We will explore how architecture affects us, as well as how it informs us about past societies. In what ways does architecture shape our experiences; how does it enhance or detract from human activities? This course will cover material from the pre-historic period through c. 1420 largely in Europe with some examples from Asia, Africa and the Americas. Classes will be a combination of lectures and in-class activities.

This course will examine architecture and urbanism from around 1400 C.E. to the present, tracing connections and distinctions that have guided the design, uses, and meanings of built environments around the globe. You will be introduced to celebrated buildings and less well-known sites and cities, with particular attention to the aesthetic, social, cultural, and institutional situations in which they developed.

Topical offerings in architectural history.

Public Humanities and Cultural Change introduces undergraduate students to the power of place and story in the shaping of the American imagination. The multi-disciplinary course centers 1) engaging complex pasts, 2) place-based and community-based methodologies, 3) the inherently political nature of public humanities, and 4) impactful public engagement, especially across difference.

This class is a field-based seminar on methods of analyzing and recording historic buildings, especially vernacular buildings and landscapes. Students will be introduced to intensive building analysis geared to understanding change over time. Students will also learn methods of careful field recording for both documentation and analysis. Graduate students will undertake additional course requirements. Course may include site visits.

This seminar surveys preservation from its historical beginnings through contemporary emerging trends, focusing on the changing nature of its ideals and practice in a critical and international perspective. We will explore the role of historic preservation and heritage in cultural politics, historical interpretation, urban development, and planning and design practice.

Combining seminar discussions, shop exercises and laboratory exercises, this course explores the material culture of architecture from the perspective of materials science. Material culture is the physical stuff that is part of human life, and includes everything humans make and use including materials we use to shape the environment.

American architecture from the first European contact to the death of Jefferson. Lectures and field trips.

Research seminar in select topics in architectural history.

Advanced work on independent research topics by individual students.