TELEPHONES AND PAGERS MUST BE TURNED OFF

DURING THE LECTURE PERIODS

 

Art 309; Architecture in the Twentieth Century                  Richard Gantt

                                                                                                228 Cone Bldg.

            THE CONTRACT

     This syllabus is the operational contract between the professor and the student.  Read it carefully.  The information contained herein is intended as a guide to allow the student to know what the policies of this class are, and to help her/him achieve success within the structure of the course.

 

            CONSULTATIONS

     I will be glad to schedule individual office appointments to discuss class material from lectures, readings, or examinations with any student.  At the end of a lecture, see me, and we will book your appointment.

 

            THE COURSE

     This course requires a prerequisite of Art 100 or 101 or 200.  The content will provide the student with an overview of the components of style, theory, structure, and material as represented by architecture of this century.  Works by major, innovative architects will be closely discussed.  Additionally, we will study any collective movement (associated with, or independent from individual masters) which have significant influence in the history of architecture.    

 

            LECTURES

     Lectures will be held twice a week.  During the lectures, material will be presented that is based upon readings that will be assigned as they are needed for the material under consideration.  The points of the lectures will be demonstrated by the projection of slides of various works of architecture.  Questions about the material are strongly encouraged.  The lecture meeting will be the best time for students to ask about any aspect of the readings that they found to be difficult or unclear.

 

            ATTENDANCE

     The days that you come to class are entirely your own business.  As fellow adults, I insist that my students accept the responsibility of managing their time.  While class attendance will not determine the course grade, as a conscientious teacher I must point out that it is more advantageous to take examinations when one has done the readings, seen the images, participated in the discussion on the subject, and maintained a detailed notebook of the lectures.  Lateness may occur to anyone, but I require that anyone who is late absorb the consequence her/himself and never pass his or her problem on to the class to deal with.  WHEN you come during lectures and examinations is entirely the professor's business.  Class begins promptly at its appointed time.  Do not come late thereby interrupting your peers and the professor.  When class has started, we are busy; do not bother us.  You will know that our class is underway because the door(s) to the lecture hall will be shut; do not come in.  If you need to see the professor or a peer, wait until the class is over. 

 

            GRADES

     The grade for this course will be determined by the average of three examinations.  Your most advantageous opportunities for grades are to take the examinations at their appointed times.  Do not request special favors that cannot be granted to all of your peers; "extra work" does not exist.  These examinations are scheduled:  September 14,  October 24 and the final on December 8 starting at 3:30 and concluding at 6:30 p.m. in Gatewood 204.  Mark those dates on your personal calendar immediately.  Examinations are neither given earlier nor later than the scheduled slot.  Make-up examinations are not given.  Should either the first or second examination be missed, I will assign a formal research paper to replace the missing grade.  The topic will be entirely of my choosing.  If you do miss either the first or second exam, see me the very next class so that we may set your paper topic.  Warning!  It will be very unwise to consider the paper an OPTION rather than taking the scheduled examination; in my experience passing papers on the undergraduate level are rare. 

    Should both the first and second examinations be missed, a grade of 0 will be recorded for each.  (Having failed to complete two-thirds of the graded work for the course, at this juncture the student will be strongly advised to officially withdraw from the course.  The final examination on December 8 is required of all students (see Undergraduate Bulletin under "Grading"); if it is missed, a zero will be averaged with the other grades rather than an INC (incomplete) assigned as the course grade.

 

 

            GRADES cont’d

In keeping with the policy of this university which has no standardized grading scale, I have determined that the scale for this course will be:  A 100-95;  B+ 94-92; B 91-88; B- 87-85;  C+ 84-82; C 81-78: C- 77-75;  D+ 74-72; D 71-68; D- 67-65;  F 64--.

 

POSTED GRADES

            In order to fully comply with the Federal Rights of Privacy Act, grades are never posted or given out over the telephone or on-line.

 

 

            EXAMINATIONS

     Blue Books are required.  Only complete (no pages missing) Blue Books with a signed honor pledge will be acceptable.  Ink--blue or black--is the only proper medium for your examination writing.  Your submitted examinations must fulfill all of the above requirements or they will not be accepted for grading.  The examinations for Art 309 will consist of three sections:

1.         Identifications--provide the crucial data for major artifacts.  Information such as the name of the architect, his/her nationality, the title of the work, its date, city and country of location, the style to which it belongs, will be required.  Information for this section will be taken directly from your text unless otherwise indicated during lectures.

2.         Terms--often have a specialized usage in art and architecture.  Mastery of terms is essential since they are often keys to understanding both the general properties of a style and the specific properties of an artifact.  Should you be required to define a term, do so fully; short answers are unlikely to be clear enough to allow you to receive credit.

 3.        Essay(s)--will concentrate on issues of style, theory and meaning.  In studying the material, you should always construct a clear idea of the importance that specific works hold in the history of 20th century architecture.  Your essay should contain accurate and specific information from your text and the lectures--never vague generalizations and un­informed observations.  The essay should be written in the clear, concise standard form for essays in the English language.           

 

   Each examination will test only the material (text and lecture) covered since the previous exam.  Note:  Spelling is essential.  As in any discipline, the student is required to know the material.  2 + 2 = 5 is not correct, and neither is Ludwig Mies van der Roeh for Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

 

No personal electronic equipment—computers, PDAs, phones for example—may be employed during the class periods when examinations are to be/being taken.

 

 

            TEXT: 

                        required:  Curtis, William. Modern Architecture since 1900. 3rd edition.

                       

            TELEPHONE CALLS

     Telephone calls should not be necessary.  Information and questions can be dealt with by your professor during scheduled class times and conferences.  Remember: you already have a scheduled appointment with your professor every Tuesday and Thursday—30 times this semester—and he can always be found then.  Also, the departmental and museum staffs are  occupied with their duties; please do not hinder them in their work.  Never call the Weatherspoon Art Museum if you are trying to locate a faculty member.