Fall 2002 HONR Course Descriptions - HONR 219K

HONR 219K Thinking Architecturally
Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00-12:15 p.m.
Dr. Richard Etlin, Department of Architecture; Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Have you ever wondered why certain spaces make you feel happy, secure, or uneasy? Do you know why Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater" sits on top of a waterfall? Have you ever considered what types of visual markers make this campus memorable and give it a sense of place? These are the types of issues that we will consider in "Thinking Architecturally." This course will introduce students to the principal concepts of architecture and will afford them an opportunity to apply those ideas to their own environment. We will consider the response of architecture to topography; the distinctions between the sacred, civic, and personal domains; the creation of culture through the dual modes of style and building type; and the ways in which human beings create a sense of place.

Most classes will consist of student discussions of buildings, places, and landscapes presented through images found in the textbook, in popular periodicals, or taken from personal experience. Grading will be based on class participation and a term paper.

Textbooks:
Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman, Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodern
Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City
Readings of essays by the class instructor, such as Space, Stone, and Spirit: The Meaning of Place
excerpts from Edward T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension

CORE: History or Theory of the Arts [HA]