Università Roma Tre

The course is aimed at an in-depth analysis of the most significant moments in the history of architecture between the second half of the sixteenth century and the mid-twentieth century. By studying the works and protagonists of this period, the course aims to provide the methodological tools necessary for a historical-critical understanding of the phenomena related to their distinctive features, also in relationship with the more general historical and cultural context and in reference to the critical elaborations and theoretical problems connected to the practice of architecture.
The following summary of topics presents a brief outline of the information needed to take the exam and refers to the related bibliography. Students will be able to improve their own knowledge through visits to the monuments described during the lessons. This offers an opportunity for personal and specific observations, aided by sketches and graphic notes, which are the primary tool of every architect, as well as by other forms of reminders like photographs and written notes.

Summary of topics
1. Cities and architecture at the end of the sixteenth century and early seventeenth century.
2. Architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth century.
3. The nineteenth century: from the city to the metropolis.
4. Technological modernisation in the nineteenth century: architecture, engineering and
craftsmanship.
5. Art Nouveau in its various meanings.
6. Architecture in the USA, laboratory of modernity.
7. Theory and works of Adolf Loos.
8. Architecture and industry.
9. The artistic avant-garde at the beginning of the twentieth century and architecture.
10. Architecture: Rationalist, functionalist, organic

A. Bruschi, Introduzione alla storia dell’Architettura, Mondadori Università, Milano 2000.
C. Conforti, R. Tuttle (a cura di), Storia dell’architettura italiana. Il secondo Cinquecento, Electa, Milano 2001.
R. Wittkower, Arte e architettura in Italia 1600-1750, ET Saggi, Torino 2018 (I ed. 1972).
G. Curcio, E. Kieven (a cura di), Storia dell’architettura italiana. Il Settecento, Electa, Milano 2000, 2 voll.
A. Scotti Tosini (a cura di), Storia dell’architettura italiana. Il Seicento, Electa, Milano 2003, 2 voll.
K. Frampton, Storia dell’architettura moderna, Zanichelli, Bologna 2022 (I ed. 1982).

The development of architectural forms and theories between the 17th and the 21st centuries. Particular attention will be given to the different social and cultural conditions underlying them, to permanent values, to the transformations and revolutionary innovations of artistic languages, to spatial, technological and structural innovations, to the functionality of use and the rationality of form. The course consists in lectures, seminars and on-site visits, in exploring the complex path of the history of architecture and the development of modern town from the baroque age up to the contemporary time. Our aim is that of tracing, through critical analyses and a selection of architectural works, of actors, of urban and regional contexts, the chronological and geographical stages that have contributed to defining the devious course that characterizes the history of national and international architecture, from the end of the 16th to the 21st century. The programme will cover the following topics:

1. Cities and architecture in the 17th century
2. The 18th century: architecture in the 'century of enlightenment' between 'revivlas' and 'revolutions'.
3. The 19th century: from the city to the metropolis
4. Technological modernisation in the 19th century: architecture, engineering, art and crafts
5. Art Nouveau and national movements (Secession, Art Nouveau, Floralism, Modernism, Jugendstil)
6. Theory and works of Adolf Loos (1870-1933)
7. Architecture in the USA, laboratory of modernity
8. The artistic and architecure avant-gardes of the 20th century
9. Architecture and industry in the "The Short Twentieth Century". The advent of reinforced concrete
10. Rationalist, functionalist, organic architecture
11. Italy in the 20th century
12. Notes on architecture in the new millennium

Rudolf WITTKOWER, Arte e architettura in Italia 1600-1750, Torino 1993 (1972; Einaudi)
Leonardo BENEVOLO, Storia dell’architettura moderna, Roma-Bari 2010 (1960; Laterza)
Kenneth FRAMPTON, Storia dell’architettura moderna, Bologna 1982 (Zanichelli)
William J.R. CURTIS, L’architettura moderna dal 1900, Milano 1999 (Bruno Mondadori; new edition Phaidon 2006)
Alessandra MUNTONI, Lineamenti di Storia dell’architettura contemporanea, Roma-Bari 2009 (1997; Laterza)
Elena DELLAPIANA, Guido MONTANARI, Una storia dell’architettura contemporanea, Torino 2015 (Utet)