MCCCD Program Description

Architectural History: Prehistory to Rococo

Course: ARC201

First Term: 2011 Spring

Lecture 3 Credit(s) 3 Period(s) 3 Load
Subject Type: Academic
Load Formula: S

Description: In depth analysis of Western Architecture from Prehistory to 1730. Includes social, religious, political, philosophical, scientific, and environmental factors shaping predominant styles of the historical periods.

MCCCD Official Course Competencies
1. Compare/contrast how architectural responses reflect a peoples` perceived place in their world. (II-VI) 2. Compare/contrast how architectural responses reflect a people`s relationship to Nature. (II-VI) 3. Identify key figures and historical developments influencing architectural styles of the historical periods. (I-VI) 4. Compare/contrast/identify the predominant stylistic characteristics of the historical periods. (II-VI) 5. Identify building types typical to the periods. (II-VI) 6. Identify construction methods, materials, and structural systems typical to the historical periods. (II-IV) 7. Identify key monuments and motifs typical to the historical periods. (II-VI) 8. Describe symbolic and programmatic intentions associated with the historical periods. (II-VI) 9. Define key terminology appropriate to the various styles, building materials, and structural systems of the historical periods. (I-VI)
MCCCD Official Course Competencies must be coordinated with the content outline so that each major point in the outline serves one or more competencies. MCCCD faculty retains authority in determining the pedagogical approach, methodology, content sequencing, and assessment metrics for student work. Please see individual course syllabi for additional information, including specific course requirements.

MCCCD Official Course Outline
I. What is Architecture? A. What is Architecture? B. Art versus Buildings C. Definitions/Considerations D. Vitruvius, Ruskin, Pevsner, Trachtenberg II. Prehistory/Antiquity A. Megalithic 1. Societal/religious/etc. factors 2. Construction Methods/Materials - trabeated systems 3. Relationships to Nature B. Egypt man has little choice in his world? 1. Societal/religious/etc. factors 2. Turning away from Nature 3. Construction methods/materials 4. Building types - tomb and temple 5. Decorative motifs - imitation of Nature C. Mesopotamia - war and rising political aspirations 1. Societal/religious/etc. factors 2. Rise of city planning - defensive architecture 3. Construction methods/materials 4. Building types - temple and palace 5. Decorative motifs D. Greece man is the measure of all things? 1. Societal/religious/etc. factors A. Rise of art and science B. Free will against the gods, rational thought 2. Building to complement Nature - sacredness of place 3. Construction Methods/Materials typical to the periods 4. Building types - palace, agora, stoa, theater, temple A. Early Greek - Crete and Mycenae B. Classical Greece I. Classicism, classical thought, classical architecture ii. Theory of Growth and Decay - stylistic evolution iii. Anthropomorphism, phytomorphism, zoomorphism iv. Scientific underpinnings - the Golden Section and PHI v. Architectural Orders - Doric, Ionic, Corinthian vi. Rational expression, optical refinements 5. Decorative motifs E. Roman man is the center of all things? 1. Societal/religious/etc. factors A. Tradition, family values, innovation B. Myth, tradition, the Roman family, the ordained destiny C. Augustus - programmatic architecture, legacy 2. Building to control Nature 3. Construction Methods/Materials - vaulted, concrete systems 4. Building types - forum, basilica, bath, amphitheater, insula, residence A. Interior architecture B. Fictive use of the Orders 5. Infrastructure - roads, aqueducts, viaducts, sewers III. Middle Ages/Medieval - The Age of Faith A. Societal/religious/etc. factors 1. Rise of Christianity - the early Christians, Constantine 2. The Roman East and the Roman West--barbarians at the gate 3. Religious symbolism: How do we materially express the non-material responses/interpretations across the periods B. Early Christian - the Christian West - longitudinal basilica C. Byzantine - the Christian East - dome, pendentives, and central plan 1. Decorative motifs 2. Eastern Orthodox legacy D. Romanesque - longitudinal basilica, baptistery, campanile 1. Charlemagne and the emergence from the Dark Ages 2. Barrel and groin vaulting - structural and aesthetic implications E. Gothic 1. What is Gothic - perceptions, associations, and qualifiers 2. Interpretations: structural, visual, visionary 3. Churches/Cathedrals A. Fully developed longitudinal (basilica) plan B. Compare/contrast French/English/Italian C. Pointed cross vaulting - structural and aesthetic implications 4. Secular - manor house, castle, palace IV. Renaissance - The Age of Humanism A. Societal/religious/etc. factors 1. Humanism and the reawakening of classical thought A. Resolution with Christianity B. Humanist/scientific implications on architectural form C. Rise of formal art/architectural theory and publications 2. Clean and Serene to Capricious and Complex 3. The artists, architects, Popes and kings B. Italy - church and palazzo 1. Early Renaissance - early searching, naive copying 2. High Renaissance - capturing the antique spirit 3. Late Renaissance and mannerism - personal interpretations C. France - chateau 1. Italian influence in French Court 2. Lingering Gothic influence 3. Edict of Nantes and Flemish influence D. England - isolation and reliance on native genius 1. Protestant/Catholic issues and influences 2. Tudor/Elizabethan - the patronage house 3. Jacobean - Inigo Jones, the Grand Tour, and the Italian style 4. Restoration - Wren and the Great Fire 5. Vernacular - half-timber E. Spain - Philip II`s ascetic style/suppression 1. Plateresque 2. Moorish influence V. Baroque - Classicism in the Age of Ostentatiousness A. Societal/religious/etc. factors 1. The Counter Reformation and programmatic goals 2. Increasing body of scientific knowledge a. Laws of light and motion - the scientists B. Art/architectural responses 3. Motion and Emotion 4. Rising political aspirations 5. Lavish fusion of the arts, the Baroque scale 6. The artists, architects, kings, and elite B. Italy -- church architecture C. France - palace, chateau, garden and the Baroque scale D. England - the playing field levels E. Spain - Churrigueresque VI. Rococo - Hotels and Churches A. Societal/religious/etc. factors 1. Downsizing the Baroque scale 2. Move to comfort/intimacy 3. France as the arbiter of taste B. An interior style 1. Typical motifs 2. Oriental influences - Chinsoiserie C. France, Germany/Austria, Spain

MCCCD Governing Board Approval Date: 6/22/2010

All information published is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information presented, but based on the dynamic nature of the curricular process, course and program information is subject to change in order to reflect the most current information available.