ARCH 484C - Metabolic City: Drawing and Urbanism

Institution:

Washington University in St Louis

Subject:

Description:

This seminar examines mid-century modernist architecture and art works by the Japanese Metabolist artists and architects, the British Archigram architects, and the Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys, an early member of the group of European artists and activists known as the Situationist International. Each offers distinct approaches to experimental urbanism, and while many of their projects are proposals for megastructures, this seminar concentrates less on the monumental built works and more on the influential force of their drawings and models. This seminar examines these representations and their exploration of the city as a complex interrelated organism that embraces networked systems of urban circulation, adaptable habitats, and the future promise of engineering technologies. The course draws comparisons with their contemporaries such as Hans Hollein, Arata Isozaki, and Guy Debord, as well as predecessors such as Alison and Peter Smithson, R. Buckminster Fuller, Kenzo Tange, and Aldo van Eyck. The seminar studies the representations of these groups in relation to the social movements of the 1960s and examines contemporary theoretical texts exploring their position in architectural modernism. The course requires weekly readings, in-class discussions, and a research project. The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum exhibition, "Metabolic City," complements the study of these works, with originals and reproductions on exhibit during the course of the semester. Open to graduate-level students and upper-level undergraduate students. Fulfills the history/theory elective requirement.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wustl.edu

Phone Number:

(314) 935-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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