MARCH660 AE: Nature in Arch History

This history seminar intends to historicize and problematize current debates around sustainability. It will critically explore the long history of attempts by architects and urbanists to create built environments that incorporate, preserve, or harmonize with the natural world. In doing so, it emphasizes that nature exists in a complex social interrelationship with human urban cultures. Relying frequently on the urban and architectural history of the San Francisco Bay Area, the course examines the changing design paradigms toward nature of different generations of American architects and urban theorists. The course will also frequently use nature-focused architecture theory to return to the contemporary relationship between humans, their built environment, and nature. The focus of the class is on student participation in open discussions, regular short writing assignments, and a critical interpretative case study based on either historical or contemporary examples.