M C G I L L U N I V E R S I TY
S C H O O L O F A R C H IT E C T U R E
ARCHITECTURAL
HISTORY I
INTRODUCTION TO
ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY I
F A L L 2002
Prof. Ricardo L.
Castro, MRAIC
THEMATIC SCHEDULE
OF LECTURES
Week 1 (04 06September)
Introduction. Course formalities.
The sense of “passion” (pathos). Why History.? Geographies, Chorographies, Topographies.
Making structuralism à la Barthes (Cf. Roland Barthes, “The Eiffel Tower.”)
Topographies: Water, architecture, and cities. Architectural Landcapes: Land Art, Stonehenge, Malta. The Tower and the Ark as achetypes. Babel, Ziggurats, Stupas, Pagodas, and Pyramids. Panorama and landscape.
Vernacular architecture (architecture without an “author.”)
The layers of architecture: ecological, societal, operational, ex[erientilal, and symbolic.
The Odissey and the Argonautica: two timeless narratives as a metaphore for historical inquiry.
Reading for Friday, September 6: Vitruvius, Book I, Chapters 1-3, pp. 3-17.
Note: every student will be responsible for reading, from the Patrick J. Nuttgens, The Story of Architecture, the chapter that corresponds to the material covered every week.
Week 2 (11 13 September)
Egypt: Architecture of Death and Light I
Modern Reference:18th C revolutionary architects: Boulleé, Ledoux
Reading for Friday 13 September : Vitruvius, finish Book 1 and read Book 2.
Week 3 (18 20 September)
Egypt: Architecture of Death and Light II .
Greece I: Myth and landscape Mycenae and Crete
Modern Reference: Le Corbusier
Reading for Friday 20 September : Vitruvius, Book 3
Week 4 (25 27 September)
Greece II: Seafaring and Architecture.
Greece III: Theatron
Modern reference: F. Schinkel, Postmodern architecture
Reading for Friday 27 September : Vitruvius, Book 4
Week 5 (03 04 October)
Greece IV: Grids and Paths. Pan-metron-ariston.
The Greek Polis.
Modern reference: Mies van der Rohe
Reading for Friday 04 October : Vitruvius, Book 5
Week 6 (09 11 October)
Rome 1: The Etruscans and other Preambles.
Rome 2: The Search for Interior Space, Territorial Conquest and Architecture. The Roman Civita
Modern reference: Thomas Jefferson, Louis Kahn
Reading for Friday 11 October : Vitruvius, Book 6
Week 7 (16 18 October)
Byzantium: The Right Order for an Architecture of Dematerialization
Modern reference: Le Corbusier at Santa Constanza
Reading for Friday 18 October : Vitruvius, Book 7
Week 8 (23 25 October)
Early Christian Architecture: Syntheses
Modern reference: Dematerialization in contemporary architecture
Reading for Friday 25 October : Vitruvius, Book 8
Week 9 (30 October 01 November)
Romanesque: Immediacy, Pilgrimage, and Monasticism
Modern reference: H. H. Richardson, Bruce Price
Reading for Friday 01 November : Vitruvius, Book 9
Week 10 (06 08 November)
Western Islam: Geometric ordering of space. Search for sensuous ordering of the World
Modern reference: Peter Zumthor's Thermes at Vals, Switzerland.
MID-TERM EXAM.
Term paper titles due.
Week 11 (13 15 November)
Gothic I: Translucency and Light.The Medieval project
Modern reference: A. Gaudi, 19th C. engineers
Reading for Friday 15 November : Vitruvius, Book 10
Week 12 (20 22 November)
Pre-columbian architectures.
Modern reference: Rogelio Salmona
TERM PAPERS DUE, Friday
22 November at 10:30 p.m.
Week 13 (27 29 November)
Oriental architectures.
FRIDAY 29 NOVEMBER: SUBMISSION OF SIMULACRA MODELS AND BEGININING OF SIMULACRA REVIEWS
Week 14 (04 December)
Last reviewed: 1 September 2002