History of Architecture

The course aims to provide students with basic information and essential tools to know and understand the main issues of the History of Architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries through an overview and some insights into the main protagonists, theories and debates and specific cases with particular exemplary value. At the end of the educational path, students will have acquired the following skills:

1)     adequate knowledge of the main themes, protagonists, theories and works of the history of architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries;

2)     ability to read and understand case studies and correct chronological and geographical placement of the same with respect to the general framework acquired;

3)     acquisition of a methodological structure of reading and critical interpretation of architecture, which allows comparative analysis and reasoning on the architectural heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries starting from the recognition and description of the case studies explored during the course;

4)     ability to analyze and describe the contents acquired through an appropriate vocabulary and the development of adequate communication skills with respect to the compositional, technological and decorative aspects;

5)     ability to learn the contents analyzed during the course and through the study of the reference bibliography.

The main objectives to be achieved at the end of the course will therefore consist in the mastery and effective communication of the major themes and protagonists of nineteenth and twentieth century architecture, in the recognition of the main works and in the development of comparisons and critical reasoning relating to the history of nineteenth and twentieth century architecture and in the acquisition of a study method that allows one to independently address subsequent analyses and insights related to the history of architecture and the local context.

The course will address the main issues of the history of architecture and its protagonists between the 19th and 20th centuries. Among these, the following stand out:

- chronology problems and the distinction between “modern” and “contemporary”;

- notes on eighteenth-century architectural culture and differences compared to the peculiarities of the following century;

- the nineteenth century, the debate on national styles and eclecticism;

- the industrial revolution and its repercussions on the use of new materials and technologies, on urban transformations and on socio-political changes linked to the advent of the bourgeoisie;

- the phenomenon of Art Nouveau in its various European and regional declinations;

- the main protagonists and schools of the twentieth century:

  1. the American context and F. Lloyd Wright;

  2. the generation of “masters” between the two world wars:

      - profiles of W. Gropius and the Bauhaus from its foundation to the diaspora;

      - Le Corbusier;

      - L. Mies van der Rohe;

- the Italian context between the two world wars: rationalism and “regime architecture”;

- the years of reconstruction in Italy and in the local context;

1. K. Frampton, Storia dell’architettura moderna, Londra 1980, (I ed. italiana Zanichelli, Bologna 1982 - IV edizione italiana Zanichelli, Bologna 2007).

2. W.J.R. Curtis, L’architettura moderna dal Novecento, Londra 1982, (I edizione italiana Bruno Mondadori Milano 1999, III edizione italiana Phaidon 2006).

Further bibliographical references will be provided during the course, in relation to the contents of in-depth lessons on the topics covered.

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library (Biblioteca di Ingegneria ed architettura - DICAR).