This course is a study of architecture and urban design throughout the world from the 1990s to the present. American topics include public and private development in the "neo-liberal" city in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and post-Katrina New Orleans; contemporary museum architecture; sprawl and New Urbanism; and affordable housing, both urban and rural. Major American architects considered include Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Daniel Libeskind, and Diller + Scofidio (+Renfro). In Europe, the focus is on contemporary public architecture in Berlin, London, Paris, Valencia, Lisbon, Rome, and Athens, with attention to major works of Sir Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, Santiago Calatrava, Rem Koolhaas, and Renzo Piano. In China we will study state monuments of the Communist Party in Beijing and issues of preservation and urban development there and in Shanghai. In Japan the recent work of Tadao Ando and Shigeru Ban is a focus, as are selected projects by other architects in Tokyo and Yokohama. Additional lectures will treat airport architecture and sites in India, Jerusalem, Cairo, Guinea, South Africa, Rio di Janeiro, and Quito, Ecuador. The last quarter of the course focuses on green or sustainable architecture, including passive and active solar heating, photovoltaics, energy-efficient cooling and ventilation, timber and rammed-earth techniques, LEEDs certification, wind and geo-exchange energy, green skyscrapers, vertical farming, and zero-carbon cities. |