Università Roma Tre

Formative objectives of the course

At the end of the course the student will demonstrate a good knowledge of the Italian and international architecture of the last fifty years, as well as an adequate understanding of languages ​​and architectural trends of the period considered. He will be able to contextualize the architectural works too, proving to get the sources and the cultural tools to know and understand the various schools of thought and the underlying critical developments.

Prerequisite

The structure and the course content requires basic knowledge of the history of western modern and contemporary architecture. It is recommended to follow the course after attending the I and II architectural history courses.

Course Programme

The history of western architecture, as well as the architecture itself, is strongly influenced by theoretical and critical structures, as well as the dominant ideology in a specific historical period.
The course includes lessons in chronological order. It will outline the main personalities and the most representative architectural works of the cultural and art scene of the last fifty years. The course will start with the study of the Modern Movement crisis, that is particularly underlined by the dissolution of CIAM in Otterlo in 1959. The avant-garde of the 60s will be analyzed starting from the experiences of Metabolist groups, Archigram, Radicali italiani, to get to the diagrammatic projects of the 90s, through the experiences of the '70s and '80s: La tendenza, o architettura razionale, and the Post Modern.
Influential personalities, historiographyc and historical background will support the study of the works that have most marked the architectural landscape. These ones will be explained both formally and structurally, as well as the architectural scale to the urban one.

Teaching methods

The course consists of weekly lessons (on Fridays from 14.00 to 18.00) in which homogeneous study themes will be developed. It is recommended to attend and participate actively.

Learning ability test Method

The final exam consists of an oral examination to test the knowledge of the course topics, treated during lessons and in the texts listed in the bibliography. You can submit a single search, or to team up with a group of maximum 3 or 4 students, on the issue of residence during the period studied. The research exposure date and the topic must be agreed with the teacher. The presentation of the topic developed will contribute to the final evaluation.

Saggi: Fredric Jameson, Il postmoderno o la logica culturale del tardo capitalismo, Garzanti 1989; Anthony Vidler, Il perturbante dell’architettura, Einaudi 2006, o in alternativa Storie dell’immediato presente, Zandonai 2012

Manuali: Elie G. Haddad, David Rifkind, Sarah Deyong, a cura di,  A critical history of contemporary architecture: 1960-2010, Ashgate publishing 2014; Marco Biraghi, Storia dell’architettura contemporanea II 1945-2008, Einaudi 2008; William j. R. Curtis, L’architettura moderna dal 1900, Phaidon 1996.