ARC 386L
Theory of Architecture II

Instructor: Dr. Richard Cleary
Time and Location: T Th 2:00-3:30, SUT 2.102

Prerequisites Completion of ARC 386K. Students from other units of the university may enroll with the consent of the instructor.

Instructor's office hours Sutton Hall 4.122: M-W 11-12, T 12:30-1:30, and by appointment. Telephone 471-6165; email cleary@mail.utexas.edu.

Course Format Theories of architecture attempt to provide a framework for architectural practice and to relate practice to society. This lecture/discussion course will introduce students to texts that have shaped architectural thought in the West. It also will consider how theories of architecture have been expressed in other cultures and consider the issue of how theory is encoded and read in buildings. The course will be structured by thematic units such as the following: theories of origin and meaning, the doctrine of classicism in Western architecture, typology, theories of architectural space, theories of architectural composition, structural rationalism and tectonics, functionalism, architecture and ethics, and theories of urban form.

Educational Objectives To consider what a theory of architecture is and to understand how it is as much a social doctrine as a prescription for building; gain familiarity with some of the texts that have had an enduring role in architectural thought and practice; develop skills in the critical analysis of texts and buildings.

Evaluation Four essays of 7-10 pages on topics relating to the themes addressed in the course.

Texts (subject to change) Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture (1925; reprint, New York: Dover, 1986).
Kate Nesbit, ed., Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory, 1965-1995 (Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996).
Joan Ockman, ed., Architecture Culture 1943-1968 (New York: Rizzoli, 1993).
Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1966).