This survey course aims to introduce students to a broad range of architectural cases studies primarily constructed in the 18th to mid-20th centuries. Departing from conventional metanarratives of architectural history that place the advent of modern architecture in late nineteenth or early twentieth century Western Europe, this class considers how global architectural styles, techniques of construction, and approaches to city-making have been shaped by the onset and spread of capitalism, colonialism, industrialization, and regimes of environmental extraction. We will see how techniques and technologies of architectural design ‘developed’ over these centuries, while also inquiring what systems of knowledge, labor, and representation were erased in the name of ‘development,’ ‘modernization,’ and ‘progress.’ In turn, the course also foregrounds the role that abolitionist, socialist, feminist, and Black radical movements played in projecting other utopian possibilities for the built environment.
- Instructor of record: M.C. Overholt
Instruction Mode: In Person