CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE II

The course aims to introduce students to the history and theories of modern and contemporary architecture, providing the necessary knowledge, critical and methodological tools to understand buildings and urban settlements of the twentieth century (1900-2000). Besides the study of design and construction, the creation, spread and transformation of architectural style, the course presents the connections of architecture with the social and cultural context, as well as other design disciplines such as town planning, industrial design, graphic design, fashion. Moreover, the course takes into consideration the most recent trends and challenges of architecture, from the integration of technology to the environmental issues, from restoration and conservation to the design with parametric computer software. Finally, the course deals with the transformations of the architect and its work, and the historiographical questions connected to the concept of “Modern Movement” or “Modernism”.
The course is part of the activities that characterize the Contemporary curriculum of the Master's Degree in History of the Arts and Conservation of Artistic Heritage.

It is expected that, by the end of the course, students will develop the following knowledge and skills:
- Knowledge and Comprehension. Students are required to understand the connections between architectural forms and historical context, tracing the cultural, symbolic, social, economic factors of the modern and contemporary architecture. They are also required to critically interpret and use the taxonomic categories and periodization of the most common historiography, such as the concepts of “Avant-garde”, “Modern Movement” or “Modernism”, “Post-modernism” and so on;
- Analysis and Discernment. Students have to acquire ability in discerning the formal and constructive characters of the main works of twentieth-century architecture, being able to describe them with a proper terminology. They also have to discern the distinctive elements of the most important approaches in design. The course aims to develop these skills in the classroom and field trips. In this way, students will be able to analyse, describe and temporally locate even twentieth-century architectural works, which were not part of the course;
- Assessment Skills. Students must be able to discuss an assigned topic or an issue. They have to show independence in the assessment and in the critical arguments, formulate thoughtful and motivated judgements on authors, works and trends of modern and contemporary architecture, with a particular attention to economics and production, design, construction, technology, aesthetics and culture;
- Communication. Students must be able to clearly communicate the contents of the course with the due terminology; and efficiently debate the different topics of modern and contemporary architecture or their subjects of study, also in a comparative perspective.
- Research and Investigation. Students have to learn how to do a bibliographical research on the main topics of the course, autonomously collect those references that are useful for the investigation of the couse topics or their own research.

A good knowledge about European and world history in the twentieth century.

The course offers a narrative of the modern and contemporary architecture through some of the most significant figures, as well as the artworks and buildings that represents at best the theoretical, design, technical, and historiographical questions of the period. Rather than a fleeting, all encompassing survey of the twentieth-century architecture, the course aims to provide students with those interpretative and research tools, which allows them to understand modern and contemporary architecture through exemplary cases.
The course develops along the following programme:
- Introduction to the discipline and explanation of the assessment methods.
- Problems of periodization and geopolitics in the twentieth-century architecture and issues of historiography of the “Modern Movement”.
- The architectural language of the early twentieth century between avant-garde and classical tradition: Futurism, Russian Constructivism, Amsterdam School and De Stijl, Adolf Loos, German Expressionism, Bauhaus and its figures.
- Forms of modernism in Europe and the United States between Modern Movement and classicism: the so-called “masters” of the Modern Movement (Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto), “Razionalismo” and classicism in Fascist Italy, modernisms and classicisms in Europe between the wars.
- Seminary on the historiography of the “Modern Movement”: Pevsner, Giedion, Banham.
- The legacy of the modernism in the second half of the twentieth century: From Modern Movement to International Style; Architecture, history and memory in post-war Italy, Louis Kahn; the heirs of the Modern Movement in Brazil, Europe, the United States and Beyond; Neo-avant-garde, High-Tech and Metabolism; Architecture in post-war Spain and Portugal; Architecture on show: “Five Architects” and “Deconstructivist Architecture”; Aldo Rossi; Post-modernism.
- Architecture of the millennium and future challenges.

Main Handbooks
G. Montanari, E. Dellapiana, Una storia dell'architettura contemporanea, Torino: UTET Università, 2015;
J. L. Cohen, The Future of Architecture. Since 1889, London: Phaidon, 2012.

Other Handbooks
M. Biraghi, Storia dell’architettura contemporanea, I, 1750-1945, Torino: Einaudi, 2008;
M. Biraghi, Storia dell’architettura contemporanea, II, 1945-2008, Torino: Einaudi, 2008;
W.J.R. Curtis, L'architettura moderna del Novecento, Londra: Phaidon, 2006.
K. Frampton, Storia dell'architettura moderna, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1982 e successive edizioni;
G. Fanelli, R. Gargiani, Storia dell'architettura contemporanea, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1998;
Storia dell'architettura italiana. Il primo Novecento, Ed. by G. Ciucci e G. Muratore, Milan: Electa, 2004;
Storia dell'architettura italiana. Il secondo Novecento, Ed. by F. Dal Co, Milan: Electa, 1997;
M. Tafuri, F. Dal Cò, Architettura Contamporanea, Milano: Electa 1976 e successive edizioni;
D. Watkin, Storia dell’architettura occidentale, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1986.

Anthologies
Antologia dell'architettura moderna, a cura di M. De Benedetti, A. Pracchi, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1988;
Architettura italiana del Novecento, a cura di Giorgio Ciucci e Francesco Dal Co, Milano: Electa 1990;
Le parole dell’architettura, a cura di M. Biraghi e G. Damiani, Torino: Einaudi, 2009.

Dictionaries and encyclopaedias of architecture
Texts for the seminary on Historiography
N. Pevsner, Pioneers of the Modern Movement: From Williamo Morris to Walter Gropius, London: Faber & Faber, 1936, Chapt. 1. Theories of Art from Morris to Gropius, pp. 14-43;
S. Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press, 1941, Introduction and Part VI. Space-time in Art, Architecture, and Construction, pp. 429-476.
R. Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, London: The Architectural Press, 1960, Introduction and Section I: Predisposing causes: academic and rationalist writers, 1900-1914, pp. 9-97.

The assessment of learning take place in different phases throughout the course and the final exam.
1. Participation in the class (10%, 3 points). Students are invited to participate in the class making question and critical remarks on the course contents. In particular, they have to take part in the seminary on historiography of the “Modern Movement”, held at the mid course. For the seminary, they are required to read one of the recommended chapters in one of the recommended texts be Pevsner, Giedion and Banham.
2. Virtual Exhibition (20%, 6 points). Groups of students have to create a virtual exhibition, and present it during the last classes of the course. The topic of the exhibition is the architecture of a state or country and its transformation through the twentieth century.
3. Paper (20%, 6 points). Each single student is also requested to perform a research and write a critical paper on a building or a topic of the virtual exhibition. The paper must not overcome 4000 characters (with spaces) of text and, besides this, include also illustrations with captions and bibliography.
4. Oral Exam (50%, 15 points). The oral exam take place in three steps:
- Discussion of the individual research topic (paper);
- A group of three multiple-choice questions on the course topics;
- A question on the course topics.

Teacher’s lectures, seminars, and on-site visits.

Italian

The attendance at the course classes is strongly recommended.
Non-attending students must agree specific programme and bibliography with the teacher (personally during the office hours or by e-mail).

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development