PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Fine and Performing Arts
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
FALL 2010
ARCH 230
Architecture and Cultural History I
Professor:
Meets:
Location:
Contact:
Juan Heredia
MW 10.00-11.50
ASRC 001
jheredia@pdx.edu
Course Description
One of a series of courses tracing the history of
architecture understood as a cultural product from
the early Paleolithic Age up to the 20th century.
This course addresses the early Stone Age up to
the Bronze and Iron Ages. The courses will focus
on a select number of architectural works that are
representative of specific cultural beliefs, values,
and ideologies as embodied in architectonic forms
and experiences.
Course Objectives
 Familiarize students with the diversity of
architecture issuing from the great epochs of
history, with particular reference to its
relationship with the other arts and the wider
cultural context.
 Introduce the architecture, art and material
culture of Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron
Age civilizations.
 Engage students with the material through
lectures, research, writing, and other interpretive
project work.
NAAB Performance Criteria
Communication Skills
Investigative Skills
Historical Traditions & Global Culture
Cultural Diversity
Human Behavior
Course Intentions
As the first of a three-part sequence, this course introduces students to the understanding of architecture
in a historical context. It traces the emergence and early configuration of the art that you chose to study
in certain periods and regions considered to be foundational to our present cultural circumstances. These
temporal and geographic locations, however, are only representative of the wider phenomenon of
architecture as the art that endows human life with practical, ritual, and symbolic settings. The course will
follow an overall chronological order, organizing and presenting material according to more or less
defined cultural units or “civilizations.” Besides a general narrative, it will concentrate on particular works
that given their relevance will be described and analyzed with closer attention. These works will not be
considered mere technical or aesthetic objects, but always in relation to the wider set of references
(anthropological, urban, natural, or cosmic) that give them orientation and meaning. The course will
consist of a series of lectures, student presentations, discussions, reading and writing assignments,
quizzes, and mid-term and final exams.
Lectures
Lectures will cover general topics on a roughly weekly basis. During the lectures students are welcomed,
in fact encouraged, to interrupt with any doubts, questions, comments, or challenging arguments. Time
will be reserved for questions, discussions, the occasional projection of audiovisual material, and other
student inquiries.
Reading
The required textbook is Spiro Kostof, A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals, second edition
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). Students should read the pages marked in the schedule (e.g.
Kostof 50-61) before each lecture. Other required readings are also indicated in the schedule and will be
available at https://bb.pdx.edu.
Writing
There will be periodical writing assignments. Each assignment will consist of a 250-350 word essay
summarizing and interpreting the general argument of a lecture and respective reading and presentation
(marked in the schedule with an asterix*). Between a summary and a personal interpretation, emphasis
should be placed on the latter. Essays will be submitted in a single sheet of paper, double sided if needed.
A good syntax and orthography is very important and will count toward the essay’s grade. Students can
include illustrations in the form of personal sketches (plans, sections, diagrams etc.) or other annotated
images that can help strengthen the argument.
Quizzes
There will be short but unannounced quizzes throughout the term. These are intended to help maintain
regular habits of reading and studying the course material.
Exams
Exams will consist of identification and description of slides, and essay questions. Like in the writing
assignments a good syntax and orthography is required. Exams are not cumulative.
Research Presentation
After each lecture beginning in week 2, there will be a team student Power-Point presentation on a
selected topic. The duration will be no more than 20 minutes. Team formation, signing up, and the
handing out of topics and general guidelines will occur the first day of classes.
Important
No laptops are allowed in class. There will be no makeup exams or quizzes unless a medical emergency
can be documented. All written assignments should be submitted in hard copy.
Grading percentages
Writing Assignments: 15%; Quizzes: 15%; Midterm Exam: 25%; Final Exam: 25%; Research presentation:
20%
GRA:
Toni Lettiere
lettiere@pdx.edu
Week 1:
M Sep 27
W Sep 29
Week 2:
M Oct 4
W Oct 6
Week 3:
M Oct 11
W Oct 13*
Week 4:
M Oct 18
W Oct 20
Week 5:
M Oct 25*
W Oct 27
Week 6:
M Nov 1
W Nov 3
Week 7:
M Nov 8
W Nov 10
Week 8:
M Nov 15*
W Nov 17
Week 9:
M Nov 22
Class Schedule
General Introduction
Architecture, History, Culture, and the “West”
Kostof, 3-19
M. W. Lewis and Kären E. Wigen, The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), ix-xiv, 1-7, 33-41, 47-62
Paleolithic Origins
Kostof, 21-41
Neolithic Beginnings
Kostof, 43-50;
Cynthia Stokes Brown, Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present, 73-93
Mesopotamia
Kostof, 50-61
Mesopotamia
Kostof, 61-65
Peter Carl, “Ancient Mesopotamia and the Foundation of Architectural Representation,”
Princeton Journal I (1983), 178-176
Ancient Egypt
Kostof, 67-78
Written Assignment due
Ancient Egypt
Kostof, 79-89
Harappan India with a Glimpse at the World at Large
Kostof, 225-233
G. Possehl, “Mohenjo-Dharo: The Symbolic Landscape of an Ancient City,” in T. Atkin and J.
Rykwert eds. Structure and Meaning in Human Settlements (Philadelphia: U. of
Pennsylvania, 2005), 67-83.
Pre-Columbian America
Kostof, 233-241
Written Assignment due
Pre-Columbian America
Kostof, 433-439
Anthony Aveni, Skywatchers, revised ed. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001), 217-244
Mid-Term Exam
Asia Minor and Crete
Kostof, 91-99, 106-109
Mycenea and Ancient Greece
Kostof, 99-109 (reread 106-109)
Ancient Greece
Kostof, 115-135
J.J. Coulton, The Architectural Development of the Greek Stoa (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1976), 39-54
Ancient Greece
Kostof, 137-159
Written Assignment due
Empire and Ecumenism (From Persia to Hellenism)
Kostof, 130-135, 161-189
W Nov 24
Rome
Kostof, 191-201
Week 10:
M Nov 29
W Dec 1
Week 11:
Rome
Kostof, 201-215
Clive Knights, “The Spatiality of the Roman Domestic Setting,” in Architecture and Order:
Approaches to Social Space, (London: Routledge, 1994), 113-146.
Rome and Beyond (Last Day of Class)
Kostof, 217-223, 245-252
Final Exam (See PSU Exam schedule)
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance
Absence from class will be noted and will negatively affect your grade unless prior notice is given to the professor and
the reason is legitimate. If you miss more than 3 class sessions without acceptable reason you will receive an 'X' for
the class. Requirements for this class will include class meetings, assignments and/or performances that will be held
off-campus. Students/participants will provide his/her own method of transportation to the off-campus location.
Department Grading Standards
All assignments issued by the professor are gradable and will be taken into account in making a final grade.
Submission of any assignment past the due time and date will incur a penalty of one grade loss per day late. Grading
will follow course specific grading criteria described in each course syllabus, in full accordance with the Department of
Architecture Grading Standards as presented below.
A
Represents comprehensive excellence and a quality that is exemplary. Not only does the work fulfill all
requirements in an excellent and professional manner, but it goes beyond the given requirements aiming at
standards higher than requested. The student is an active, engaged participant in all class activities.
Intellectual progress and development have been demonstrated by the timely preparation of thoughtful
work by the beginning of class on a regular basis.
B
Represents work which can be distinguished as being of truly ‘good’ quality. This work is of a quality that
has been instructive to the rest of the class. The work is free of significant flaws and is recognizable as
coherent architecture. The student is an active, engaged participant in all class activities. Intellectual
progress and development has been demonstrated by the timely preparation of work by the beginning of
class on a regular basis.
C
Represents satisfactory and average performance. The work is free of major design flaws and is recognizable
as coherent architecture. Intellectual progress and development has been demonstrated by the timely
preparation of work by the beginning of class on a regular basis. The student and instructor can take
‘satisfaction’ in the average resolution of the design exercise.
D
Represents ‘passable’ work which fulfills requirements, is completed on time, and represents a minimal
response to the design exercise. Overall, the quality of work is inferior and undistinguished.
F
Represents substandard work that is not passable. Work has not fulfilled requirements, or has not been
completed on time, or it is not an appropriate response to the design exercise.
I
An ‘Incomplete’ can only given in exceptional cases where there is a serious excusable reason for not
completing course requirements. The quality of work in the course up to that point must have been C level
or above. Timely completion of the course requirements must be agreed in a University mandated written
contract between student and instructor.
X
Represents ‘no basis for grade’ and generally signifies lack of, or insufficient, attendance.
A grade of Incomplete (I) cannot be carried past the next immediate term of studio classes. If the grade of (I) has not
been removed by completion of work, the student will not be permitted to enroll in the next studio class in sequence
since the prerequisite will not have been fulfilled.
Grades of less than C- will not count towards fulfilling Major requirements for undergraduates. Two consecutive
grades of C- in any studio sequence will prohibit enrollment in the next studio.
Grades of B- or less do not meet acceptable standards for graduates in the Master’s program. Please see graduate
studies grading criteria in the PSU Bulletin for a full explanation.
Please refer to the Department of Architecture Student Handbook for further information