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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY
COURSE CODE: "AH 293"
COURSE NAME: "Modern Rome & Its Monuments (N.B. On-campus sessions for this class will be held 13:30-16:15)"
SEMESTER & YEAR:
Fall Semester 2012
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SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR:
Foster Laura
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS:
TH 14:15-17:00
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS:
45
CREDITS:
3
PREREQUISITES:
On-site
OFFICE HOURS:
Wednesdays 1:00-2:00 or by appointment
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will provide you with a general knowledge of the topography, urban makeup and history of modern Rome. It will also introduce different methodological tools needed to examine, evaluate and critically assess city form, design and architecture.
• how to ‘read’ architecture: identifying building materials & methods; elements of style & structure
• how to interpret urban space: learning and applying the vocabulary associated with architecture and urban planning
• how to express and formulate your ideas about architecture
• how to develop and substantiate arguments about architecture and the history of the city through research and writing
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SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
The urban development and architecture of modern Rome are perhaps the least studied aspects of the city’s history. The 150th anniversary of Italian unity, celebrated in 2011, and recent work on architecture under the Fascist regime have created a new interest in Rome as a modern capital. To many foreign visitors, however, the contemporary city is simply a frame through which to see monuments of a glorious but distant past. This course will examine the vast transformations in the urban and architectural development of Rome that took place between 1870 and 1945, with special look at the new role that they city’s historic monuments, from antiquity to the 18th century, played in representing the city as the capital of a modern nation-state and as the emblem of a new empire under Mussolini. We will also consider contemporary urban questions: Why has there been so little modification to the center of Rome since the 1940s? What space is available for new construction and how do contemporary architectural projects relate to those of the past? These questions and others will be explored through in-class lectures and on-site exploration of the city.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES:
•an understanding of Italy’s modern political history and the effect it had upon Rome
•a knowledge of modern archeological methods in dissecting the layers of Rome’s past
•an understanding of theories of urbanism and different methodical approaches
•knowledge of architectural styles and vocabulary to discuss works
•the ability to produce formal architectural analysis and analysis of sites with relation to urban planning
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TEXTBOOK:
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REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
Book Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN number | Library Call Number | Comments |
Modernism in Italian Architecture, 1890-1940 | Richard A. Etlin | MIT Press | 0262050382 | Permanent Reserves NA1118.E86 | |
The Architecture of Modern Italy, Volume 1 | Terry Kirk | Princeton Architectural Press | 1568984200 (v. 1 : alk. paper) | Reserves NA1114 .K574 Vol. 1 | |
The Architecture of Modern Italy, Vol. 2 | Terry Kirk | Princeton Architectural Press | 1568984367 (v. 2 : alk. paper) | ibrary Reserves NA1114 .K574 Vol. 2 | |
RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
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GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
Assignment | Guidelines | Weight |
Course Attendance and Participation | Please refer to the university catalogue for the attendance and absence policy. Regular attendance and punctuality are mandatory in order to earn full marks. The final grade will take into consideration preparation required for class and participation in class discussions. The grade for class participation will be valued on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing perfect attendance and excellent class participation. | 10 |
Site Journals | This assignment will consist of a diary drawn from your notes taken during lecture and exercises in interpreting architecture and urban spaces. In order to help you focus on readings and acquire new vocabulary, you will be occasionally asked to respond to specific questions in your journal and to summarize interpretive exercises done during our site visits. The writing style should be informal and reflect your observations and questions regarding course material. See course schedule for assignment deadlines. | 30% |
Midterm Examination | The midterm examination will be composed of <br />
•Slide identifications: identify name of building or space, the architect and the date <br />
constructed provided on your key monuments lists, then answer a very brief question <br />
regarding the slide.<br />
•Short answer questions regarding historical and stylistic terminology; regulatory <br />
plans regarding Rome’s development; architects and patrons involved with specific <br />
projects.<br />
•Essay: You will have a choice of two essay topics that treat general themes discussed in the first half of the course. You will need to provide specific examples taken from works discussed in class. | 20 |
Class Presentation and Short Paper | Each student will be responsible for presenting one building or urban space to the rest of the class. The presentation assignments will be made early in the semester. You will provide the other students in class with other necessary materials for understanding the site, such as plans and maps. At the time of the presentation, you will also provide a short 4-5 page paper on your building that includes bibliography. | 20 |
Final Examination | The format for the final exam will be the same as the midterm, with slide identifications and short answer questions covering only material since the midterm. The essay questions will be on topics taken from themes discussed in the entire course. | 20 |
-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
A = 100 - 93
A- = 92 - 90
B+ = 89 - 87
B = 86 - 83
B- = 82 - 80
C+ = 79 - 77
C = 76 - 73
C- = 72 - 70
D = 69 - 60
F = 59 - 0
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance is essential for this class that meets only once per week and on site. It is very difficult to make up the material seen on your own, particularly when a few of the sites are not near the center of Rome. Attendance is taken weekly and is part of the participation grade (see above).
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ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic
dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred.
In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment,
may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of
academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student
who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from
the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation
to the President, who will make the final decision.
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STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap.
Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning
of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
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SCHEDULE
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Session | Session Focus | Reading Assignment | Other Assignment | Meeting Place/Exam Dates |
Thursday, Sept. 6 | Course introduction and lecture – Rome around 1870 | None for the first class | | |
Thursday, Sept. 12 | The Creation of a New Capital: Expansion and Infrastructure, 1870-1909 | •Spiro Kostof, “The Drafting of a Master Plan for Roma Capitale: An Exordium,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 35, 1 (1976): 4-20. Download from JSTOR database via the Frohring Library web page. | | |
Thursday, Sept. 20 | Rome’s new “center”? Development around Termini train station and the via Nazionale | Terry Kirk, The Architecture of Modern Italy: Vol. 1 The Challenge of Tradition, 1750-1900, pp. 219-259. On reserve in Frohring Library, NA1114.K574 Vol. 1
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Friday, Sept. 21 MAKE UP LECTURE | The new capital and the Vatican: the Prati neighborhood and the Palazzo della Giustizia | Terry Kirk, “Roman Architecture Before the Lateran Pact:
Architectural Symbols of Reconciliation in the Competitions for the Palazzo della Giustizia, 1883-87.” Article will be made available via PDF online. | | |
Thursday, Sept. 27 | Politics, commerce and tourism in the city center | Terry Kirk, The Architecture of Modern Italy. Vol. 2 Visions of Utopia, 1900 – Present, pp. 15-34. On Reserve at Frohring Library, NA1114.K574 Vol. 2 | | |
Thursday, Oct. 4 | A bourgeois image of the new capital: The Exposition of 1911 and the eclecticism of Gino Coppedé | TBA | | |
Thursday, Oct. 11 | MIDTERM EXAMINATION | None | SITE JOURNAL 1 DUE IN CLASS | Oct. 11 |
Friday, Oct. 12 MAKE UP LECTURE | Workers’ housing and the Garden City ideal: Quartiere Garbatella
| Richard A. Etlin, ‘A Modern Vernacular Architecture’ in Modernism in Italian Architecture, 1890-1940, 129-164. On Permanent Reserves
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Thursday, Oct. 18 | Class Lecture: Fascism and urban planning, 1922-1942 | Terry Kirk, The Architecture of Modern Italy. Vol. 2 Visions of Utopia, 1900 – Present, Ch. 6. On reserve at Frohring Library, NA1114.K574 Vol. 2
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Thursday, Oct. 25 | Ancient Rome in the service of a new empire: Via dei Fori Imperiali, Piazza Venezia; via della Conciliazione | Terry Kirk. “Framing St. Peter’s: Urban Planning in Fascist Rome.” Art Bulletin 88 (4): 756-766. Article available to download from JSTOR.
•Richard A. Etlin, Modernism in Italian Architecture, 1890-1940, 377-417. On permanent reserve in Frohring library, NA1118.E86.
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Thursday, Nov. 8 | Foro Italico & Ministero degli Esteri | Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, Fascist Spectacle, Ch. 3. On reserve for class in Frohring Library, DG571.F2 | | |
Thursday, Nov. 15 | Fascism as permanent exhibition: E42 (the EUR district)
| Giorgio Ciucci and J. Levine, ‘The Classicism of the E42: Between Modernity and Tradition’, Assemblage 8 (1989), 78-87 (JSTOR)
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Thursday, Nov. 29 | Rome in the post-war period—reconstruction, restoration, andexpansion. Example: Piazza Augusto Imperatore and the Ara Pacis Museum | Spiro Kostof, “The Emperor and the Duce: The Planning of Piazzale Augusto Imperatore in Rome,” in Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics, pp. 270-325. A copy of this article will be provided to you.
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Thursday, Dec. 6 | Possibilities for contemporary architecture: examples in the Quartiere Flaminio (Olympic Village, Auditorium, MAXXI) | TBA | SITE JOURNAL DUE IN CLASS | |
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