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History and Theory of Architecture IV
Architekturgeschichte und -theorie IV
Last Updated: 2026-06-01 11:32:54
Abstract
This two-semester lecture course introduction on the history of architecture focuses on "things of modernity" -elements, buildings, and networks from the Second Industrial Revolution of the 1850s to the oil crisis of the 1970s in Europe that changed architecture. We will consider how the technical, scientific and cultural significance of these "Things" makes them key features of modernity.
Objective
To introduce students to the history and theory of architecture, the course has three objectives. First, students will be able to identify the “things” that transformed architecture in modernity, and the crucial events, buildings, theories, and actors that characterize their history. Second, students will be able to describe how these “things” operated at different scales, focusing less on the formal level, and naming instead the different forms of expertise that constituted them historically, as well as the processes within which they were embedded. Third, students will be able to reflect on a series of apparatuses, devices, and building parts that are in fact micro-architectures which have often been neglected, despite their pivotal role in shaping the daily lives of modern societies.
Content
The course proposes a new approach to the study of the history and theory of architecture in Europe during modernity. It focuses less on single architects or their buildings, and more on those “things” that have brought profound transformations in the built environment and daily life over the last 200 years, such as the revolving door, the clock, and the partition. The notion of “thing” includes both the concrete building parts and the concerns associated with them, such as material performance, social synchronization, and individual expression. To understand buildings as assemblages of “things,” therefore, does not mean to diminish their significance, but on the contrary to add reality to them, to understand them in terms of the complex, historically situated, and diverse concerns within which they were designed. Each lecture introduces one “thing” through a genealogy that shaped it, from patents and scientific discoveries and technological advancement, to cinema, the visual arts, and literature. A set of renowned projects as well as lesser-known buildings from all around Europe offer a variety of case studies to describe these “things,” to understand how they operated in relation with one another, and to identify the theories and tactics that architects mobilized to make sense of them.
Resources
Learning Materials (Links)
- Main link
- Information
General Information
- Language
- German
- Levels
- BSC , DS
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- written 120 minutes
- Aids
- 10 Seiten handgeschriebene Notizen
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
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| lecture |
Architekturgeschichte und -theorie IV
Keine Lehrveranstaltungen am 20.03.2025 (Seminarwoche) und in den letzten beiden Semesterwochen (s. Raumbelegungen!).
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2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Wissenschaft im Kontext (Science in Perspective) (In Kursen aus dem Programm “Wissenschaft im Kontext” lernen Studierende, die MINT Fächer der ETH aus der Perspektive der Geistes-, Sozial- und Staatswissenschaften zu reflektieren. Nur die in diesem Abschnitt aufgelisteten Fächer können als "Wissenschaft im Kontext" angerechnet werden.)
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Typ A: Förderung allgemeiner Reflexionskompetenz (WiK-Kurse werden für Bachelorstudierende nach dem ersten Studienjahr sowie für alle Masterstudierende und Doktorierende empfohlen. Alle WiK-Kurse sind in Typ A gelistet. Bei den unter Typ B aufgeführten Kursen handelt es sich lediglich um Belegungsempfehlungen für bestimmte Departemente.)
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