Course Description

This course views architecture as a potent means of cultural expression and as an essential economic, social, technological and communication tool in any sophisticated society. It is less an architectural history course than an investigation of the role architecture plays or can play in contemporary culture. Lectures and discussion sections focus on issues and factors that influence architectural design as well as the means by which architecture helps shape attitudes and behavior. The goal of the course is to make students more aware the importance of the physical environment and to encourage them to be activists in helping to shape the built world.