Art History 101 - The Built Environment

Architecture may have originated as a response to basic human needs, but it very quickly took on complex meanings that transcend practicality. This course focuses on architecture from prehistory to the present, including buildings, cities, and urban planning; infrastructure and engineering; the unbuilt (and unbuildable) as well as the built world. Case studies cover design and theory as well as history. Individual projects and sites are explored as windows onto design principles, problems, and solutions; changing techniques, materials, and concerns; and human needs, desires, and ideals as manifested in the built world.