B020824 - HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM

INGLESE

The course deals with the complexities of contemporary architecture and the city in the Western context, from World War II to the present. In addition to dealing with well-known architects and buildings, the course aims to discuss how the role of the architect in society has changed in recent decades, and which could be the place and tasks of architecture in the capitalist economic system.

General Readings
William Curtis, Modern Architecture since 1900, Phaidon.
Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture. A Critical History, Thames & Hudson.

Further Readings
Barnabas Calder, Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Change, Penguin.
Mario Carpo, The Alphabet and the Algorithm, MIT Press.
Lorenzo Ciccarelli, Lorenzo Mingardi, Sara Lombardi, Largest Architectural Firms. Design Authorship ad Organization Management, Edifir.
Peggy Deamer, Architecture and Capitalism: 1845 to the Present, Routledge.
Peggy Deamer, Phillip Bernstein, Building (in) the Future. Recasting Labor in Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press.
Pedro Fiori Arantes, The Rent of Form. Architecture and Labor in the Digital Age, Minnesota University Press.
Rem Koolhaas, Testi sulla (non più) città, Quodlibet.
Deyan Sudjic, The Edifice Complex. The Architecture of Power, Penguin.

Further readings and websites will be indicated during lectures.

The course aims to provide students with the knowledge and method to consciously approach the architectural phenomenon in contemporary society and the economic forces, going beyond the media system of the “archistars” and the waste of language and resources.

The course includes lectures, guided readings, on-site visits in Florence and other Italian cities.

During the course, students will be asked to elaborate a historical thematic paper. Each student discusses the topic of the paper with the professor. The final mark of the course will result from the average of this paper and an oral interview.