ARC 368R, ARC 388R
The Gothic Cathedrals of France
and Contemporary High-Tech Architecture

Instructor: Dr. Danilo Udovicki-Selb

A Traveling Seminar Fall 2003

Around 1137, a group of Parisian artists and intellectuals close to the Abbot Suger, the regent of France, joined forces with him to create a wholly new architectural concept, later called "Gothic" by a contemptuous Renaissance. Rooted in the centralizing politics of a monarchy traditionally involved in a power struggle with the landed nobility, as much as in radical structural innovations, the new architecture drew on neo-platonic philosophical principles as it introduced light as a primary aesthetic medium. Over the next two centuries, ever bolder and sophisticated architects- engineers were to raise immense Cathedrals to heights never seen before, daringly testing the extreme limits of the materials at hand: stone and glass.

In the wake of a growing body of scholarship, the Gothic builders--long regarded as "anonymous" masons with no specific professional claims--emerge today as having been highly trained architects whose personal fame reached every corner of Medieval Europe. These builders of genius held architectural offices very similar to our own today, while their names were inscribed in the stone of their monuments, and their remains often buried like those of kings.

In the first half of the semester, the TRAVELLING SEMINAR will engage in an in depth examination of those complex structures, while venturing into uncharted territories of the architectural practice of their most brilliant descendents such as Filippo Brunelleschi, or for that matter, our own "High-Tech" architects today.

From October 16 to 26, seminar members will travel to France. Based in Paris, they will examine the Cathedrals and other Gothic churches of the region, including those of Chartres, Rheims, Amiens and Paris. Time in France will also be devoted to some of the most relevant contemporary architectural achievements that can be related to the spirit of the Cathedrals. A special trip will take students by high speed TGV train to Lyon to discover Calatravašs own "Cathedral," the airport station of the TGV.

Upon return to Austin, students will have the choice of spending the remainder of the semester, either researching and writing a paper in contact over the Internet with professor Udovicki who will stay with the Italy Program, or work under Professor Garrison on models of Gothic and/or contemporary structures of their choice.

The goal of the seminar is to awaken interest in the students for a long neglected architectural field that has so much in common with contemporary practice. Enthusiasm and dedication gets you and A.