Where does meaning come from, and how does it work? Do different forms of expression (verbal, visual, auditory, or tactile) involve different ways of referring, of claiming what a message is about? Where do I locate the differences, how can I describe them? This course offers an introduction to key concepts in the study of meaning with a particular emphasis on narrative theory.

People in all societies face uncertainty. Yet we have taken fear of the unknown and calculations of risk to a new level. Dangers appear to confront us at every turn -- in the form of tainted food, global warming, epidemics, market collapses, and accidents at work and on roads. Terrorist attacks in New York and Tokyo, and crime in Sao Paulo, have led to the increased control of public spaces in these cities. Public spaces have been the source of both excitement and anxiety, but cultures of risk have emphasized their dangers. This course will explore some of the implications of cultures of risk.

This course examines notions of person and self across cultures, with specific reference to the social construction and experience of cultural identities. Discussions focus on issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and the values of individuality and relationality in different cultures.

This course is conceived as an experiential gateway into the different fields embraced by architecture and design. Emphasizing the collaborative and interdisciplinary character of practice that engages with the built environment, the course units explore specific disciplines, such as architectural design, landscape architecture, interior architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, sustainability, or building technology.

This hybrid studio addresses human comfort with lectures and problem work sessions integrated with design projects. We start with an in-depth study of the world's climate regions, the sun, and the earth's tilt and spin. Primary methods of heat transfer are investigated as students research two architectural solutions (vernacular and contemporary) within each climate. Using daylight, the sun's movement, and sun-path diagrams students will design, draw and build a functioning solar clock. Issues in day-lighting and thermal comfort will then drive an extended design problem.

This course studies urban space shaped by an environmentalist agenda, social equity, and economic sustenance. Urban space is understood in terms of network of spaces defined between building blocks. This emphasis on space reveals human experiences including social relations, interactions with natural settings, and economic activities. Class discussions consider criticisms of rapid urbanization, sprawl, and segregation and review recent models such as new urbanism, smart growth, landscape urbanism, and community design.

This course provides a broad overview of Western art and architecture from the sixth through the seventeenth centuries. We will begin with the heritage of the Roman empire in Byzantine art, continue into the Western medieval tradition including Romanesque and Gothic, then conclude with the Renaissance and Baroque periods. We will consider a wide range of objects and media--including mosaics, manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, and prints--as well as building types ranging from churches to palaces and villas.

At its height, the Roman Empire spanned a vast area, from modern Scotland to Libya and Iraq. Within that territory lived peoples of multiple races, languages, and religions. This course explores the art and architecture created in this global culture from its beginning in 30 BCE to the dedication of the first Christian capital, Constantinople, in 330 CE. Subjects include propaganda, arena spectacles, the home, mystery religions, and the catacombs.

A historical survey of medieval architecture, monumental sculpture, and painting of France, England, Germany, and Italy. The course concentrates on the great church as a multimedia environment and on the religious, political and social roles of art in society.

The traditionalist view of the Renaissance treats Europe as if it were an isolated hotbed of cultural innovation. This course will reconsider the period as one of intensifying cross-pollination, when European artists were deeply affected by contact with the Near and Far East, Africa, and the Americas. Specific topics will include representations of distant lands and peoples; the collecting of exotic materials; cartography and expanding world horizons; Venice and the Ottoman world; and the reception of classical architecture in Latin America.