Architecture History

Duration

39h Th, 10h Proj.

Number of credits

Lecturer

Catherine Elsen

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Study of the History of architectural forms, from the Lower Paleolithic to the contemporary period, and in particular of their morphological and structural evolutions given the political, socio-economic or cultural contexts.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Development of a study corpus and analytic skills that enable to gather from History, being it immediate or not, all the information needed to read any type of architectural intervention (the contexts of its emergence; the schemes underlying its conception; the mechanisms justifying its dissemination, etc.).
The examination of numerous case studies builds a reflexive and critical approach to the architectural artifact, given its historical, political and socio-economic context, in relation to Human beings, their role in society, their sociological ways of inhabiting and their needs.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course is based on ex-cathedra lectures, heavily illustrated by examples as the study progresses. These theoretical presentations feed discussions and debates, in which the student participates proactively.
An active participation of each student (individually or in small groups) is moreover planned at the beginning of the year, through short documented presentations presented orally to the rest of the class (flipped class pedagogy).

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Face-to-face.

Recommended or required readings

A list of recommended readings will be distributed at the beginning of the year.
Synthetic notes summarizing and illustrating the different concepts and cases studied during each class will be distributed to the students at the end of each theoretical session. No other written support will be provided: notes will be taken manually in the classroom in order to practice active note-taking, synthesis skills as well as implementation of data organization and methods such as mind- mapping.

Assessment methods and criteria

The course will be evaluated on basis of 1) a short presentation (conducted alone or in small groups) presented to the whole class during the year and 2) an oral examination (with written preparation). The presentation is mandatory and conditions access to the examination.
A score of less than 10/20 opens access to the second session, organized as a written examination only and whose rating will permanently replace the overall rating previously obtained.
The student will be assessed primarily on:
- his/her ability to place an event / stylistic and artistic movement / architectural artifact within its expanded historical context;
- his/her ability to discuss and debate the political, socio-economic and cultural issues and contingencies of any form of architecture;
- his/her ability to read and evaluate the challenges of architecture in general, given contemporary constraints.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Catherine Elsen, Associate Professor catherine.elsen@ulg.ac.be