Explorations of Architectural History

To Goethe, architecture was “frozen music.” To Frank Lloyd Wright, itwas “the mother art” of a nation.For Thomas Jefferson, architecture should “improve the taste of my countrymen.” This course explores the shapes, purposes, and meaningof Western architecture, focusing on signi?cant buildings and architects from ancient Greek to modern times. How do architects utilize form, materials, space, light, color,and decoration to create a building’s function, usefulness, and beauty, as well as to elicit feelings of order,calm, exhilaration, or mystery?How can we “read” in buildingsthe aesthetic, religious, social, and political culture out of which they came? What role do innovations in building materials, technology, and engineering play in architecture’s evolution? What sometimes surprising role does historic preservation play in the restoration and protection of these iconic works of architecture? Can architecture have moral meaning? The buildings and architects to be examined in each of the six classes will give us a variety of perspectives.