OVERVIEW

The aim of the course is to provide students with the tools for interpreting and reading the history of architecture from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, with particular attention to the intersections between architecture, technology, art, politics and society.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to make the student understand the complexity of modern architecture, with particular attention to the period from the industrial revolution to today, in a perspective of dialogue with the design disciplines.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The main expected learning outcomes are:

- Knowledge of the main figures and movements in the history of contemporary architecture

- The ability to identify different aspects of architectural production (buildings, projects, texts), placing them in time and space with an appropriate terminology.

- Knowledge of the basic tools of historical analysis in architecture and understanding of some of the main cultural, social, economic and urban transformations of the period and geographies considered.

PREREQUISITES

General knowledge of the history and major cultural movements in the Western world, in the 18th-21st centuries.

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of lectures, accompanied by images and videos. For each topic, further readings will be recommended, provided by the teacher.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course traces the history of contemporary architecture, from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day. The lessons will have the Western world as their main geographical focus, but insights will also be provided on other global contexts.

1. Architecture in Europe, ca. 1750-1850
2. Historicisms, eclecticisms and major technical transformations in the 19th century
3. Art Nouveau: Belgium, France and Catalan Modernism
4. Art Nouveau: Glasgow School, Viennese Secession, Adolf Loos and Liberty
5. Chicago skyscrapers and Frank Lloyd Wright
6. Steel and concrete: pioneers and visionaries
7. Factory architecture
8. German Expressionism, De Stijl and Dutch modernism
9. German modernism and Bauhaus
10. Le Corbusier (1923-45)
11. Mies van der Rohe in Germany
12. Russian constructivism
13. Modernism in the U.S.A.
14. Another Modernism: Alvar Aalto
15. Architecture in Fascist Italy 
16. Le Corbusier (1945-65)
17. Modernism in Latin America, Mies Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Eero Saarinen in the Post-War Period
18. "The Retreat from the Modern Movement": Architecture in Italy in the Post-War Period
19. Mass Housing, Brutalism and Structuralism
20. Louis Kahn: Monumentality, Form and Tradition
21. Franco Albini, Carlo Scarpa and Pierluigi Nervi
22. Post-Modernist Architecture
23. Radical Architecture and High Tech
24. Deconstructivism, OMA and Zaha Hadid
25. Perspectives on Contemporary Architecture

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students may choose one of these textbooks: 

William J. R. Curtis, L’architettura moderna del Novecento, Milano 1999 / William J.R. Curtis, L'architettura moderna dal 1900, London 2006.

Elena Dellapiana, Guido Montanari, Una storia dell'architettura contemporanea, Novara 2021.

Colin Davies, A New History of Modern Architecture, London 2017.

Further readings:

Barry Bargdoll, European Architecture 1750-1890, Oxford 2000.

Josep Maria Montaner, Dopo il movimento moderno, Roma 2008.

Kenneth Frampton, Storia dell’architettura moderna, Bologna 2008.

Further readings and insights (essays, articles, books, videos, websites) will be provided by the teacher lesson by lesson on the virtual platform.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LORENZO FECCHIO (President)

MARCO FOLIN

ALIREZA NASER ESLAMI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

8 October 2024

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

Exam schedule