Jordan University of Science and Technology

College of Architecture and Design

Department of Architecture
Second Semester, Academic Year 2019/2020
Arch748 (Architectural Theory and Criticism) (3Cr.Hr.)

Course Syllabus

Course
Course Code ARCH748 Architectural Theory and Criticism Cr.hr. 3
Title
(Days)(Time)
Class Room U Time
Sunday 11:15- 2:15
Instructor Anwar F. Ibrahim E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 02-7201000 (22776)

Course Description: (According to the curriculum)

This seminar examines a number of theoretical tendencies that affected the production and
consumption of the architectural design philosophy and form making since 1950s such as
modernism, postmodernism, semiotics, Marxism, phenomenology, structuralism, post-structuralism
and deconstruction. An amble of focus will be paid toward studying the influence of cultural
theories such as the “critical theory” on modern architectural discourse.

Course format and outline:

The course will be conducted in a seminar format. Each weekly meeting will discuss prior assigned
readings that will be presented by a student and discussed as a structured reading group. The
course relies on Jonathan Hale’s “Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory” as the
main textbook, thus structuring the course timeline and the topics of each seminar session
accordingly. Additional readings will be assigned from a constellation of book anthologies that
closely examine Post Modernism and its philosophical underpinnings and narratives.
This course considers the changing role of theory with respect to practice since 1968, the date that
many scholars assign as the pitfall moment of modern architecture and the inauguration of Post
Modernity. As such, this seminar will explore the possibilities, the boundaries, and the implications
of Architectural Theory. In this sense, Architectural Theory can be used as justification, as
propaganda, as a guide for practice, as a set of principles, as a vehicle of thought, as a platform for
debate, or it might be an architectural project in itself. The aim of this course is to furnish students
with a set of questions, techniques, and tools for criticism and self-critique.
Each seminar will be devoted to the discussion of key ideas and common themes of the designated
era. Focusing on key figures, movements, and texts, it provides an overview of the principal theories
that have informed, animated, or destabilized the architectural discourse of the past five decades. It
begins with the challenges to Modernism articulated in the 1960s, moves on to various formulations
of postmodernism during the 1970s, examines the rise of critical theory in the 1980s, considers the
challenges mounted against theory in the 1990s and the introduction of new topics of concern, and
concludes by addressing select topics of contemporary debate.

Course Objectives:
1- Introduce students to various theoretical frameworks of producing, understanding,
practicing and interpretation architecture that emerged after 1968 until present.
2- Expose students to literature of philosophy that constituted the underpinnings of
architectural movements and theories in the post modernity era.
3- Enhance students’ critical skills in terms of understanding and producing architecture.

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 1
 4- Raise students’ ability to critically question narratives of architecture and how architects
represent themselves through their works and writings.

Course Learning Outcomes:

Course Outline

Week Day Date Topic

1 Sunday Feb 2nd Introductory meeting
2 Sunday Feb 9th Course Overview, Definition of Critical theory

Sunday Feb 16th Architecture Theory; Definition and History

Main Readings:
Nesbitt, Kate. Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of
Architectural Theory, 1965-1995 (New York: Princeton Architectural Press,
1996), 7-16.
Hale, A. Johnathan. Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory
(New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd), 1-7
Hays, K. Michael, Architecture Theory Since 1968, "Introduction"
Alberto Perez Gomez, "Introduction to Architecture and the crisis of
3 modern Science,” in Architecture Theory Since 1968 ed. Michael Hays
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998), 466-75K

Additional Readings:
Kearney, Richard. Modern Movements in European Philosophy.
Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1986.
Gelernter, Mark. Sources of Architectural Form: A Critical History of
Western Design Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995.
 Class-lead discussion by: Doha & Jihan

Sunday Feb 23rd The Dilemma of Meaning in Architecture/ The Determinism of

Engineering and Technology
Main Readings:
Hale, A. Johnathan. Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory
(New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd), 11- 45
Theodor Adorno, “Functionalism Today,” in Rethinking Architecture ed. Neil
Leach (London: Routledge,1997), 4-18.
4 Mallgrave, Harry Francis & Goodman, David. An Introduction to
Architectural Theory 1968 to the Present (New York: John Wiley & Sons
Ltd), 17-64.

Additional Readings:
Hegel, G. W. F. Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics. London: Penguin Books,
1993 .
Corbusier, Le. Towards a New Architecture. London: Architectural Press,

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 2
 1946.
Rogers, Richard. Architecture: A Modern View. London: Thames and
Hudson, 1990.
Loos, Adolf. “Ornament and Crime,” in Programs and Manifestations on
20th Century Architecture ed. Ulrich Conrads (London: Lund Humphries,
1970), 19-24.
 Class-lead discussion by Al’aa & Mai
Book Selection Due Date:

Sunday March 1st The Dilemma of Meaning in Architecture/ Philosophy and Architecture;
Architecture as an Autonomous Art
Main Readings:
Hale, A. Johnathan. Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory
(New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd), 47- 90
Andrew Benjamin, “Eisenman and the Housing of Tradition,” in Rethinking
Architecture ed. Neil Leach (London: Routledge,1997), 286-301
5

Additional Readings:
Beardsley, Monroe. Aesthetics: From Classical Greece to the Present, A
Short History. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
Norris, Christopher. Deconstruction: Theory and Practice. London:
Routledge, 1991.
 Class-lead discussion by Nour & Ola

Sunday March 8the Experiencing Architecture: Phenomenology As an Interpretation

Framework.

Main Readings:
Hale, A. Johnathan. Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory
(New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd), 93-129
Bernard Tschumi, “The Architectural Paradox,” in Architecture Theory Since
1968 ed. Michael Hays (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998),
218-28

6
Additional Readings:
Eagleton, Terry, “Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Reception Theory,” in
Literary Theory: An Introduction (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 1983), 54-90.
Frampton, Kenneth, “Prospects for a Critical Regionalism,” in Theorizing
New Agenda For Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory ed.
Kate Nesbitt 1965-1995 (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996),
470-82.
 Class-lead discussion by Yazan & Ma’an
 Paper Abstract submission with Bibliography.

Sunday March 15th Linguistics into Play; Architecture as a Language: Structuralism and
7
Semiotics

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 3
 Main Readings:
Hale, A. Johnathan. Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory
(New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd): 132- 170
Geoffrey Broadbent, “A Plain Man’s Guide to the Theory of Signs in
Architecture,” in Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology
of Architectural Theory 1965-95 ed. Kate Nesbit (New York: Princeton
Architectural Press,1996), 124-40.

Additional Readings:
Eagleton, Terry, “Structuralism and Semiotics,” in literary Theory: An
Introduction (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980), 91-126.
De Saussure, Ferdinand. Course in General Linguistics. New York: McGraw
Hill, 1966.
Jenks, Charles. The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. London:
Academy Editions, 1978.
Venturi, Robert et. Al. Learning From Las Vegas. Cambridge: MIT Press,
1997.
 Class-lead discussion by Islam & Fatin

Sunday March 22nd Back to the Context; Architecture As a Medium of Social Reformation.

Main Readings:
Hale, A. Johnathan. Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory
(New York: John Wiley & Sons Ltd), 171-211
Fredrick Jameson, “Architecture and the Critique of Ideology,” in
Architecture Theory Since 1968 ed. Michael Hays (Cambridge, MA: MIT
8 Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998), 442-61
Additional Readings:
Sheringham, Michael. Everyday Life: Theories and Practices from Surrealism
to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Tafuri, Manfredo. Architecture and Utopia: Design and Capitalist
Development. Cambridge: MIT Press, MA, 1976.

 Class-lead discussion by Rand & Yasmeen

9 Sunday March 29th Midterm Exam

Sunday April 5th Architecture and the Discourse of Criticism; Genealogy, Principles and
Frames of Reference.
Main Readings:
10 Proceedings of an International Seminar Organized by Aga Khan Award for
Architecture, edited by Mohammad Al-Asad, 2005, 21-72. 73-86; 123- 128;
137-143.
 Class-lead discussion by Ghofran & Asalah

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 4
 Sunday April 12th Revisiting Bourdieu; Reading Architectural Through Sociological Lens.
Main Readings:
Jones, Paul. The Sociology of Architecture Constructing Identities. 1-65; 92-
114
Additional Readings:
Bourdieu, P. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge
11 University Press, 1977.
Bourdieu, P. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. London:
Routledge, 1989.
Webster. Helena. Bourdieu for Architects. Routledge, 2010.
 Class-lead discussion by Nour Abu Rashed & Eman
Book Assignment due.

12 Sunday April 19th Presentations

13 Sunday April 26th Presentations

15 Sunday May 3rd No Lecture

16 Sunday May 10th Presentations

Final Exams Period/ submission the final paper due

Eid Al-Fitr 22-25/ 5/ 2020
17
Final Exams: Saturday - Thursday 16/5 – 2/6/ 2020
Final Paper due date: a week prior the final exam.

Assessment:
Assessment will be based on participation in the seminar and on the four seminar assignments described
below and two exams; midterm and final. It is expected that the work on seminar preparation and on
assignments will be carried out over the entire 14 weeks of the seminar.

Presentations and class-lead discussion assignment will be assigned on class. Late submissions will not be
accepted without prior notification and the appropriate documentation.

Assess. Start Sub Week Submission Weighting of

Type To Assess Total
No. Week No. Date Assessments

Instructing and
1 Class- Lead moderating a weekly weekly Varies 10%
Discussion discussion

2 Participation Completion and weekly weekly Weekly 15%

& Response understanding the

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 5
 Sheet assigned readings 100%

Midterm Critical Thinking

3 Week 1 Week 7 March 17th 15%
Exam and understanding
The ability to
comprehend a
Book theoretical topic
4 Week 3 Week 10 April 12th 10%
Assignment and instruct a
seminar class on
that topic
Research Writing and critical
5 Week 6 Week 14 TBA 25%
paper thinking skills
6 Final Exam Week 1 Week 14 TBA 25%

Total 100% 100%

References:
Hale, Jonathan A. Building Ideas An Introduction to Architectural Theory. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd,
2000.
Al-Asad, Mohammad. Architectural Criticism and Journalism: Global Perspective, Proceedings of an
International Seminar organized by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. 2005.

Additional References:

Modern architecture

Hitchcock, Henry Russell. "Walter Gropius. [Illus. of His Work, Bibliography, Chronologies of Life and Work."
N.Y. Museum of Modern Art. Modern Architecture, International Exhibition, Catalog. New York: , 1932.
57-70.

Hamlin, Talbot F. "The Birth of American Architecture." Parnassus 10.6 (1938): 8-12.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/771535>.

Condit, Carl W. "Modern Architecture: A New Technical-Aesthetic Synthesis." The Journal of Aesthetics and
Art Criticism 6.1 (1947): 45-54. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/426177>.

Condit, Carl W. "Modern Architecture: A New Technical-Aesthetic Synthesis." The Journal of Aesthetics and
Art Criticism 6.1 (1947): 45-54. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/426177>.

Gropius, Walter. "[the Machine and Styles in Architecture.]." New York, N.Y. Museum of Modern Art., 1948.
10-12.

Koch, Carl. "[Fundamental Philosophy of Architecture.]." New York, N.Y. Museum of Modern Art., 1948. 20.

Le Corbusier, Stamo Papadaki, and Joseph Hudnut. Le Corbusier, Architect, Painter, Writer;. New York:
Macmillan Co, 1948.

Wurster, Catherine Bauer. "Towards a New Physical World." Mumford, Lewis, Ed. Roots of Contemporary
American Architecture..., N.Y. Reinhold: , 1952. 347-355.

Yost, Joseph Warren. "The Development of Modern Style." Mumford, Lewis, Ed. Roots of Contemporary
American Architecture ... N.Y. Reinhold: , 1952. 152-158.

Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl. "Environment and Anonymous Architecture." Perspecta 3 (1955): 3-77.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566829>.

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 6
Rudolph, Paul. "Regionalism in Architecture." Perspecta 4 (1957): 12-9.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566852>.

Gill, Howard B. "Correctional Philosophy and Architecture." The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and
Police Science 53.3 (1962): 312-22. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1141466>.

Michelis, P. A. "Space-Time and Contemporary Architecture." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 8.2
(1949): 71-86. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/426589>.

Giurgola, Romaldo. "Architecture in Change." Journal of Architectural Education (1947-1974) 17.2, The
Architect and the City. The 1962 AIA-ACSA Seminar Papers Presented at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Part I (1962): 104-6. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1423924>.

Architecture 1918-1928 : From the Novembergruppe to the C.I.A.M. : Functionalism and Expressionism :
Proceedings, may 4 and 5, 1962. New York: Distributed by the Dept. of Art History and Archaeology and
the Avery Architectural Library, Columbia University in the City of New York, 1963.

Mumford, Lewis, S. Giedion, and Eternal present. Review. "Constancy and Change." New Yorker. March 6: ,
1965. 158-170.

Feiss, Carl. "The Future Role of the Architect." Journal of Architectural Education (1947-1974) 13.1 (1958): 13-
6. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424176>.

Kahn, Louis I., and Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). Louis I. Kahn, Architect, Richards Medical
Research Building. New York, N.Y; Garden City, N.Y: Museum of Modern Art; Distributed by Doubleday,
1961.

Modern Architecture Symposium (MAS 1964) : The Decade 1929-1939. Society of Architectural Historians,
1965.

Kubler, George A. "What can Historians do for Architects?" Perspecta 9 (1965): 299-302.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566924>.

Münz, Ludwig, Gustave Künstler, and Joint Author. Adolf Loos, Pioneer of Modern Architecture. New York:
Praeger, 1966.

Gombrich H., "Norm and Form: The Stylistic Categories of Art History and Their Origins in Renaissance Ideals,"
in Norm and Form: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance /(Chicago, 1966)

Shiner, Larry E. "Sacred Space, Profane Space, Human Space." Journal of the American Academy of Religion
40.4 (1972): 425-36. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1460891>.

Kindler, Roger A. "Periodical Criticism 1815-40: Originality in Architecture." Architectural History 17 (1974): 22-
37. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1568343>.

Hildebrand, Grant. "Albert Kahn: The Second Industrial Revolution." Perspecta 15., Backgrounds for an
American Architecture (1975): 31-40. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567012>.

Wright, Frank Lloyd, Andrew Devane, and Frederick Albert Gutheim. In the Cause of Architecture, Frank Lloyd
Wright : Essays. New York: Architectural Record, 1975.

Creese, Walter. "History from Practice to School." JAE 32.3 (1979): 22-6.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424563>.

Arnheim, Rudolf. "The Dimensions of Disagreement." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 38.1 (1979):
15-20. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/430040>.

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 7
Colquhoun, Alan. Essays in Architectural Criticism : Modern Architecture and Historical Change. Cambridge,
Mass: MIT Press, 1981.

King, A. D., and University of Brunel. The Bungalow, 1600-1980 : A Study of the Cultural, Social, Political and
Economic Factors in the Production of a Global House-Type. Uxbridge: University of Brunel, 1982.

Wolfflin, Classic Art: An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance. Ithaca, (1982): 207-88.

Hancock, John E. "Architecture and its History: Past Futures and Future Pasts." JAE 36.1 (1982): 26-33.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424605>.

McLeod, Mary. ""Architecture Or Revolution": Taylorism, Technocracy, and Social Change." Art Journal 43.2,
Revising Modernist History: The Architecture of the 1920s and 1930s (1983): 132-47.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/776649>.

McLeod, Mary. ""Architecture Or Revolution": Taylorism, Technocracy, and Social Change." Art Journal 43.2,
Revising Modernist History: The Architecture of the 1920s and 1930s (1983): 132-47.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/776649>.

Dean, Andrea Oppenheimer, and Bruno Zevi. Bruno Zevi on Modern Architecture. New York: Rizzoli, 1983.

Quantrill, Malcolm. "Reinventing Reality: Reconstructing Architecture." Journal of Architectural Education

(1984-) 43.1 (1989): 45-50. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1424984>.

Behne, Adolf, The Modern Functional Building, tr. Michael Robinson, Santa Monica: Getty Center for the
History of Art and the Humanities, 1996

Passanti, Francesco. "The Vernacular, Modernism, and Le Corbusier." The Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians 56.4 (1997): 438-51. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/991313>.

Lee, Paula Young. "Modern Architecture and the Ideology of Influence." Assemblage.34 (1997): 7-29.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/3171251>.

Ashraf, Kazi Khale, James Belluardo, and Architectural League of New York. An Architecture of Independence :
The Making of Modern South Asia : Charles Correa, Balkrishna Doshi, Muzharul Islam, Achyut Kanvinde.
New York, N.Y: Architectural League of New York, 1998.

Alofsin, Anthony. Frank Lloyd Wright : Europe and Beyond. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
<http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bios/ucal052/99010128.html; Materials specified: Contributor biographical
information http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bios/ucal052/99010128.html; Materials specified: Table of
contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ucal041/99010128.html; Materials specified: Publisher
description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/ucal042/99010128.html>.

Schwarzer, Mitchell. "History and Theory in Architectural Periodicals: Assembling Oppositions." The Journal of
the Society of Architectural Historians 58.3, Architectural History 1999/2000 (1999): 342-8.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/991527>.

Tournikiotis, Panayotis. The Historiography of Modern Architecture. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1999.

Groth, Paul. "Making New Connections in Vernacular Architecture." The Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians 58.3, Architectural History 1999/2000 (1999): 444-51. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/991538>.

Scott, Felicity D. "Architecture Or Techno-Utopia." Grey Room.3 (2001): 113-26.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1262568>.

Michael, Vincent. "Reyner Banham: Signs and Designs in the Time without Style." Design Issues 18.2 (2002):
65-77. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1512044>.

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 8
Takhar, Jaspreet, and Vandana Babbar. Celebrating Chandigarh. Chandigarh: Chandigarh Perspectives in
association with Mapin Pub, 2002.

Oechslin, Werner, and Lynnette Widder. Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, and the Road to Modern Architecture. 1st
English ed. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
<http://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/2001035029.html; Materials specified: Sample text
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/2001035029.html; Materials specified: Publisher
description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/cam021/2001035029.html; Materials specified: Table
of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/cam025/2001035029.html>.

Casciato, Maristella, and Barry Fifield. "The Italian Mosaic: The Architect as Historian." The Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians 62.1 (2003): 92-101. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3655086>.

Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo. The New Vision: Fundamentals of Bauhaus Design, Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture,
Dover Publications, 2005

Goldhagen, Sarah Williams. "Something to Talk about: Modernism, Discourse, Style." The Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians 64.2 (2005): 144-67. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25068142>.

Post Modern Architecture:

Jenks, Charles. The Story of Post-Modernism: Five Decades of the Ironic, Iconic and Critical in Architecture.
Wiley, 2011.

Allan, Kenneth, The Meaning of Culture: Moving the Postmodern Critique Forward, Westport (Conn.) Praeger,
1998; Appleby (ed.), Knowledge and Postmodernism in Historical Perspective, New York: Routledge, 1996

Goldberger, Gold. On the Rise: Architecture and Design in Post Modern Age. Times Books, 1983.

JUST; Collage Of Architecture and Design; Department of Architecture

Prepared by: Anwar Ibrahim, Ph.D 9