Course Details

This course is an upper division class examining the history of ancient architecture, beginning with the earliest known structures in the prehistoric period around 10,000 BCE and ending around the 11th century CE. The requirements are regular attendance of weekly lectures, written assignments and a mid term and final exam. The Honors discussion section meets once a week with the class instructor to facilitate a more critical engagement with the historical survey material presented in the thrice-weekly lectures. Emphasis shall be placed on the exploration of contemporary concerns within the context of the survey’s major themes that include architecture as a second nature; origins and mythologies of first cities; power, politics and space; concepts of the sacred; and gender and space.

Course Objectives:
· Understand the built environment of the past and present as an expression of the social, technological and aesthetic forces of the societies that built them and as settings for their everyday life, rites and rituals.

·Demonstrate an understanding of architectural vocabulary by being able to define building types and key terms that relate to design, construction and materials.

·Understand drawing conventions in architectural drawing (for eg: plan, section, elevation, perspectives and details) as a means to describe three-dimensional objects and sites.

·Demonstrate the capacity to critically analyze the key works and communicate ideas effectively about the built environment in a series of writing assignments and tests, and in class discussions.

·Foster an appreciation for built works not just as self-contained physical artifacts of a distant past but as social, living texts that express the complexities and contradictions of the cultures of the past and of the present