Visionary Architecture

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course explores architectural visions as historical windows, examining them from a number of angles. Using a variety of case studies drawn from different media (architectural theory, film, advertisements, architectural projects, and so on) and periods (turn of the century, the Modern Movement, Depression, World War II, 1960's, etc,) it provides a sampling of possibilities and models for the final student project, an in-depth, original research paper. Several themes thread their way through the course, including the role of the "unbuilt" in architectural practice; the uses of the future in the construction of national and personal identities, cultural narratives, and modern mythologies; and the importance of the future as cliche, and the role of play in cultural production.