Architecture

As one of fundamental courses of Interior Architecture Design majors, this course provides the theoretical background of fundamental CAD systems and digital design technologies in order that students can reach the next phase of advanced design computing studies and practices. This includes architectural planning, design, drafting procedures, practices, symbols and preparation of advanced working drawings for architectural and interior design. Moreover, this course tackles how digital design and design computing technologies interact with design per se using quantitative and scientific processes, so that students can comprehend the main features of digital design. 

This course studies the development of public and private architecture in Berlin from the 19th century to the present. Following an introduction to architectural terms, and an examination of the urban development and architectural history of the Modern era, the Neo-Classical period is surveyed with special reference to the works of Schinkel. This is followed by sessions on the architecture of the German Reich after 1871, characterized by both modern and conservative tendencies, and the manifold activities during the time of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. The architecture of the Nazi period is examined, followed by the developments in East and West Berlin after World War II. The course concludes with a detailed review of the city's contemporary and future architectural profiles, including an analysis of the conflicts conerning the redesign of ''Berlin Mitte,'' Potsdamer Platz, and the new government quarter. Students examine architectural examples within Berlin designed by such famous international architects as Lord Norman Foster, Frank O. Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Richard Rogers. Field trips complement the lectures.

This course explores how various forms of art, especially painting and architecture, have served to establish and strengthen the political cohesion of the young American nation. After defining key concepts, the course focuses on landscape painting in the 19th century, which was dedicated to the majesty of American landscapes. On the architectural level, it studies classicism as well as specific American forms of architecture. The course provides an opportunity analyze an artistic work in its historical and cultural context through the prism of building a national identity.

This course examines comprehensive and integrated building design, where the architectural whole is approached as a complex of systems (of production, technology, infrastructure and so on), in turn embedded within larger systems (of ecology, economy and so on). It develops a level of competence in design skills and thinking and involves the integration of technology with the natural environment, and urban context. Students address a generic brief by building upon it with emphasis in Urban, Environment, and/or Technological issues in a given site to demonstrate the acquisition of a level of competence in research, design thinking, operational skills and communication.

The course serves as an introduction to the city of Prague as a specific cultural and social milieu, seen through the lens of its artists, architects, and their works. It is also intended – particularly through the reading list – to inspire an interest in the unique blend of storytelling and legend that underpins much of the city’s character and history. The scope of the course includes the major periods of European architectural development: from medieval to modern, as well as aspects specifically reflecting the history and heritage of the Czech nation. In structuring the course according to artistic styles and movements, the course recognizes the ways in which artists of widely varying origins and temperaments responded to, influenced, or disrupted the artistic conventions of the day, and how their work continues to reflect the social and political dynamics of the city.