After completing the course, students are able to
- identify the elements and hierarchy of the traditional city.
- identify the elements and hierarchy of traditional architecture.
- describe architectural and urban design elements using both verbal and graphic means and begin to describe those elements as contributors to civic hierarchy and sense of place.
- compose a simple urban and architectural composition using the elements and hierarchy of the traditional city and its architecture.
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The Civil City & Its Architecture will compliment many disciplines and courses currently offered by the UCU. Below are some such examples:
Art History
History
Anthropology
Sustainability
Urban Geography
Analysis of Societal Data
Content
The manner in which we build buildings and cities is the most prominent reflection of how we view nature and our place in it. Who are we? What do we believe? What are our goals? That which we take pride in creating speaks of our most cherished beliefs, but that which we address with indifference or without care speaks just as loudly. The first step to ensuring that a community’s physical form reflects it effectively is ensuring that the community’s members can speak articulately about that physical form, thereby allowing them to serve as both advocates for and stewards of that community.
This is a survey course in identifying and understanding the design and construction of traditional cities and buildings as the basis for the creation of the civil (or humane) city and its architecture, looking at both the universal principles and elements common to cities and various building types around the world and the local adaptations that distinguish individual regional and local character. The purpose of the course is to give students an alternative point of view from what is more commonplace in contemporary architectural and urban design education. It intends to provide students with a basic understanding of classical and traditional architecture and urban design, allowing them to be more aware of and engaged with the world around them and the consequences of the choices inherent in our built environment on community, economics, human health, and the natural environment.
Readings and drawing assignments will be selected to prompt discussion and an exploration of how we do and ought to live together within an urban context.
Format
The class meets in a morning and an afternoon session, three times per week. Morning sessions will be class discussions and lectures based on assigned readings. Students are expected to read assigned material prior to class and participate in the discussions. Afternoon sessions will focus on drawing and sketching the traditional city and its buildings in both the classroom and on walking tours in the city of Utrecht. The course will also include a day trip by bus to Brussels to study class topics in a larger urban context. Please note that specific items on the course calendar may need to remain flexible based on weather.
Reading assignments will be short (10-15 pages in length) and made available in digital format prior to class. Students are expected to read assigned material prior to the beginning of class. All drawing assignments will completed within sketchbooks or on a collage of photocopied material. Students are not expected to make a large monetary investment in materials in order to take this course.
Teaching methods will be largely interactive and occur within a mixture of lectures, discussions, excursions, and sketching workshops.
Teachers:
Prof. John Mellor from the University of Notre Dame
Prof. Samantha L. Salden Teach from the University of Notre Dame
Professors Mellor and Salden Teach will roughly split the hours evenly between them.
Assistants:
Jaap Dawson
Joseph Jutras
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