Art History 345 - Architecture Now

Seminar. For architects, interior designers, and environmentalists. Discussion, reading and prepared reports on immediate problems of architects, clients and the public with regard to characteristics of architecture today. How we have arrived; where we may go. ART-HIST 342 and 343 advantageous.

What is sustainable architecture? How can we build sustainably, and what lessons can we learn from the past? This course addresses the history of environmental concerns about the built and unbuilt environment, from vernacular and indigenous buildings to 19th- and 20th-century reactions to the Industrial Revolution and the modern city. Through a study of landscape painting, landscape architecture, and architectural history we will review Western perceptions of nature and industry to better understand evolving expectations of the two and how these expectations affect the way we live. The course covers the environmental movement of the 1960s and 70s and how architects responded to the oil crisis. It concludes with a study of recent work by contemporary architects who are intent on addressing ecological and climate-related challenges.