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20C Architecture and City Planning, A Monograph
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  Preface
Including W3645y course syllabus and requirements
     
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A compendium of texts and links relating to the study of 20th Century Architecture and City Planning
     
 

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Image portfolios organized in chronological, thematic, and/or media specific groupings

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Course Overview

This course is not a survey of all architecture produced in the twentieth century around the world, rather it is an introduction to the primary movements, figures, and debates which were at the heart of the diverse strands most commonly referred to as "modernism." In recent decades the notion of a unified modern movement in architecture has increasingly been challenged, and modernism itself has come to be seen as a multivalent, even contradictory category in architecture. Something of that complexity will be reflected in the course lectures which will frequently seek to portray a particular figure, movement or ideology in relief against other alternatives available in a given time or place that proved a crucial center of debate over progressive architecture.

Architectural Modernism is arguably the first phenomenon in the history of architecture which might rightly be called global, even if its precepts and forms were not explored in all parts of the world for much of the century. While some reference will be made to major works outside of Europe and North America, the emphasis will be overwhelmingly on European avant-grade movements and on their impact in the United States. Moreover there will be a deliberate emphasis on the heroic decades leading up to 1945, which will comprise over 2/3 of the course. The last 1/3 of the term will be devoted to a more rapid survey of post-1945 developments, justified in part because students may now follow this survey with either "Architecture Since 1945," which is regularly offered by the Department or by specialized seminars on aspects of post-War and contemporary architecture.

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