Arch 5120: History of Architecture: 19th – 20th Centuries

The Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture Prof. J. Gargus

KN 226, 292-9850, gargus.1@osu.edu,

Teaching Assistants: Yana Grinblat, Alyson Klenke, Michael Testrake, Justin Turley,

Course Objectives
1. To provide a historical understanding of architecture in relation to the broader context of Western
Civilization through an investigation of interrelated cultural phenomena.
2. To situate the physical environment in the framework of the history of ideas, to develop an under-
standing of design as a generator for and a manifestation intellectual and philosophical
explorations.
3. To create a deeper understanding of the cultural context, including geographic, religious, political,
social, economic, and intellectual factors and how they influence architectural production.
4. To foster an understanding of the ways in which the periods covered in the course were formed by
their history, and how architecture represents an argument between convention and invention.

Pedagogic Objectives
1. To develop a familiarity with key works of architecture covered in the course, including name,
location, date, architect (where applicable) and stylistic and technological features of the buildings.
2. To deepen understanding of functional, structural, and aesthetic principles of architecture of the
period.
3. To develop an increased capacity for clear expression in both oral and written forms, including a
basic fluency in critical analysis and essential architectural vocabulary.
4. To establish a firm basis for further investigation of historical and theoretical topics in architecture.

Class Meetings:
Recitation sessions supplement the class lectures. They are smaller, less formal discussion groups led by
the teaching assistants or the professor. Recitations may include analytical exercises, discussions of
readings; quizzes; review sessions for the mid-term and final examinations, and general discussion related
topics. Readings serve as the basis for discussion. Attendance at lectures and recitations is REQUIRED.
Three unexcused absences can result in a failing grade.

Required Texts:
- Colquhoun, Alan, Modern Architecture, Oxford, 2002
- Giedion, Siegfried, Space, Time and Architecture, Harvard University Press 1941/ 1997
- Frampton, Kenneth, A Critical History of Modern Architecture, Thames & Hudson, World of Art, 1992
- Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, Dover, New York 1986.
- Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction, MOMA New York, 1960
- Various Readings on Carmen

Class Meetings
Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursday; 2-hour (108 minute) lectures
Evans Lab 2004
Recitations: One 50 minute meeting, as noted in the Master Schedule

Grading: Approximate POINTS (totals may vary slightly as new assignments are devised

Test 1 250points x1 250 points

Test 2 250 points x1 250 points
Test 3 250 points x1 250 points
Homework 1 250 points x1 250 points
Homework 2 250 points x1 250 points
Quizzes (9 @ 25 pts.) 25 points x8 200 points
participation 50 points x1 50 points
1500 points
* worst quiz grade will be dropped
Examinations: There will be three exams during the term. All exams will consist of slide identifications;
slide comparisons, diagrams, and essays, based on material presented in lecture, readings and recitation.
Quizzes: Surprise quizzes on the readings may take place at any time.
Extra Credit:
Lecture Series attendance: A maximum of 10 points will be awarded for notes and critical write-up of
lectures in the KSA Lecture Series. Submit your notes and a brief response essay (maximum 2 pages.) Identify
the main points of the lecture, then develop your informed opinion/response (e.g., identify strengths/weaknesses in
the argument, or relating the lecture to themes discussed in class. )
G3 Exit Review attendance: Attend “Exit Reviews,” and submit 1 page for a maximum of fifteen points per
review, and a maximum of two reports per student.
Class Schedule
Week 1
Tue Jan 8 REVIEW: Nineteenth century Background
Industrial Revolution, Arts & Crafts, Structural Rationalism, Chicago School,
Mackintosh, Early Wright, Greene & Greene, Maybeck

Thu Jan 10 Art Nouveau: Horta, Guimard. Gaudi

Readings:
Frampton. Part 1, Part 2, Chapters 1-5; Colquohoun, Chapter 1 & 2 pp. 13-56, Giedion, Part V :
”American Development,” pp. 335-427.
___________________________________________________________________
Week 2
Tue Jan 15 Vienna Secession & Wagner School: Wagner, Olbrich, Hoffman

Thu Jan 17 Loos, Red Vienna & Werkbund

Readings:
Frampton. Part 2, Chapter 6, 8, 9,12 & 13; Colquohoun, Chapter 4,
Giedion, Part IV: “The Demand for Morality in Architecture,” pp. 291-334
___________________________________________________________________
Week 3
Tue Jan 22 Modernism in the Netherlands: Amsterdam School vs. De Stijl,
Berlage, De Klerk, van Doesburg, Rietveld, & early Mies

Thu Jan 24 Bauhaus and its Program:

Mies, Scharoun, Steiner, Mendelsohn, Weissenhof Siedlung
Bauhaus, Gropius, Meyer, Itten, Kandinsky, Klee

Readings:
Frampton. Part 2, Chapters 14, 15, 16, Colquohoun, Chapter 3 & 8,
Giedion: Part VI, “Space-Time in Art, Architecture & Construction,” pp. 429-497
___________________________________________________________________
Week 4
Tue Jan 29 Architecture of the State: Futurists, Rationalists, Nazis & Bolsheviks

Thu Jan 31 Early Le Corbusier: Cubism, Purism, Ideal Villas,

Readings:
Frampton. Part 2, Chapters 7, 17, 19, 23 & 24, Colquohoun, Chapter 5 & 7, Le Corbusier,
Towards a New Architecture, first half;
On Carmen: -Rowe, Colin: “The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa”;
- Rowe, Colin * Slutzky, Robert, “Transparency :Literal & Phenomenal”
________________________________________________________________
Week 5
Tue Feb 5 The Modern City: Late Corbusier, Late Mies, Late Wright, Hilberseimer

Thu Feb 7 EXAM #1

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlZ0NbC-YDo
NOTE: This film does contain brief female nudity, during which Banham visits a strip-
club. No required course content is presented during this sequence and I invite you to
skip it, if you think you would be offended by such content.
Readings: Frampton, Part II, Ch .18, 20, 21, 25; Colquohoun, Chapter 11
Giedion: Part VI “Le Corbusier & the Means of Architectonic Expression,” pp.
518-530; IX: “Space-Time in City Planning”, pp. 815-845
Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, the rest of it
________________________________________________________________
Week 6
Tue Feb 12 Classicists: Late Mies, SOM & the Miesian Tradition:

Thu Feb 14 Louis Kahn: Phenomenology and Place

Readings: Frampton. Part II, Chapters 26, 27, Part III, Chapter 1; Giedion, Part VI: “Mies van
der Rohe”, pp. 587-617, Colquhoun, Chapter 12
On Carmen -Norberg-Schulz, Christian. "Kahn, Heidegger, and the Language of Architecture."
Oppositions 18, Fall 1979.
- Scully, Vincent, “Louis Kahn and the Ruins of Rome,” Modern Architecture &
Other Essays, 2003
- Excerpts from Hitchcock & Johnson, The International Style, 1932
________________________________________________________________
Week 7
Tue Feb 19 Scandinavian Masters: Saarinen, Asplund, Aalto, Utzon

Thu Feb 21 CIAM, Brutalism & Team X

Readings: Frampton. Part II, Chapters 22 Part III, Chapter 2 & 3

Colquohoun, Chapter 10, Giedion: Part VI, Aalto, pp. 618-667
On Carmen: - Excerpts from Herman Herzberger, Lessons for Students in Architecture;
- Excerpts from Reyner Banham, New Brutalism
- Excerpts from Anxious Modernisms: Experimentation in Postwar Arch…l Culture

WEEK 8
Tue Feb 26 Twentieth Century Architecture in the Developing World:
Algiers, Chandigarh, Brasilia, Dacca, and more

Thu Feb 28 Modernism in the USA: Suburbia and the good life
Neutra, Schindler, Case Study Houses, Levitttown

Readings: Venturi, Complexity & Contradiction; Chapters 1-5; 10

On Carmen: - Philip Johnson, “Seven Crutches of Modern Architecture.”
- Eleb, Monique: "An Alternative to Functionalist Universalism: Écochard,
Candilis and ATBAT-Afrique." In Anxious Modernisms: Experimentation in
Postwar Architectural Culture.”
- Excerpt from The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)
“The kind of problem a city is.” Jane Jacobs

WEEK 9
Tue Mar 5 Radical Architecture: The 1960s
Archigram, High Tech, Fuller, Megastructures, Metabolism, Superstudio. High-
Tech, Cedric Price - The Fun Palace; Situationism, Tschumi & the “event,”

Thu Mar 7 EXAM #2

 In-class video: the video: Mike Webb on Archigram
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oexxx4W9Ht4
Readings: Frampton. Part 3, Chapters 4, Venturi, Complexity & Contradiction; the rest
On Carmen: - Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. "Theory of Ugly and Ordinary and Related and
Contrary Theories." In Learning from Las Vegas: MIT Press, 1977, 1972
- Excerpts from Archigram
- Excerpts from Anxious Modernisms: Experimentation in Postwar Arch..l Culture

WEEK 10
Spring break Mar 11-15

WEEK 11
Tue Mar 19 Post-Modernism: Rossi, Venturi , Graves, Stirling

Thu Mar 21 Theory: Formalism, Process, the diagram

White/Grey NY Five,
Readings:
On Carmen: - Excerpts from: The New York Five, Eisenman, Peter. "Aspects of Modernism:
Maison Dom-ino and the Self-Referential Sign." In Oppositions Reader. Edited by
K. Michael Hays. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998.
- Rowe, Colin. Introduction to Five Architects. Reprinted in Architecture Theory
since 1968. Edited by K. Michael Hays. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998
- Excerpts from Architecture and Post-Modernism, Jencks, Charles. "Part Three:
Post-Modern Architecture." In The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. 6th
ed. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
- Jameson, Fredric. "Postmodernism and Consumer Society." In The Anti-
Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture. Edited by Hal Foster. Seattle, 1983.
- Stern, Robert A.M., “The Doubles of Post-Modern, Harvard Architecture
Review, Spring 1980, pp. 75-87
- Scully, Vincent, “The Whites & the Greys,” American Architecture & Urbanism,
1969, 1988, pp. 228-243; 257-278
-Goldberg, Paul, “Should Anyone Care about the New York Five,” Architectural
Record, Vol 155, pp 113-116
- “Architecture of Deconstruction,” UIA Journal: The Architecture of
Deconstruction: A Student’s Guide, 1991, pp 11-30
- Elias Zenghelis, “The Aesthetics of the Present,” Deconstruction in
Architecture, ed. Andreas Papadakis. NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1988, pp. 66-

WEEK 12
Tue Mar 26 Extreme Theory: Deconstruction in Architecture
Gehry, Eisenman, Libeskind, Hadid

Thu Mar 28 Critical Regionalism

Readings: Frampton, Part III, Chapters 5,6 & 7,

On Carmen: - Lefaivre, Liane, and Alexander Tzonis. "Why Critical Regionalism Today?" In
Architecture + Urbanism, May 1990.
- Excerpts from Johnson & Wigley, Deconstructivist Architecture
- Derrida, Jacques. "Point de folie - Maintenant l'architecture." La Case Vide: La
Villete (1985). Edited by Bernard Tschumi. Reprinted in Architecture Theory
since 1968. Edited by K. Michael Hays. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998.
WEEK 13
Tue Apr 2 Digitally driven architecture: blobs

Thurs Apr 4 OMA & Super Dutch

On Carmen: Excerpts from: - Lynn, Greg. "Animate Form." In Animate Form. New York:
Princeton Architectural Press, 1999. ISBN: 1568980833.
- Krauss, Rosalind, and Yves-Alain Bois. Introduction - "The Use Value of the
Formless," and Conclusion - "The Destiny of the Informe." In Formless: A
User's Guide. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997.
- Koolhaas, Rem, Excerpts from Delirious New York
- Excerpts from Bjarke Ingels, Yes is More

WEEK 14
Tues April 9 Herzog & de Meuron & Swiss Stuff

Thu April 11 Ideas about the City in the late 20th & 21st Century: Las Vegas, Collage, Junk
Space

Readings:
On Carmen - Rowe, Colin, and Fred Koetter. Selections from Collage City.
- Lynch, Kevin. "City Form," Chapter IV in The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1960
- Excerpts from: Koolhaas, Rem. "Singapore Songlines: Portrait of a Potemkin
Metropolis… or Thirty Years of Tabula Rasa." In S, M, L, XL. New York:

WEEK 15
Tue Apr 16, Landscape Urbanism, New Urbanism,

Thu Apr 18 (Monday April 21?) EXAM #3

Readings:
On Carmen: - Excerpts from: Charles Waldheim,“Landscape as Urbanism,” The Landscape
Urbanism Reader, ed. Charles Waldheim (New York: Princeton Architectural
Press, 2006),
- Duany, Andres, and Plater-Zyberk, Elizabeth, and Speck, Jeff, Suburban Nation:
the Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, North Point Press,
2001

WEEK 16 & 17
April 21 (M) Last Day of Regularly Scheduled Classes

April 22 (Tu) “Reading Day”

April 24-30 OSU FINAL EXAM PERIOD