More or Less: Architectural Theory From Modern to Contemporary

Readings in this course will focus on major statements made by architects, critics, and philosophers dealing with the built landscape from 1900 to the present. Authors include Adolf Loos, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, Jane Jacobs, Peter Eisenman, and Rem Koolhaas; readings will range from Ornament and Crime (1909) to Junkspace (2000) and beyond. Emphasis will be on close reading of texts, historical context for ideas, and buildings that are prescribed, described, or proscribed by theory in practice. The first assignment will deal with the uses of critical theory; the second will be a design project. Class will be broken into firms that will develop a response to particular architectural program and project—the design of a retrofitted student center and campus plan for Sarah Lawrence College.