Teaching code

4S02329

Teacher

Dario Donetti

Coordinator

Dario Donetti

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

ICAR/18 - HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

Period

CuCi 1 A dal Sep 25, 2023 al Nov 4, 2023.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The course aims to address a certain period of the history of architecture, focusing on a specific topic of great importance for modern and contemporary architectural culture. In particolar: 1) acquire specific skills for reading the architectural artefact: interpreting data, recognizing the specificity of architectural language, contextualizing the building by adopting appropriate socio-cultural coordinates, using the bibliography appropriately and recognizing the transformations of the building (restorations, functional changes etc..); 2) deepen the knowledge related to the history of European architecture, especially in the contemporary era, recognizing the interaction between the events of individual architects and the development of Movements and Avant-gardes, in relation to the transformation of cities.

Prerequisites and basic notions

No prior requirements are necessary, but students are encouraged to attend the course after acquiring fundamental notions in the History of Medieval Architecture, History of Early Modern Architecture, and History of Art Criticism

Program

The course will address the so-called ‘questione della lingua’ in architecture, or the formulation and canonization of classicist language, between the fifteenth and sixteenth century. These classes will allow to decipher the lexicon and syntax of the architectural orders, to interpret meanings that can be associated with specific orations after the antique, to read the political messages or cultural conflicts implied by the different declinations of the predominant style of Italy, Europe and the New World until the advent of modernism. The apparent normativity of classicism will thus reveal phenomena of innovation and resistance, local identity and universalism, transition and conservation that cross the architecture of the early modern age. Based on the theoretical production of the time, the lectures will focus on exemplary monuments or on the production of individual authors, alternating with seminars for the discussion of weekly readings and, in the second part of the course, individual presentations by students on relevant case studies, which will count for the final evaluation.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

the course will be structured according to the following sequence of topics, discussions and presentations: 1) "Introduction: the problem of representation in architecture"; 2) discussion of the texts: E. Gombrich, 'The sense of order', 1984 (excerpt) 3) “Innovation: Brunelleschi at the Old Sacristy”; 4) discussion of the texts: M. Trachtenberg, 'Michelozzo and the Pazzi chapel', 1997; 5) “Transition: Leon Battista Alberti and the renewal of Santa Maria Novella”; 6) discussion of the texts: R. Wittkower, 'Alberti in front of ancient architecture', 1964; 7) individual presentations; 8) "Identity: rustication and the Florentine palace"; 9) discussion of the texts: G. Belli, 'Shape and naturalness in the Florentine rustication of the fifteenth century', 1996; 10) individual presentations; 11) "Language: the classical orders and the Roman palace"; 12) discussion of the texts: C. Frommel, 'Raphael's palaces: how people lived and lived in Rome in the early sixteenth century', 2003; 13) individual presentations; 14) “Drawing: the facade of San Lorenzo in Florence”; 15) discussion of the texts: M. Tafuri, 'Renaissance Research', 1992 (excerpt); 16) individual presentations; 17) "Abstraction: Palladio in Venice"; 18) discussion of the texts: James Ackerman, 'Palladio', 1972 (excerpt) Reference text: John Summerson, 'The classical language of architecture', Einaudi, Turin 2010.

Learning assessment procedures

The final exam will be oral, with reference to the examples shown by the instructor and the literature discussed in class.

Evaluation criteria

The exam will verify the knowledge of the topics covered by lectures and bibliography. Students will mastery of the course’s critical contents, or to be able to interpret in an analytical way the visual language used by the architecture of Italian and European classicism.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The oral exam and the individual presentation on a case study (lasting 8-10 minutes) offered during the course will contribute in equal measure to the evaluation, expressed out of thirty. active participation in the weekly discussions will be considered positively as well. Students who will not be able to actively attend the course and contribute will write a short essay on a similar topic (illustrated and with footnotes, minimum length of 10,000 characters). The text - in PDF format, identified by name, surname and registration number - must be delivered by e-mail, at least two weeks before the date chosen for the oral exam.

Exam language

Italiano