The Architectural Imagination (edX)

The first part of the course introduces the idea of the architectural imagination. Perspective drawing and architectural typology are explored and you will be introduced to some of the challenges in writing architectural history.

Then we address technology as a component of architecture. You will discover ways that innovative technology can enable and promote new aesthetic experiences, or disrupt age-old traditions. Technological advances changed what could be built, and even what could even be thought of as architecture.

Finally, we'll confront architecture’s complex relationship to its social and historical contexts and its audiences, achievements, and aspirations. You will learn about architecture’s power of representation and see how it can produce collective meaning and memory.

Architecture is one of the most complexly negotiated and globally recognized cultural practices, both as an academic subject and a professional career. Its production involves all of the technical, aesthetic, political, and economic issues at play within a given society. Join us as we examine how architecture engages, mediates, and expresses a culture’s complex aspirations.

This course is eligible for American Institute of Architects (AIA) continuing education units (CEUs). Enroll in the course to learn more about options for earning credit.

What you'll learn:

- How to read, analyze, and understand different forms of architectural representation

- Social and historical contexts behind major works of architecture

- Basic principles to produce your own architectural drawings and models

- Pertinent content for academic study or a professional career as an architect

Syllabus

Part I: Form and History

Module 1: The Architectural Imagination: An Introduction

Module 2: Reading Architecture: Column and Wall

Module 3: Hegel and Architectural History

Module 4: Aldo Rossi and Typology

Part II: The Technology Effect

Module 5: The Crystal Palace: Infrastructure and Detail

Module 6: The Dialectics of Glass and Steel

Module 7: Technology Tamed: Le Corbusier’s Machines for Living

Part III: Representation and Context

Module 8: Drawing Utopia: Visionary Architecture of the 18th Century

Module 9: The Pompidou Center in the City of Paris

Module 10: Presenting the Unrepresentable