Professor Lauren O'Connell
ARTH 233/Fall 2006
274-1377/Gannett 100
Great Spaces: An Introduction
to Urban Design
Objective
To explore the world of designed outdoor space, especially in the city, with focus on the cultural meanings embedded in urban form and the relationships between natural site and built form. We will explore the principles that generate compelling spaces on the small and the grand scale--from pocket parks and public squares to ceremonial sites and ideal cities. Our geographical scope will be sweeping, to include Western Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Our chronological boundaries will be equally broad, from the earliest prehistoric settlements to the contemporary city.
Requirements
Students will be expected to attend all class sessions and complete all assigned readings. Three exams and two projects will be given, each of which will contribute equally to the final grade. Participation in class discussion is strongly encouraged and will be considered in the final grade. College policy dictates that more than three absences may result in dismissal from the course. Make-up exams are not generally offered. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Cell phones must be silenced during class, and classroom computers are to be used ONLY for class-related tasks.
Readings and Images
Required readings are contained in a course reader available for purchase in class. The readings are culled from a wide variety of sources, drawing upon the related fields of urban design, city planning, architectural design, architectural history, and landscape architecture. A gallery of study images is available on this website (http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/oconnell/gs). Other course documents will also be posted on the site.
Format
This course will be intensively visual, with digitized images providing a springboard for both lecture and discussion in class. Class sessions will also include individual and group computer-based exercises. Readings will reinforce and amplify material presented in class and provide fodder for discussion.
Roster of Topics
All readings listed are included in the course reader
*This is an approximate schedule. Significant modifications posted over the course of the semester will be marked in bold type*
| Thursday Aug 31 | Open Space Now | Reader 0: Marot, The Reclaiming of Sites, and Reader 0.5: Girot, four Trace Concepts in Landscape Architecture, Recovering Landscape |
| Tues Sept 5 | Defining Open Space | Reader 1: Kostof, City Shaped Reader 1.5: Kahn, Defining Urban Sites, Site Matters |
| Thurs Sept 7 | In the Beginning: the Very Ancient World | Reader 2: Morris, History of Urban Form |
| Tues Sept 12 | Acropolis and forum:Greek and Roman Siting | Reader 3: Morris |
| Thurs Sept 14 | Ceremonial Sites in the Ancient Americas | Reader 4: Sabloff, Cities of Ancient Mexico |
| Tues Sept 19 | The Forbidden City: Planning in Ancient China and Buddhist Japan | Reader 5: Meyer, Dragons of Tiananmen; Reader 6: Nishi and Hozumi, What is Japanese Arch |
| Thurs Sept 21 | Shinto Shrines and Sacred Places | Reader 7: Nishi and Hozumi |
| Tues Sept 26 | EXAM 1 |
|
| Thurs Sept 28 | Dewy Path: Gardens and Tea | Reader 10: Kuck, World of Japanese Gardens |
| Tues Oct 3 | Dream Window: Contemplating the Zen Garden | Reader 8, 9: Keane, Japanese Garden; Holborn, Ocean in the Sand |
| Thurs Oct 5 | Medieval Meanderings/Building Bastides | Reader 11, 12, 13: Morris, Braunfels, Urban Design W Europe |
| Tues Oct 10 | Islamic Order | Reader 14: Hoag, Islamic Architecture |
| Thurs Oct 12 | Renaissance Ideals/ANALYSIS RESULTS |
Reader 15: Morris |
| Tues Oct 17 | Italian Piazzas: Meanings of Civic Space | Reader 16: Wittkower, Art and Architecture in Italy |
| Thurs Oct 19 | FALL BREAK | |
| Tues Oct 24 | French Plazas and Promenades | Reader 17: Dennis, Court and Garden |
| Thurs Oct 26 | Green, Lawn and Square: Early American Space | |
| Tues Oct 31 | EXAM 2 | |
| Thurs Nov 2 | A Nation's Capital: Washington, D.C. |
Reader 18: Morris |
| Tues Nov 7 | A Most Generous Park: New York's Central | Reader 19, 20: Morris, Reps, Monumental Washington |
| Thurs Nov 9 | Light and Air: the Modernist Vision | Reader 21: Rosenzweig, The Park and the People |
| Tues Nov 14 | American Plazas and Architectural Landscapes | Reader 22, 23: Boesiger, LeCorbuser; Le Corbusier, City of Tomorrow |
| Thurs Nov 16 | The Mall and Memory, Vietnam, Korea and WWII | Reader 24, 25, 26: Frankel and Johnson, Modern Landscape Arch, Nat'l. Park Service website, LA on WWII |
| Tues Nov 21 | THANKSGIVING BREAK | |
| Thurs Nov 23 | THANKSGIVING BREAK | |
| Tues Nov 28 | Paris and Montreal: Past and Future | Reader 28: Wiseman, I.M. Pei: Reader 28.5: CCA Buildings and Gardens |
| Thurs Nov 30 | A Memorial for Ground Zero | Reader 27: NYTimes and Washington Post articles, LMDC website |
| Tues Dec 5 | Contemporary Trends: Landscape (and) Urbanism |
Reader 29 , Corner, Landscape Urbanism, in Landscape Urbanism, Mostafavi ed., LA articles |
| Thurs Dec 7 | Student Project Results | |
| Tues Dec 12 | Student Project Results | |
| Thurs Dec 14 | Student Project Results |