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HarvardX: GSD1x The Architectural Imagination

SYLLABUS

Please take a moment to review this syllabus. It contains important information about course objectives, schedule, structure, assignments and grading, and other policies.

[Last updated: May 2, 2018.]

The Architectural Imagination: Introduction to the History & Theory of Architecture

K. Michael Hays, Erika Naginski, Antoine Picon, Lisa Haber-Thomson

Brief Course Description

Architecture engages a culture's deepest social values and expresses them in material, aesthetic form. In this course, you will learn how to "read" architecture as a cultural expression as well as a technical achievement. Vivid analyses of exemplary buildings from a wide range of historical contexts, coupled with hands-on exercises in drawing and modeling, bring you close to the work of an actual architect or historian.

Architecture is one of the most complexly negotiated and globally recognized cultural practices, both as an academic subject and a professional career. Its production involves all of the technical, aesthetic, political, and economic issues at play within a given society. Over the course of ten modules, we'll examine some of history’s most important examples that show how architecture engages, mediates, and expresses a culture's complex aspirations.

See Course Structure for full description information.

What You Will Learn

  • How to read, analyze, and understand different forms of architectural representation
  • Social and historical contexts behind major works of architecture
  • Basic principles to produce your own architectural drawings and models
  • Pertinent content for academic study or a professional career as an architect

Schedule and Effort Hours

The Architectural Imagination is a self-paced ten-module course. Learners now have until November 30, 2018 to complete all modules in the course.

The ten-module course is designed to take approximately 50 hours to complete, including design projects. This total is based on an estimated average of five hours per module. This average is based on the following estimates:

  • A lecture of 30-60 minutes
  • Readings (when assigned) requiring two hours
  • Exercises requiring two hours

These are estimates. You should expect to spend more or less time depending on the specific module.

EdX and HarvardX do not offer academic transcripts. We recommend printing either this syllabus or the course About page if you need a record of the estimated effort hours for the course. (An edX verified certificate does not include this information.) 

Assignments and Grading

Your grade is based on your performance on course exercises. 

There are two types of exercises in the course:

  • Concept Checks (short automatically graded questions) are worth 25% of your total grade. (Your two lowest Concept Check scores will be dropped.)
  • Self-Assessments (longer open responses that you then grade yourself) are worth 75% of your total grade. (Your lowest Self-Assessment score will be dropped.)
      • UPDATED MARCH 21, 2017: Based on learner feedback, we've updated the Self-Assessment rubric. Beginning in Module 4, Self-Assessments use a five-point rubric.

These exercises are module-specific and are spread throughout the course; there are no exams. A full list of exercises appears below.

There are no specific due dates. You have until the course closes to complete the exercises.

NOTE: Exercises will be released in tandem with their respective modules. See the rollout schedule about for details.

You can find your current grade on the Progress page.

Language Policy

Is English required?

English is the official language of the course in that all materials are in English and the course team is English speaking.

Posting in English is recommended if you are looking for the course team to post a response.

A language other than English can be used for the Self-Assessments. Ultimately, you are the evaluator of your work, so the method of response should be whatever allows you to learn best.

Assignment Outline

Start Here

  • Exercise 0.1: Syllabus Quiz (Concept Check)

Part I: Form and History

Module 1: The Architectural Imagination: An Introduction

  • Exercise 1.1: Compare Two Buildings (Self-Assessment)
  • Exercise 1.2 Read a Plan (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 1.3 Draw a Plan (Self-Assessment)

Module 2: Reading Architecture: Column and Wall

  • Exercise 2.1 Columns and Walls (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 2.2 Perspective as Layered Planes (Self-Assessment)

Module 3: Hegel and Architectural History

  • Exercise 3.1 Form / Function = Beauty (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 3.2 Stones (Concept Check)

Module 4: Aldo Rossi and Typology

  • Exercise 4.1 Typology - Part I (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 4.2 Typology - Part II (Self-Assessment)
  • Exercise 4.3 Build a Model or Transform a Type (Self-Assessment)

Part II: The Technology Effect

Module 5: The Crystal Palace: Infrastructure and Detail

  • Exercise 5.1 Architecture and Technology -- The Schism (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 5.2 Architecture and Technology -- The Synthesis (Self-Assessment)

Module 6: The Dialectics of Glass and Steel

  • Exercise 6.1 Factory as Primitive Hut (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 6.2 Close Reading (Self-Assessment)

Module 7: Technology Tamed: Le Corbusier’s Machines for Living

  • Exercise 7.1 Five Points (Self-Assessment)
  • Exercise 7.2 Pied-à-Terre (Self-Assessment)

Part III: Representation and Context

Module 8: Drawing Utopia: Visionary Architecture of the 18th Century

  • Exercise 8.1 From Salt Works to Ideal City - Part I (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 8.2 From Salt Works to Ideal City - Part II (Self-Assessment)
  • Exercise 8.3 Utopia (Concept Check)

Module 9: The Pompidou Center in the City of Paris

  • Exercise 9.1 Schematization (Concept Check)
  • Exercise 9.2 Architecture as Simulacrum (Self-Assessment)
  • Exercise 9.3 Architecture as Representation (Self-Assessment)

Module 10: Presenting the Unrepresentable

  • Exercise 10.1 Memory and the Refusal of Redemption (Self-Assessment)
  • Exercise 10.2 Symbol, Icon, Index (Self-Assessment)

Required Readings

Module 1: The Architectural Imagination: An Introduction

  • Required Reading 1: Hays, K. Michael. "Architecture's Appearance and the Practices of Imagination." Log, vol. 37, 2016, pp. 205-213.

Module 2: Reading Architecture: Column and Wall

  • No required readings

Module 3: Hegel and Architectural History

  • Required Reading 2: Sallis, John. "From Tower to Cathedral." Stone, Indiana University Press, 1994, pp. 32-79.

Module 4: Aldo Rossi and Typology

  • No required readings

Module 5: The Crystal Palace: Infrastructure and Detail

  • Required Reading 3: Giedion, Sigfried. "The Schism Between Architecture and Technology." Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982, pp. 146-191.
  • Required Reading 4: Picon, Antoine. "Construction History: Between Technological and Cultural History." Construction History, vol. 21, 2005-2006, pp. 5-19.

Module 6 The Dialectics of Glass and Steel

  • No required readings

Module 7: Technology Tamed: Le Corbusier's Machines for Living

  • Required Reading 5: Picon, Antoine. "Dom-ino: Archetype and Fiction." Log, vol. 30, 2014, pp. 169-175.
  • Required Reading 6: Rowe, Colin. "The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa." The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays, The MIT Press, 1980, pp. 1-28.

Module 8: Drawing Utopia: Visionary Architecture of the 18th Century

  • Required Reading 7: Vidler, Anthony. "The Theater of Industry: Ledoux and the Factory-Village of Chaux." The Writing of the Walls: Architectural Theory in the Late Enlightenment. Princeton Architectural Press, 1987, pp. 35–51.

Module 9: The Pompidou Center in the City of Paris

  • Required Reading 8: J. Baudrillard, (translated by R. Krauss and A. Michelson), "The Beaubourg-Effect: Implosion and Deterrence," October, 20 (Spring, 1983), pp. 3-13.

Module 10: Presenting the Unrepresentable

  • Required Reading 9: Young, James E. "Germany's Holocaust Memorial Problem -- and Mine" in The Public Historian, Vol. 24, no. 4, Fall 2002, pp. 65-80 © 2002 by the Regents of the University of California. Published by University of California Press.
  • Required Reading 10: Nora, Pierre "Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire" in Representations, Vol. 26, Spring 1989, pp. 7-24, © 1989 by the Regents of the University of California. Published by University of California Press.

Certification

EdX offers an optional fee-based verified certificate to those who have passed the course. This upgrade option is now available until October 30, 2018.

If you achieve a passing grade of 60% in this course, you are eligible to receive a verified certificate.

Your certificate will indicate you have successfully completed the course, but will not include a specific grade or course hours.

See the Schedule and Policies section for more information on how to upgrade to a verified certificate.

Support and Contacting Course Staff

Questions about the course should be submitted via the course discussion boards.

  • General course inquiries should be posted under the “+General” category
  • Technical inquiries and course errors should be posted under “+Technical Issues and Errors” category
  • Exercise-specific inquiries should be posted within the thread for each exercise. [NOTE: Links to exercise threads appear on each exercise’s page.]

For questions about your edX account or the edx platform, please contact the edX Support Team.

Honor Code Statement

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Research Statement

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