Dissecting the 20th Century: Ten Unconventional Bodies of Architecture / Part One

Architecture history is generally viewed as a collection of buildings that are products of the social-political or economic transformations of specific historical periods. In this approach, understanding architectural works hinges on comprehending transformations that occurred outside of architecture. However, for architecture to serve as a radical response to a social or political transformation, it must also be a radical response to its own history. In other words, architectural history is shaped at moments when a building, in reacting to something in society or politics, distances itself radically from conventional architectural forms and, by breaking away from standard space-making mechanisms, creates new possibilities for expressing its stance outwardly.

In this approach, the key to understanding architecture lies in reading the simultaneous dialogue between architecture and the transformations of its time, as well as the dialogue between architecture and its own history.

This course will be held in two six-session parts, with each part scrutinizing five buildings. From each analysis, important ideas about engaging with cities, society, and politics in the 20th century will be narrated. These ideas and buildings continue to cast their shadows into the 21st century.