Bert Bertram Dingeman Geyer

This course examines the formation and circulation of six key terms of modern architectural production and criticism: site, material, structure, detail, program, and environment. Focusing on the period between 1850 and 2000 in the English-speaking world, we will consider how these terms were shaped by the colonial encounter, French and German critical discourse, as well as enmeshed in specific media (e.g. print, radio, tv). Readings vary but typically include core texts by 20th century critics, theorists, and historians like Nikolaus Pevsner, Sigfried Giedion, Reyner Banham, Colin Rowe, Alessandra Ponte, Beatriz Colomina, and Mark Wigley. Discussions also tend to engage projects and texts by Le Corbusier, Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, Louis Kahn, Zaha Hadid, and Bernard Tschumi. Course work will vary but typically demands active participation in online and in-class discussions, as well as short essays on a contemporary architectural project of the student's choosing culminating in a 4000-word review essay.