CAS AH 383 Paris Architecture and Urbanism: From Monument to Urban Landscape Credits: 4 Professor: Schedule: Office Hours: Structure: Contact: Gabriel Wick 16 two-and-a-half-hour sessions over 7.5 weeks Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-12:30 + 2 additional sessions Tuesday, 12:30-14:30 by appointment 1/3 lectures, 2/3 visits gwick@bu.edu Course Material: - A Course Reader with the required readings (to be purchased by each student). - A Thematic Reader distributed in PDF form. - Paris par Arrondissement, L Indispensable, or equivalent, provided by BU Paris. - Supplemental readings either in the Library or posted in Courseworks. - A list of Parisian libraries with collections on architecture and urbanism accessible to students will be provided. I. COURSE PRESENTATION AND OUTCOMES This course traces the development of Parisian architecture and urbanism from the Roman period to the present. It is designed to offer students a sense of the dynamic exchange between the built environment, society and culture, and an introduction to the economic, cultural and political history of Paris. The course is organized into five units of three classes, each unit opening with an introductory lecture at the BU Center followed by two visit-based classes. Assignments are cumulative, developed throughout the semester through a thematic prism. Outcomes By the end of this course, students will have developed: approaches to the analysis of buildings and cities, as well as the essential technical terminology of the fields of architecture and urbanism. an understanding of the key moments and trends in the history of French architecture and urbanism. an understanding of the dynamics that have driven the development of the city historically, and that continue to shape it today. an understanding of the role that the competing interests of local and national authorities and various actors and stakeholders play in shaping the urban environment. an understanding of key contemporary issues in architecture and urban design notably, how the design of the built environment can promote social equality, respond to environmental imperatives and respect and accommodate established communities and historic urban forms. their own critical understanding of Paris and its historical development through theme based course work. PIP Fall 2017 Page 1 of 7
II. ASSESSMENT AND GRADING Reading The required readings form the foundation of this course and are necessary preparation for inclass and on-site discussions, quizzes and the course work. There are, on average, the equivalent of 15-20 A-4 pages of required reading per class. Attendance and Participation: 10% This grade takes into account not only attendance and punctuality but also the quality of a student s participation in class, meaning: attentiveness, enthusiasm, thoughtful contributions to discussions and progress. Quizzes: 3 x 5% = 15% There will be three, knowledge-based, unit-focused quizzes. Quizzes will be based on the readings as they relate to site visits and could include slide identifications asking for essential information (architect, patron/client, approximate date, function, innovative features, etc ), identification of actors, definition of terms and/or a short answer question. Theme Based Coursework Students will select one of five themes through which to focus their investigation of Paris during the semester, which will be developed in four cumulative steps. These themes Representations of Power, Infrastructure and Sanitation, Topography and natural phenomena, Public open space will serve as a unifying lens through which to mark changes in urbanism and architecture across the city's 2,000-year history. Building Visit Presentation: 15% Students will prepare, in groups of two, the visit of one building or site. The basic presentation should include three elements: 1) the historical context in which the building or site was constructed; 2) the potential thematic significance of the building or site; 3) the start of a visual analysis, 4) three discussion questions aiming to deepen the visual analysis through a group discussion. Presentation + discussion: 10-15 minutes. Thematic Dossier 1: 30% Thematic Dossier 1 will explore the evolution of Paris through the selected themes, focused on the first three units, Units 1-3. The Thematic Dossier should build upon readings, classes, visits and on-site presentations combining the thematic reflection with visual analysis, through a comparative study of three key sites, texts, or other phenomenon, one from each unit. Required and supplemental readings will provide the common starting point. Students may reference other sources as needed. The dossier should include a typed essay, 4-5 pages long, with up to 3 additional pages of images. It must have proper footnoting and a bibliography. Thematic Dossier 2: 30% Thematic Dossier 2, which fulfills the final exam requirement, extends the reflection developed in Thematic Dossier 1, through an exploration of the 20 th century evolution of Paris through two key sites, texts, or other phenomenon, one from each unit, Units 4 and 5. The objective is to shed light on the significance of the recent past in the long-term evolution of Paris. Thematic Dossier 2 should combine the thematic reflection with visual analysis. Required and supplemental readings will provide the common starting point. Students may reference other sources as needed. The dossier should include a typed essay, 3-4 pages long, with up to 2 additional pages of images. It must have proper footnoting and a bibliography. Page 2 of 7
Research Methods There is not a single, methodological formula for analyzing architecture or the city. Both are complex phenomena that can be analyzed and understood from a multiplicity of points of view (formal, representational, social, economic, philosophical, political, technical, biological, ethnographical, anthropological, etc ). It will be necessary to mobilize critical thinking skills in order to develop a methodological approach that brings together each student s theme, case studies, interests and experiences in a strategic, structured analysis. For critical thinking skills see: Sylvan Barnet, Hugo Bedau and John O Hara, Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing: A Brief Guide to Argument, 9 th edition, Boston: Bedford/St Martin s Press, 2016 [1993]. Our on site visits will experiment with observation, visual analysis and first hand experience, building upon notions mobilized in these works: Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City, 21 st edition, London: MIT Press, 1992 [1960]. - The Image of the Environment: Legibility, Building the Image, Structure and Identity, Imageability. - The City Image and Its Elements: Paths, Edges, Districts, Nodes, Landmarks, Element Interrelations, The Shifting Image, Image Quality. - City Form: Designing the Paths, Design of Other Elements, Form Qualities, The Sense of the Whole, Metropolitan Form. Pierre von Meiss, Elements of Architecture: From Form to Place, 2 nd Edition, Lausanne: EPFL Press, 2013. - Phenomena of Perception; Order and Disorder; Measure and Balance; Fabric and Object; Space; Light and Shade; Places. Attendance Policy 1 absence in class, a required activity or inclass presentation =-1 point on your final grade More than 3 unexcused absences = F for the course Unsubmitted written work Absence for a presentation or exam Plagiarism = F (0 points) for the assignment in question *Excused absences = absence for illness excused by the certificate of a French doctor or an internship interview Documentation to be submitted to Renée the day following the absence. Tardiness The professor reserves the right to not admit a tardy student to class or to count a tardy arrival as either a half or whole unexcused absence. Late arrivals to class will impact the class participation grade. Late submission of written work will entail a penalty on the assignment grade Written work submitted more than a week late will not receive credit (grade =F). Plagiarism Official BU policy All students are responsible for having read the Boston University statement on plagiarism, which is available in the Academic Conduct Code. Students are advised that the penalty against students on a Boston University program for cheating on the examinations or for plagiarism may be expulsion from the program or the University or such other penalty as may be recommended by the Committee on Student Academic Conduct, subject to approval by the dean. Read the full Academic Conduct Code online at http://www.bu.edu/academics/policies/academic-conduct-code/ Page 3 of 7
Grading conversion (out of 100) FINAL GRADE FOR THE COURSE 93-100 : A 90-92,5 : A- 87-89,5 : B+ 83-86,5 : B 80-82,5 : B- 77-79,5 : C+ 73-76,5 : C 70-72,5 : C- 69-60 : D 59,5-0 : F A+ = 97 A/A+ = 96 A = 95 A/A- = 92,5 A- = 91 A-/B+ = 89,5 GRADES FOR INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS/ASSIGNMENTS B+/A- = 89,5 C+/B- = 79,5 B+ = 88 C+ = 78 B/B+ = 86,5 C/C+ = 76,5 B = 85 C = 75 B/B- = 82,5 C/C- = 72,5 B- = 81 C- = 71 B-/C+ = 79,5 C-/D+ = 69,5 D+/ C- = 69,5 D+ = 68 D/D+ = 66,5 D = 65 D/D- = 62,5 D- = 61 F = 55 III. Calendar Session 1 09/01/17 Session 2 09/05/17 Session 3 09/07 Topics and Readings UNIT 1 1. Course Intro 2. The Origins of Paris 3. Medieval Paris: The City as Cosmos Colin Jones, Paris-Lutetia, Paris: Biography of a City, Morris, A. E. J., Urban Form Determinants, in History of Urban Form: Prehistory to the Renaissance, London: Godwin, 1972, 10-18. Visit: On The Traces of Roman & Merovingian Paris Velay, Phlippe, The Early Empire, The Late Empire, in From Lutetia to Paris: The Island and the Two Banks, Paris: CNMHS/CNRS, 1992, 20-27, 38-39, 44-49, 52-56, 68-79, 83-85, 124-125. Visit: The Île-de-la-Cité: The Heart of a Kingdom Von Simson, Otto, 1. Gothic Form, The Gothic Cathedral: Origins of Gothic Architecture & the Medieval Concept of Order, 3 rd Ed., Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988, 3-8, 13-20. Lilley, Keith D., Introduction: The City Cosmos Ideal, City and Cosmos: The Medieval World in Urban Form, London: Reaktion Books, 7-12, 189-191. Assignments and Activities Due: Theme Selection Due: Building Visit Presentation Choice Session 4 09/12 Session 5 09/14 UNIT 2 1. Classicism à la française: City and Nation 2. Grand siècle & Enlightenment: The Urban Set Piece Sutcliffe, Anthony, 2. Paris at the Dawn of the Renaissance, Paris, op. cit., 13-23, 207-208. Jones, Colin, Grand Siècle, Great Eclipse, Paris: Biography of a City, London: Penguin Books, 2006, 152-165, 168-173, 574-575. Visit: Royal Urbanism and the Rise of the Marais Ballon, Hilary, Introduction, Conclusion, in The Paris of Henry IV, New York/Cambridge, MA: The Architectural History Foundation/MIT Press, 1991, 1-13, 250-255, 302-304, 349-350. Sutcliffe, Anthony, 3. Creating a French Urban Architecture, 1610-1715, in Paris, op. cit., 24 34, 39-41, 43-47. Unit 1 Quiz Page 4 of 7
Session 6 09/19 Visit: The Louvre Quarter: A New Administrative Center for the City Cleary, Richard, Visions of the New Rome, Epilogue, in The Place Royale and Urban Design in the Ancien Régime, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 134-150, 283-285. Sutcliffe, Anthony, 4. The Eighteenth Century: Architectural Harmonisation at the Close of the Ancien Régime in Paris, op. cit., 48-51, 58-59, 62-66, 208-210. Session 7 09/21 Session 8 09/22 Session 9 09/26 UNIT 3 1. From Revolution to the Second Empire: The City as a Work of Art Surtcliffe, Anthony, 5. Revolution, Empire and Restoration: The Implications for Architecture, 1789-1852, in Paris, op. cit., 67-69, 74-83, 85-93, 104, 210-211. Visit: Urbanity & Commerce: Boulevards & Arcades Benjamin, Walter, Paris: The Capital of the Nineteenth Century, in Philipp Kazinitz, Metropolis: Center and Symbol of Our Times, New York: NYU Press, 1995, 46-57. Bergdoll, Barry, The City Transformed, 1848-90 in European Architecture 1750-1890, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2000, 240-257. Visit: The Opera Quarter: Modernity & Monumentality Sutcliffe, Anthony, 6. Paris as the Hub of French Industrialization: Building a European Capital Under the Second Empire, in Paris, op. cit., 67-69, 74-79-88, 91-93, 104, 210-211. Unit 2 Quiz Due: Thematic Dossier 1 Abstract Session 10 09/28 Session 11 10/03 Session 12 10/05 UNIT 4 1. Misery and Opulence: Two Tales of A Metropolis Sutcliffe, Anthony, 7. After Haussmann: A New Paris in an Era of Alternative Architectures, 1870-1914, in Paris, op. cit., 117-137, 211-212. Visit: Western Paris: The Design of Modern Life Sutcliffe, Anthony, 8. The Modernist Challenge, 1918-45, in Paris, op. cit., 138-159, 212-214. Visit: Eastern Paris Renewing the Fringe: Cités jardins and Habitations à bon marché Fishman, Introduction, in Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, New York: Basic Books Publisher, 1977, 3-20, 279-280. Evenson, Norma, 5. A Place to Live, in Paris: A Century of Change (1878-1978), New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979, 199-231. Due: Thematic Dossier 1 Page 5 of 7
Session 13 10/10 UNIT 5 1. Post-War Paris: Renewing the Center 2. Affirming the Cultural Quotient 3. Deindustrialization and the Livable City Quiz Unit 4 Session 14 10/12 Session 15 10/17 Loew, Sebastian, Introduction, The History of Planning and Heritage Protection in France, in Modern Architecture in Historic Cities: Policy, Planning and Building in Contemporary France, London: Routledge, 1998, 1-10, 17-18, 21-25, 31-34. Sutcliffe, Anthony, 9. The Vital Encounter: Modernity Versus Tradition in Post-War Paris, in Paris, op. cit., 160-172, 214. Visit: Rethinking the Center: Plateau Beaubourg and Les Halles Looseley, David L., A Certain Idea of the City: The Presidential grands projets, in The Politics of Fun: Cultural Policy and Debate in Contemporary France, Oxford: Berg, 1995, 135-154. Sutcliffe, Anthony, 9. The Vital Encounter: Modernity Versus Tradition in Post-War Paris, in Paris, op. cit., 172-177, 180-194, 196-199, 214-215. Visit: ZAC Stories: Bercy and Massena Sutcliffe, Anthony, 10. Continuity in Paris: The Dynamics of A Unique Phenomenon, Paris, op. cit., 200-206. Knox, Paul L., Conclusion: Toward Liveability and Sustainability, Cities and Design, London: Routledge, 2011, 236-244, 250. Thematic Dossier 2 Development Due: Thematic Dossier 2 Abstract Session 16 10/19 Exam Session Due: Thematic Dossier 2 IV. FURTHER READING Websites: Monum/Mairie de Paris, Paris, A Roman City, http://www.paris.culture.fr/en/. APUR, Portail Cassini, http://carto.apur.org:8080/page_accueil/ (historic maps). Batiparis, http://www.comeetie.fr/galerie/batiparis/#12/48.8589/2.3491 (interactive map showing when each parcel was built on) History: Ayers, Andrew, The Architecture of Paris: An Architectural Guide, Stuttgart: Axel Menges, 2004. Colquhoun, Alan, Modern Architecture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Gunn, Simon, The spatial turn: changing histories of space and place, in Simon Gunn and Robert J. Morris, ed., Identities in Space, Contested Terrains in the Western City since 1850, Ashgate: Aldershot, 2001, 1-14. Hall, Peter, Paris, in The World Cities, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984 [1966], 54-86. Herbert, Robert, Les Grands Boulevards, in Impressionism Art, Leisure and Parisian Society, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988, 14-20. Levine, Neil, The Book and the Building: Hugo's Theory of Architecture and Labrouste's Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, in R. Middleton (Ed.), in The Beaux-Arts and Nineteen- Century French Architecture, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1982, 138-173. Page 6 of 7
Loyer, François, Paris: Nineteenth Century: Architecture and Urbanism, Charles Lynn Clark (trans.), New York: Abbeville Press, 1988. Lubell, Sam, Paris 2000+ New Architecture, New York, Monacelli Press, 2007. Miller, Michael B., The Bon Marché: Bourgeois Culture and the Department Store, 1869-1920, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981. Olsen, Donald J., The City as a Work of Art, New Haven/London, Yale University Press, 1986. Panerai, Philippe, Jean Castex, et al., Building the City: 1975-1995, in Urban Forms: The Death and Life of the Urban Block [1997], London: Architectural Press, 2004, 158-167. Scott, Robert, The Gothic Enterprise, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Silver, Nathan, The Meaning of Beaubourg: A Building Biography of the Center Pompidou, Paris, Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1994. Simon, Philippe, Paris Visite Guidée: Architecture, Urbanism, History and Actuality, Paris: Picard/Pavillon de l Arsenal, 2007. Stoddard, Whitney S., Art and Architecture in Medieval France, New York: Harper & Row, 1972. Sutcliffe, Anthony (Ed.), Metropolis: 1890-1940, London: Mansell Publishing, 1984. Van Zanten, David, Building Paris: Architectural Institutions and the Transformation of the French Capital 1830-1870, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Theory Durand, Jean-Nicolas-Louis, Précis of the Lectures on Architecture, Vol. 1 [1819], Nördlingen : A. Uhl, 1985. Howard, Ebenezer, Garden Cities of To-morrow [1898], London: Routledge, 1964. Laugier, Marc-Antoine, Essay on Architecture [1753], Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, 2009. Le Corbusier (Ed.), The Athens Charter [1943], New York: Grossman, 1973. Lefevre, Henri, Space and Politics: Introduction, in Writings on Cities, Henri Lefebvre, Malden, Mass: Blackwell, 1996, 185-197. Perrault, Claude, Ordonnance for the Five Kinds of Columns after the Method of the Ancients [1683], Santa Monica: Getty Center, 1998. Serlio, Sebastien, On Architecture [1540], Vol. 1, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. Suger, Abbott, On the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis and Its Art Treasures [c. 1148], Erwin Panowsky and Gerda Panofsky-Soergel (Trans.), Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979. Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène-Emmanuel, The Foundations of Architecture: Selections from the Dictionnaire Raisonné [1856], Kenneth Whitehead (Trans.), New York: George Brazillier, 1994. Vitruvius, Thomas Gordan Smith (Ed.), M. H. Morgan & S. Kellogg (Trans.), The Ten Books of Architecture [c. 15 BC], New York: Monacelli Press, 2003. (Or, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20239/20239-h/29239-h.htm.) T h e p r o f e s s o r r e s e r v e s t h e r i g h t t o m o d i f y t h e c o u r s e s y l l a b u s Page 7 of 7