LOOKING AT ARCHITECTURE, I: WHAT OUR EYES CAN DETERMINE

 

Lecture abstract: Some very ordinary elements of the American (and world) architectural landscape are shown to be immensely rich in meaning, but one needs to ask the right questions in order to elicit the most profound possible answers. Most of these are about things one can see, but some aren't. The questions range from the structural and aesthetic to the social and intellectual. They spread out in concentric rings that encompass these ordinary buildings, their site, their region, their country, and the rest of the world. That is how rich architectural history is.

 

Reading: Sourcebook, preceding section on methodology of description, analysis, and criticism