syllabus
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PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN
A 531 History of Architecture and Interiors III -- Fall 2000 Syllabus
Dr. David M. Breiner

Type of Course
This three-credit history/theory course, required for all students in Architecture and Interior Design, adheres to a lecture/discussion format.

Prerequisite
Successful completion of A 332

Description
In this course, the third of a four-term sequence of History of Architecture and Interiors courses, we explore key examples of architecture, interiors, painting, sculpture, photography, etc. produced from the seventeenth through the late nineteenth centuries. Emphasis is on the visual components of the major movements in architecture and interiors, as well as the formal elements specific to each medium. Style as a form of visual communication is stressed by examining the crucial relationship between design and meaning. Works of art and architecture will be placed within a broad historical context by considering such myriad factors as philosophy (particularly regarding attitudes about cities and about nature), religion, iconography, the role of the artist/designer, patterns of patronage, political and economic systems and policies, materials and techniques, and construction methods and technology. Concepts specific to architecture and interior design will be particularly stressed by tracing their formation and development over time. Finally, the value of past styles as an inspiration for today's designers will be a theme repeated throughout the semester in both class discussions and project topics.

Objectives
Through varied methods of historical inquiry, students will:
1. develop an understanding of the Western traditions from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries in architecture, interior design, art, landscape, and urban design as well as the climatic, technological, socio-economic, and other cultural factors that shaped and sustained them;
2. in a semester-long research project, which is a comprehensive analysis of a building or building complex, develop an understanding of the national traditions and the local regional heritage, including vernacular traditions;
3. by comparing and contrasting examples, develop written and oral skills in the visual analysis of works of art, architecture, and interiors;
4. in exams, a semester-long research project, and discussions, demonstrate an understanding of the shifts which occurred during the period in question in the social, political, technological, ecological, and economic factors that shaped the practice of making buildings and other forms of art;
5. better clarify the relationships between human behavior and the physical environment during that period, and by extension in today’s world, so as to understand history as a specific referential resource.

Professor
David M. Breiner
office tel: 951-2597 / e-mail: BreinerD@philau.edu / office hours: Wed., 2:00-5:00 pm
location: mezzanine, A & D Center
course web page: see the Gutman Library home page, under Breiner/A531, password available to students enrolled in course

Sections
A531.057-D meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:35-10:50 am
A531.058-D meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:35-3:50 pm

Required Texts
Blakemore, Robbie. G. History of Interior Design and Furniture from Ancient Egypt to Nineteenth-Century Europe. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1997 (abbreviated as B for reading assignments).

Tansey, Richard G. and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages. 10th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1996 (abbreviated as G for readings).

Trachtenberg, Marvin and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. Englewood Cliffs, N.J./New York: Prentice Hall/H.N. Abrams, 1986 (abbreviated as T for readings).

Supplemental readings — treatise excerpts (from works by C. Perrault, A. Palladio, M.-A. Laugier, E.E. Viollet-le-Duc, and J. Ruskin, all listed on the course outline) and handouts, distributed throughout the semester.

Recommended Texts
Dixon, R. and S. Muthesius. Victorian Architecture. New York: Oxford UP, 1986.
Gowans, Alan. Styles and Types of North American Architecture. New York: Icon, 1992.
Hartt, Frederick. A History of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. 2 vols. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall/H.N. Abrams, 1993.
Kostof, Spiro (ed). The Architect: Chapters in the History of the Profession. New York: Oxford UP, 1977.
Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals. New York: Oxford UP, 1985.
Middleton, R. and D. Watkin. Neoclassical and 19th Century Architecture. New York: Electa/Rizzoli, 1987.
Pierson, William H., Jr. American Buildings and Their Architects, I: The Colonial and Neoclassical Styles. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1970.
---. American Buildings and Their Architects, II: Technology and the Picturesque, The Corporate and the Early Gothic Styles. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1978.
Summerson, John. Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830. New Haven: Yale UP, 1993.

Procedures
Lectures, most supplemented by slides, will be complemented by in-class discussions on the material at hand; other discussions will spring from the required supplemental readings, about which students will have already submitted brief, typed essays. Three exams will provide students the opportunity to synthesize material studied in the previous weeks. Students will also be required to utilize area resources, in particular research libraries, to prepare a research project.

Completion Requirements
Each student's grade for the course will be based on the following:

Exams -- Exams will consist of slide identifications and related questions, identification of key terms and ideas, and an essay. You are responsible for works discussed in class and reproduced in required textbooks or hand-outs. Factual information students should know: Name of work, artist/architect/designer, period or style, location (if a built work), and approximate date. MAKE-UP EXAMS WILL NOT BE GIVEN. Occasional surprise quizzes on recent lectures and reading assignments will encourage everyone to keep up with the work; quiz grades contribute to the grade of the final exam.

Project -- The three-part project consists of writing a visual analysis of a building, the design of which was inspired by an earlier style, explaining the historical significance of the design, and then producing a new schematic design inspired by one aspect of the original building (see hand-out). An orientation session at the Philadelphia Athenaeum will be scheduled for early in the semester and is highly recommended as a vehicle for completing your project (more info to follow). Also, meet with your professor when scheduled, and be prepared to discuss your progress on the project.

Participation -- Your participation is evaluated by your ongoing contribution to class discussions on the readings and lectures and by your demonstrated knowledge of the material. A typed response to each treatise will be required and will count as part of your participation grade. Each student must attend at least one of the following field trip choices: the group tour of "The Triumph of the Baroque: Architecture in Europe 1600-1750," an exhibit of architectural models, paintings, prints, and drawings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; or the special student tour of the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion, a Victorian museum and garden in nearby Germantown; or a visit, on your own, to the "Van Gogh" exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Students unavailable at the times arranged for groups must consult with the professor for alternative arrangements, and will submit a typed summary of their visit.

Exams and projects will be graded as follows:
100-93=A; 92-90=A-; 89-87=B+; 86-83=B; 82-80=B-; 79-77=C+; 76-73=C; 72-70=C-; 69-67=D+; 66-63=D

Distribution
3 exams and several quizzes 60%
Project 25%
Participation 15%
Total 100%

Attendance and Comportment
Class attendance and promptness are critical to success in this course. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get notes from a classmate; lectures cannot be repeated. More than three absences will reduce your grade for participation; more than six absences (or the equivalent in lateness) will earn you an "F" for the course. All assignments must be submitted on or before the deadline; otherwise, they may not be accepted. Eating and drinking in class are not permitted. Enthusiastic participation and note taking are expected. Notebooks may be used during surprise quizzes.

Honesty
Plagiarism is prohibited by your Student Code of Conduct and will be strictly enforced. Even unintentional plagiarism is wrong and ignorance will not be accepted as an excuse. Plagiarists misrepresent the ideas, words, or work that rightfully belong to another as their own. The proper use of the ideas, words, or word of another requires that you acknowledge your source – simply that you give your audience or reader all the information needed to read or view the original source.

Student Archives
The University reserves the right to keep your work to aid in maintaining accreditation by both FIDER (for interior design) and NAAB (for architecture).