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History and Theory of Architecture I

Lecture (052-0803)
Organizer: Chair of Prof. Delbeke
Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Maarten Delbeke

Image: Albert F. Calvert, Side Elevation of the Court of the Lions and Fountain, Palace of the Alhambra, Granada, Spain, 1907.

Fridays, 13:45 - 15:30
HPH G2

The course explores two intertwined stories about European architecture for the period ca. 1500-1850. The first tells how architects and theorists attempt to design and build architecture in imitation of the Ancients. This story has contributed much to how we understand today what architecture is, what an architect should know and do, and how buildings should be designed. In this tradition, architecture is determined by how it is designed and made: all objects generated by the right principles are "architecture."

The second story deals with how architecture expresses cultural meaning and is endowed with it. From its inception, architecture serves to express ideas that are important for a society (or at least for its ruling classes), such as power, religious beliefs, social hierarchy, the functioning of the state, etc. But various forces in society also use buildings and architecture to express particular meanings, and buildings are not necessarily understood in ways their builders or designers intended. This perspective in architecture draws attention to its context and the wider range of actors that are involved in it, as well as to the various media involved in articulating the meaning of buildings.