History of Architecture

Understanding architectural terminology, themes and building types used in world architecture from Greek and Roman periods up until the 17th Century, acquire the knowledge of significant structures and buildings in their historical, regional, and cultural contexts in this period, explore the definitions of architecture and style as well as the relation between the built environment and the socio-cultural dimensions. It covers a synopsis of architecture, art, and city design in both East and West cultures the Early Christian (including Coptic Cairo), and Byzantine. It will also cover the Medieval Romanesque and Gothic eras exploring the different meanings and aims of architecture. This course introduces students extensively to the history of Islamic Architecture and the formation of Islamic cities. Students begin by examining the formation, development, transfers, parallels, and differences between European and Islamic architecture that are revealed in building traditions, materials, spatial layouts and related to lifestyle. They are simultaneously introduced to the ideologies, cultural, climatic, and technological influences that shaped these cities, including the functional aspects reflected in the various religious, civic and residential buildings of the period and the manipulation of mass, light and acoustics from the inside-out to achieve the desired functions. This course finally covers the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo eras in Europe. It also covers the developments of the nineteenth century and the transferal of influences that characterized it stopping at the beginnings of the industrial revolution with its innovations in materials (iron and glass) tracing its connections through eclecticism and classical revival.