11212 Architectural History and Theory: Orientations

Description

This survey course introduces key themes in the history and theory of architecture by tracing (dis)continuities in the production, habitation, and transformation of the built environment up to the 1800s. It follows a structure that grows in concentric circles from the sub-national to the national, regional and global scales. The course takes a relational approach and connected understanding towards the 'non-Western' architectural histories that are often neglected by introducing different architectural moments and its contexts in various places around the world.

We begin with the emergence of the first urban societies from various localities and gradually expand to examine how different societies translated each other’s ideas and appropriated foreign objects and forms. Hence, the course aims to explores how the history of the built environment is constituted through its connections and overlaps with other geographical configurations that will help produce a more global perspective of history. In that sense, although the course is broad in scope, it is not an encyclopaedia. Rather it tries to provide a framework for learning and discussion which includes the context in which these architectures are built, how they are situated in the landscape, as well as understanding the socio-political structures in which these works were designed and created.

Typical availability

Autumn session, City campus