FOUN 094-19

Architecture, Its Cultural Messages

What people build always surpasses the basic functional needs the building is built to serve. Architects and builders who design buildings usually select from architectural patterns and styles in vogue at a given time and place. Further, buildings are configured to make important statements to their occupants, those who visit the occupants (whether as acquaintances or as clients) and to those who look at the building from the outside. Thus, the product of these designs and messages, a building, reflects and articulates the culture of a specific society, time and place. What are the messages conveyed by these structures?

This seminar explores the messages encoded in public and private buildings, and monuments. While there will be some academic reading, mostly on the history of architecture, to absorb, our work will mainly involve looking at and analyzing real structures. We will regularly use digital cameras to capture architectural features for presentation and analysis within our seminar. Part of the seminar's work will be in Lewisburg, which has an exceptional stock of historic residential architecture, while another part will examine buildings and monuments in London, England, using photographic archives especially prepared for this course.