classical Greece, Israel, Persia, India, and the Americas, and how the climax and collapse of the Ancient world can be read in the architecture of the time. Then you will examine the principles and ideas that shaped buildings and cities both by and for world religions from ca. 300 CE to ca. 1450 CE.

To engage you with these and other historical questions, the course presents visual sources and assigned text readings as well as current scholarly interpretations of these historical themes. Through researching a number of buildings and monuments in detail, you will exercise the research, critical thinking, and writing skills you will need for success at university and beyond.

By studying the course commentary, textbooks, scholarly articles, and visual and primary sources, you will learn about both this long and eventful period of the history of architecture, and how scholars study it. As you work through the six units, you will complete a series of exercises and assignments that will assist you in honing the skills necessary for your research project.

When you have questions along the way, please contact your Academic Expert using the “Make a Request” button. Your Academic Expert marks your work and can guide you through the course.

Good luck with your studies!

Beginning

Before beginning your study, it is important that you read the Student Manual, which contains information you need to complete this course successfully, including information on the course contract, library services, student services, student support, and the MyAU portal.

It is also crucial that you read this Course Manual, which contains course objectives, a list of course materials, a suggested study schedule, and information on assignments you need to do to complete the course. It is recommended that you read this manual carefully before you begin to work through the Study Guide.

Please use the online dropboxes to submit all assignments. Do not email your assignments; if you are unable to use the dropboxes, contact your Academic Expert.

If you are unfamiliar with learning through Moodle, follow the links under “Resources” to the Moodle Orientation and the instructions for using the online course site.

Course Objectives

By analyzing visual evidence and the accompanying literature, with specific reference to a series of monuments as case studies, you will discern

• essential details: nomenclature, locations, builders, significant dates, and chronologies.
• visual evidence: original as-built, change over time, and current state.
• reasons for original construction: the beliefs, values, and intentions that motivated the builders, and how those are revealed in as-built plans, form, or decorative details.
• manner of use: the rituals, activities, and events the buildings were intended to accommodate.
• method of construction: the contribution of evolving technologies, types of building materials, and how geography, environment, and climate influenced their form and function.
• geopolitical, chronological, or ideological contexts for these structures and how they are the same as or different from other buildings that responded to similar stimuli in different times or places.

Theoretical Background and Overview of the Units

In this course we examine a grand sweep of architectural history, literally the creation of what we call architecture and nearly 5,000 years of its early development.

It is tempting to start by asking “What is architecture?” Indeed, answers such as “Architecture is politics in three dimensions,” or, as your primary text claims, architecture is “a type of cultural production,” may be two of the definitions that emerge from this course of studies. But these would be only two of many. Therefore, at the moment, the better question to ask is probably “What does architecture do?” The answer to that is more complicated but it is the one to which we will return, with different conclusions, in every unit of study.

For our starting point, or working hypothesis, it might be better to say that architecture is, first, “about something,” and that its shape and design are not “just what people like.” Indeed, perhaps we could say “Architecture is about values.” Yes, of course architecture has been a primary response of people to basic needs such as shelter and defence. But very soon, and from earliest times, the evidence is clear that it became a primary means of reinforcing communal values; formulating, consolidating, promoting, and transmitting ideas; and even actively persuading people to accept new ideas. In this sense, buildings function as visual metaphors of social values and play a major role in convincing society, in any given time or place, of the validity of the institutions that underlie those values. So it is in this context that we should ask these questions:

• What does architecture do?
• Who does it do it for?
• How does it do it?

Examining the social function of architecture implies a belief that buildings and monuments are more than just expressive of their times in a general way (i.e., subject to the “tides of taste”) but rather an active force in managing, directing, and shaping the culture of their times. Architecture transmits through experiential metaphors basic ideas, values, and beliefs that underpin communities, economies—indeed, empires. Accordingly, we are able to articulate a typology of structures that do specific things: priests build temples to glorify deities; kings build palaces to assert their power; the wealthy build mansions to display their status. Style and design, size and elaboration are often determined by such social functions. These elements may assist in the articulation of values, either as conscious and intentional representations of ideas, or as unconscious or subliminal means of expression.

Treatment of the Themes

Using A Global History of Architecture as a primary reference, the course is organized around a series of themed units designed to develop visual literacy in the history and principles of architecture. Themes will not be limited in the chronological sequence to the first evidence of their appearance; their use, transformation, and development will be tracked forward to more recent times. The units and the referenced ancillary sources should, however, be studied in the sequence that follows:

Unit 1: Shaping Environments and Monuments, Early Antiquity to 1500 BCE

Unit 2: Learning to See: The Rationalism of the Greeks and Sculptured Space, 1500 BCE–100 BCE

Unit 3: Architecture as Power Imagery: Imperial Rome, Han China, and Mesoamerica, 100 BCE–200 CE

Unit 4: Architecture of Persuasion: Building Images for New Ideas in a Changing World, 200 CE–700 CE

Unit 5: Building in the Service of Belief: Monasteries, Pilgrimage Shrines, and Heavenly Monuments, 400 CE–1200 CE

Unit 6: Architecture as Mystical Experience: Cathedral, Mosque, Tomb, and Temple Architecture, 800 CE–1400 CE

Course Materials

The subject matter of Architecture 200 is structured around readings and online materials.

The course materials for Architecture 200 include the items listed below. If any items are missing from your course, please contact the Course Materials department at Athabasca University as soon as possible: cmat@athabascau.ca.

eTextbook

Ching, Francis D. K. (Advisory Ed.), Jarzombek, Mark M., & Prakash, Vikramaditya (2017). A Global History of Architecture. (3rd ed.) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Spanning the period from 3500 BCE to the present, this text is written by a team of architectural experts in their fields who emphasize the connections, contrasts, and influences of architectural movements throughout history. The architectural history of the world is examined through a unified framework for interpreting and understanding architecture, and is supplemented by schematic drawings, as well as photographs. The bibliography, organized by chronological period,is extensive. Also note the glossary of architectural terms. Backing up this text is a companion website, including Google EarthTM coordinates for ease of finding sites.

Student Manual

Athabasca University, Student Manual. Athabasca AB: Author.

The Student Manual contains information you need to complete this course successfully, including information on the course contract, applying for examinations, library services, student services, student support, and the MyAU portal.

Study Guide

Athabasca University. (2018). Architecture 200: History of Ideas in Architecture 1—The Ancient and Medieval Worlds—Study Guide. Athabasca, AB: Author.

The Study Guide is the main body of your course; it contains the course units, unit learning objectives, commentary, required readings, and study questions.

Course Orientation

Athabasca University. (2018). Architecture 200: History of Ideas in Architecture 1—The Ancient and Medieval Worlds—Course Orientation. Athabasca, AB: Author.

This Course Orientation contains course objectives, course materials, a suggested weekly study schedule, and information on the assignments required to complete the course. Please read it through carefully before beginning your studies.

Primary Reference Sources

• Wiley Global History Companion Site
• World Heritage Sites
• Official Monument Sites
• Google Earth
• Wikipedia*

*While popular encyclopedias are not considered authoritative academic research resources, we use this site in particular for visual reference and its assembly of further e-linked sources

General Online References

Very useful general research links that should always be mined first are:

https://drr2.lib.athabascau.ca/index.php?c=node&m=detail&n=41961 (Oxford Reference, Art and Architecture)

https://drr2.lib.athabascau.ca/index.php?c=node&m=detail&n=41554 (The Oxford Companion to Architecture)

https://drr2.lib.athabascau.ca/index.php?c=node&m=detail&n=41962 (Encyclopedia of Aesthetics)

https://drr2.lib.athabascau.ca/index.php?c=node&m=detail&n=41963 (The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art & Architecture)

https://drr2.lib.athabascau.ca/index.php?c=node&m=detail&n=41964 (The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts)

https://www.britannica.com/ (Encyclopedia Britannica)

https://www.encyclopedia.com/ (Columbia Encyclopedia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (Multilingual encyclopedia written collaboratively by contributors around the world)

http://www.historyworld.net/ (Interactive world history database of timelines, articles, etc.)

http://www.greatbuildings.com/ (Good for primary facts about buildings)

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ (Has an excellent timeline, useful for comprehending global perspectives)

https://www.thoughtco.com/architecture-4132953 (Good for facts and information but not very analytical)

https://www.archnet.org/ (Extraordinary site for Islamic architecture)

https://www.worldheritagesite.org/ (Good source for information on the world heritage sites)

http://www.templenet.com/ (Discussion of Indian architecture, limited in scope and associated with tourism)

https://www.orientalarchitecture.com/index (Discussion of Asian architecture, thin on text and history)

https://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/ (Japanese architecture and art dictionary)

https://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/contents.html (U.S. architecture, includes dates, facts, images, etc.)

https://whc.unesco.org/ (Has some good 360-degree panoramas of the UNESCO heritage sites)

https://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/archweb_noframes.html (Links to a variety of sites pertaining to architecture and design)

Study Schedule

Architecture 200 is a three-credit (one-semester) course designed to be completed in about fourteen weeks. Students registered in the individualized-study version of the course are permitted to take up to six months, but we recommend following the fourteen-week schedule suggested below, thereby keeping some time in reserve for unexpected delays or emergencies.

If you decide to follow the suggested study schedule, you should have no difficulty completing the course within your six-month contract. If you find yourself falling behind, contact your Academic Expert to discuss the situation. You may also extend your course contract, however, there is a fee for this and there are important deadlines as to the latest time in your course contract that you may apply for such extensions. Extension deadlines explained; check them carefully well before your contract end date. You may, of course, proceed more quickly than is suggested by this schedule.

Please note that students who are receiving funding may be required to complete their studies within a shortened time period. If you are receiving funding from any source, please check the details of your obligations and adjust your personal study schedule accordingly.

The fourteen-week study schedule is as follows:

Suggested Weekly Study Schedule

Schedule

Evaluation and Grading

Your final grade in Architecture 200 is based on the grades you achieve on 6 assignments. To receive credit for this course, you must achieve a minimum composite course grade of 67 per cent. The chart below indicates the assignments for credit, their weighting toward your final grade, and the week each assignment is due according to the study schedule provided above.

Assignments for Credit

Instructions for completing Assignments 1 through 6 will be found in the assignment drop boxes on the course home page. Please use the drop boxes to submit the URLs for all assignments. If you are unable to use them, contact your Academic Expert.

Approaches to Architectural History Writing

Your readings and references beyond the course text will include the work of many scholars and critics of architectural history. And over time the craft has engaged numerous methodologies to provide a framework and make sense of built history in time and place.

Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), the late Renaissance “father of art history” included architecture in Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550). He saw in the history of architecture, as in all the arts, a grand historical cycle—from earliest times through the Greek and Roman civilizations—of the rise and fall of competence and achievement, and thus a renaissance (rebirth) of classical perfection in his own lifetime.

This line-of-progress methodology has been powerfully presented in more recent scholarship by the British lawyer, architect, and historian Sir Banister Fletcher in his A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method (first published in 1896 and continually republished with revisions and additions under various editors, most recently with the 20th edition, 1996–2011). Fletcher is deemed the “father of modern architectural history,” and his A History of Architecture is the standard text in schools of architecture throughout the world up to very recent times. Many 20th scholars such as Horst Janssen, Frederick Hartt, and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner organized histories in the same manner, an essentially retrospective view of building design and technological development leading up through time to arrive at contemporary design in the Western world. In the introduction to your text A Global History of Architecture the editors refer to this as the “colonial” view of architectural history.

A different approach interprets architecture as cultural expression, not to be confused with cultural production. Inspired by an Hegelian world view, following the German notion of zeitgeist, this approach came to be represented by the Swiss historian Sigfried Giedion, as expressed in his book Space, Time and Architecture (1941). Indeed, the notion that architecture “reflects the age” is common to much art and architectural history writing.

The course text A Global History of Architecture very clearly adopts the history of architecture as social function, providing a detailed examination of the ideological DNA that links place, time, technology, materials, and economy to form and design, but which is also embedded in ideological context—particularly notions of religious belief, political governance, and cultural memory.

Oddly enough, this idea of social function is in many ways close to the approach of James Fergusson (1773–1846), whose A History of Architecture in all Countries (3 Vols., 1865–1876) followed what he called an “ethnological” methodology, and constituted the first worldwide history of architecture; Banister Fletcher based much of his own writing on this work.

The theory of the social function of architecture is key to this course, which picks up the method of the Canadian professor Alan Gowans, who authored the first syllabus of architectural history studies for the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1995. This course retains his original thematic outline, and also most of the historical “case studies” he used as reference points. Other writers who take this approach include: Spiro Kostof, in A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals (1985), J. Mordaunt Crook, in The Dilemma of Style: Architectural Ideas from the Picturesque to the Post-Modern (1987), and Christian Norberg-Schulz,in Architecture: Presence, Language, Place (2000).