Aims: This unit examines a range of theoretical positions associated with the formal design of buildings in western architecture.
Learning Outcomes:
Students must demonstrate an ability to analyse a historic building, project or text in order to distinguish and evaluate key concepts relating to mathematical, aesthetic and ideological principles. They must demonstrate an understanding of how these concepts have affected modern approaches to design, and to locate them against changing patterns of cultural and intellectual history.
Skills:
Evaluation of arguments in clear written English.
Content:
Lectures provide a grounding in the history of the use of formal design methods in architectural design via an exposition of textual sources, proportional analyses and recent research. General themes include the origin of form, abstract and aesthetic issues, formal composition, proportion and geometry. The first group of lectures set out key principles of classical design, starting with antiquity. The second group of lectures examine the development of modern architectural design, with an emphasis on the period between the second half of the 18th century and the early part of the 20th century. Themes treated include functionalism, rationalism and the notion of 'honesty' in relation to design and the employment of structure and material.
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