Modernism and Environmentalism in the Twentieth Century

The seminar explores connections among the social, technological, and formal proposals of architectural modernism as well as the connections between the growing concern over the destructive nature of human interaction with the natural environment. Looking at both well-known practitioners, such as Le Corbusier, Wright, and Neutra, and other architects less prominent in the historical literature, such as Ian McHarg, Candilis-Josic-Woods, and many others, this seminar is interested in how architectural practices have been privileged sites for the cultural expression of the technological possibilities of modernity, and in how these practices proposed new engagements with policy makers, cultural groups, and industry to remake systems of human/nature interdependence. Less a pre-history of sustainability than a counter-history of modernism, this course presents practical and theoretical innovations in architecture as resonant across a much larger field of cultural inquiry, and proposes that the history of architecture is an especially potent framework for understanding the social and technological issues of environmentalism in the twentieth century. As a research seminar, the course material acts as a springboard to further research of the issues presented and culminates in a formal student presentation and a term paper based on primary research. Limited enrollment.