The course is meant to give a basic knowledge of the Ancient and modern history of European Architecture (since Ancient Greece to 18th Century) and aims at developing competencies in the analysis of the most relevant architectural forms, as a critical tool, wich can be used in the design experience.
Course Prerequisites
General background of European history, geography and Literature
Teaching Methods
Lectures and collaborative tasks
Assessment Methods
Final oral test
Texts
1. Lecture notes HANDBOOK OF HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE a) D. Watkin, A History of Western Architecture, London, Barrie and Jenkins, 1986 or: b) AAVV, Lineamenti di storia dell'architettura, Sovera Edizioni RESEARCH MATERIAL At least one among the following: a) P. Murray, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, London, Thames and Hudson, 1969 b) R. Wittkover, Art and Architecture in Italy: 1600 to 1750, Penguin Books Ltd, 1958. c) R. Wittkower, Architecturals Principles in the Age of Humanism, research material will be discussed during the lectures
Contents
Main topics: the birth of architecture; architecture and urban planning; space and its meanings; architecture as a language; architecture and geometry; proportions; perspective; architecture and colors; techniques and materials; architecture as a symbol; training for architects and patronage; architecture and theory of architecture; treatises from Vitruvius to 18th Century. Protagonists and phases: Greek architecture (with reference to Cretan and Mycenaean architecture). Roman architecture. Early Christian and Byzantine, Lombard, and Carolingian architecture. The Middle Ages: Romanesque, Gothic, and late Gothic. Early 15th Century architecture: Brunelleschi and Alberti. The Ideal city: Pienza and Urbino. Different forms of Humanism: Francesco di Giorgio, Filarete. Leonardo and Bramante in Lombardy. Architecture in Rome and Italy in the early 16th Century: Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Antonio da Sangallo, Peruzzi, Giulio Romano. Classical and Anticlassical. Rule and manner: Serlio. The Reform. The second half of the 16th Century: Vignola, Palladio. The Baroque in Rome: Bernini, Borromini, Pietro da Cortona. Other expressions of the Baroque: Longhena, Guarini, and Juvarra. Ephemeral architecture. The great european palaces: Versailles, Vanvitelli in Caserta. Neoclassicism in Italy and Europe.
