History of architecture: contemporary [15h]

licar1302  2020-2021  Louvain-la-Neuve

History of architecture: contemporary [15h]
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information below is subject to change, in particular that concerning the teaching mode (presential, distance or in a comodal or hybrid format).
3 credits
30.0 h
Q1
Teacher(s)
Masson Olivier;
Language
French
Main themes
The teaching will describe and analyse the architectural devices designed in the last century to put current productions in perspective. The historical perspective on these projects will focus in turn on the general or specific intentions (objectives, aims, questions) of the architects, the architectural elements they implement (walls, pilings,...), the compositional logics (in cross-section and plan) that bring together the elements, the dimensions specific to architecture (spatiality, structure, light, materials, relationship to uses, relationship to context,...). The teaching will explain the theoretical, philosophical, social and cultural issues associated with these architectures and will confront them with a critical investigation.
The course is based on the analysis of projects using the representation's tools of the architectural discipline: the plan, the cut, the elevation, the photos.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 At the end of this activity, students will be able to:
  • Distinguish the major periods that have shaped the history of architecture over the past 100 years.
  • Recognize and illustrate active continuities, ruptures and logical sequences within or between these periods.
  • Mobilize architectural references and compare them. Analyze a contemporary architectural project in terms of purpose and composition process.
  • Analyze (and criticize) a contemporary production in terms of spatial proposals, architectural structures, forms, constructive modes, integration of uses, participation in the context of public places,...
  • To situate one's own production in relation to the history of architecture.
 
Content
The presentation of current developments in architecture requires a historical perspective to understand the issues and challenges that still determine the contemporary situation.
Three stages are first presented, each based on an analysed paradigmatic reference: the pre-modern and its tradition of guaranteed unity; the modern and the rupture induced by its questioning: what can the separation of the elements achieve; the current and its ethical questions about the synthesis it must propose.
The times are then revisited through four themes separated by the modern break: place (spatiality), structure, envelope and uses.
The study of each theme is similarly deployed: the introduction recalls the pre-modern unitary situation. The following sections describe the modern ambition and the different paths taken since its achievement.
The course is based in its transmissive part on project analysis. The historical perspective on these projects focuses in turn on the general or specific intentions (objectives, aims, questions) of architects, on the architectural elements they implement (walls, pilings,...), on the compositional logics (in cross-section and plan) that bring the elements together, and on the dimensions specific to architecture (spatiality, structure, light, materials, relationship to uses, relationship to context,...)
The most contemporary situation and the Belgian context will finally be visited. 
The times and themes are also put into perspective in exercises and visits (if the health situation permits visits).
Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Two teaching methods are used:

- a transmissive part based on the presentation of projects and theoretical concepts.
- a part in active pedagogy for the last sessions (exercises, analyses, visits,...)
Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

The evaluation is done through a written examination in the January session.
For the third session, the evaluation is done in the form of a work.
Other information
/
Online resources
Course notes are available on the activity's Moodle platform.
Bibliography
Histoire : classiques
Architecture contemporaine, Luc-Francis Génicot, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1983.
Architecture contemporaine, Manfredo Tafuri et Francesco dal Co, Editions Gallimard, 1991.
Espace, Temps, Architecture, Siegfied Giedion, Bibliothèque Médiations, Editions Denoël Gonthier, 1978.
Histoire de l’architecture moderne, Tomes 1 à 4 (1. La révolution industrielle, 2. Avant-garde et mouvement moderne (1890-1930), 3. Les conflits et l’après-guerre, 4. L’inévitable éclectisme (1960-1980), Léonardo Benevolo, Collection Espace & Architecture, Editions Dunod, 1978-1988.
Histoire mondiale de l’architecture et de l’urbanisme moderne, Michel Ragon, 3 vol., 1971-1978. Edition mise à jour dans la Collection Essais Points des Editions du Seuil, 1991.
Le génie de l’architecture européenne, Nikolaus Pevsner, Editions du Livre de Poche, 1970, réédité aux Editions du Chêne, 1997.
Mouvements modernes en architecture, Charles Jencks, Collection Architecture + Recherche, Editions Mardaga, 1977, réédité en 1995.
Histoire : livres récents
Histoire de l’architecture du XXe siècle, Collectif, Editions Könemann, 1999.
L’architecture du XXème siècle, Peter Gössel et Gabriele Leuthäuser, Editions Taschen, 2005 (2 volumes)
L’architecture moderne, Alan Colquhoun, Collection Archgraphy Histoire et Théorie, Editions Infolio, 2006.
L’architecture moderne, Une histoire critique, Kenneth Frampton, Editions Thames & Hudson, 2006, 3ème édition.
L’architecture moderne, histoire, principaux courants, grandes figures, Anne Bony, Collection Reconnaître – Comprendre, Editions Larousse, 2006.
L’architecture du XXe siècle, Gérard Monnier, Collection Que sais-je ?, Editions puf, 1997.
L’architecture du XXe siècle, Une vision synoptique, Adrian Meyer, Susanne Kuhlbrodt, Beat Aeberhard, Editions Birkhäuser, 2008.
Histoire de l’architecture moderne, Structure et revêtement, Giovanni Fanelli et Roberto Gargiani, Editions des Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, 2008.
La construction fonctionnelle moderne, Adolf Behne, Collection Textes fondamentaux modernes, Editions de la Villette, 2008 (texte écrit en 1923).
Compilations de projets actuels
The Phaidon Atlas of contemporary world architecture, Editions Phaidon, 2004.
Panorama de l’architecture contemporaine, Editions Könemann, 2000.
+ Collections Taschen (Architecture in …, Architecture Now,…)
+ Revues d’architecture (El Croquis, Architecture d’Aujourd’hui,…
Teaching materials
  • Notes de cours en ligne sur la plate-forme Moodle
Faculty or entity
LOCI


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Minor in Urban Architecture

Bachelor in Engineering : Architecture