History or Art and Architecture V: Caractère
Seminar (063-0313-21)
Organizer: Chair of Prof. Delbeke
Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Maarten Delbeke, Dr. Sigrid De Jong
Time: Fridays 09:00-10:00
Location: HIL C 10.2
'Caractère' or character is not only a quality applied to human beings. It is also a category of architectural discourse, developed in the eighteenth century when architects and theorists were seeking new ways to talk about and judge buildings, pushing architectural discourse beyond Vitruvian categories to which it had been tied for centuries before. This reading class will closely examine key texts that discuss the phenomenon of a building's 'character' from the late 1600s up until today. The texts will be read at home and discussed in class together, or examined individually in a written exercise. Independent reading and vivid discussion in class make up this course’s character.
Caractère schedule HS 2021: list of sessions
Session 1 (24.09.2021):
Antoine Furetière, Dictionnaire universel contenant généralement tous les mots françois, tant vieux que modernes, et les termes de toutes les sciences et des arts (1690). (Original - Transcript )
Session 2 (01.10.2021):
Germain Boffrand, Livre d'architecture. (1745) - French & English .
Jacques-François Blondel, Cours d'architecture, ou traité de la decoration, distribution & construction des bâtiments, Paris 1771-77, vol. 1. - Part 1 & Part 2 .
Session 3 (08.10.2021):
Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières - Le génie de l’architecture ; ou l’analogie de cet art avec nos sensations (1780):
- Introduction (French / English )
- De l'Art de Plaire (French / English )
Etienne-Louis Boullée - Essai sur l’art (ca. 1781-1793) (French / English )
Session 4 (15.10.2021):
Louis Batissier - L’Artiste (1836).
Louis-Sebastien Mercier - Tableau de Paris (1783), extract from volume 1; extract from volume 7 .
Session 5 (22.10.2021):
Muraltengut (1777-1782) and exhibition Das Gesims
site visit
Untersuchungen über den Charakter der Gebäude (1788); Text, Image.
Session 6 (05.11.2021):
Humphry Repton - Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening (1795) Text
Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld - Theorie der Gartenkunst (1779-1785) Text
Session 7 (12.11.2021):
John Soane - from Royal Academy Lectures on Architecture (1812-5) Text
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Von deutscher Baukunst (1772) Text
Session 8 (19.11.2021):
Ruskin - The Poetry of Architecture (1836-7), Excerpt 1, Excerpt 2 .
Graffenried & Stürler - Architecture Suisse / Schweizerische Architektur (1844), Text (German and French).
Session 9 (02.12.2021). *Please note the different day: Thursday 2 December, 6pm.
invited lecture:
Prof. Pascal Griener (Institut d'histoire de l'art et de muséologie Université de Neuchâtel)
‘Caractère going wild: Victor Hugo architect and romantic theory’
Session 10 (03.12.2021):
Charles Blanc - Grammaire des arts du dessin (1867) Text
Le Corbusier - Vers une architecture (1923) - French / English .
Session 11 (10.12.2021):
Heinrich Wölfflin - Prolegomena zu einer Psychologie der Architektur (1886) German / English / complete text in English
Christian Norberg-Schulz - Genius Loci (1980) Text.
Organizer: Chair of Prof. Delbeke
Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Maarten Delbeke, Dr. Sigrid De Jong
Time: Fridays 09:00-10:00
Location: HIL C 10.2
'Caractère' or character is not only a quality applied to human beings. It is also a category of architectural discourse, developed in the eighteenth century when architects and theorists were seeking new ways to talk about and judge buildings, pushing architectural discourse beyond Vitruvian categories to which it had been tied for centuries before. This reading class will closely examine key texts that discuss the phenomenon of a building's 'character' from the late 1600s up until today. The texts will be read at home and discussed in class together, or examined individually in a written exercise. Independent reading and vivid discussion in class make up this course’s character.
Caractère schedule HS 2021: list of sessions
Session 1 (24.09.2021):
Antoine Furetière, Dictionnaire universel contenant généralement tous les mots françois, tant vieux que modernes, et les termes de toutes les sciences et des arts (1690). (Original
- Transcript )Session 2 (01.10.2021):
Germain Boffrand, Livre d'architecture. (1745) - French
& English .Jacques-François Blondel, Cours d'architecture, ou traité de la decoration, distribution & construction des bâtiments, Paris 1771-77, vol. 1. - Part 1
& Part 2 . Session 3 (08.10.2021):
Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières - Le génie de l’architecture ; ou l’analogie de cet art avec nos sensations (1780):
- Introduction (French
/ English )- De l'Art de Plaire (French
/ English )Etienne-Louis Boullée - Essai sur l’art (ca. 1781-1793) (French
/ English ) Session 4 (15.10.2021):
Louis Batissier - L’Artiste
(1836). Louis-Sebastien Mercier - Tableau de Paris (1783), extract from volume 1
; extract from volume 7 .Session 5 (22.10.2021):
Muraltengut (1777-1782) and exhibition Das Gesims
site visit
Untersuchungen über den Charakter der Gebäude (1788); Text
, Image. Session 6 (05.11.2021):
Humphry Repton - Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening (1795) Text
Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld - Theorie der Gartenkunst (1779-1785) Text
Session 7 (12.11.2021):
John Soane - from Royal Academy Lectures on Architecture (1812-5) Text
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Von deutscher Baukunst (1772) Text
Session 8 (19.11.2021):
Ruskin - The Poetry of Architecture (1836-7), Excerpt 1
, Excerpt 2 .Graffenried & Stürler - Architecture Suisse / Schweizerische Architektur (1844), Text (German and French)
.Session 9 (02.12.2021). *Please note the different day: Thursday 2 December, 6pm.
invited lecture:
Prof. Pascal Griener (Institut d'histoire de l'art et de muséologie Université de Neuchâtel)
‘Caractère going wild: Victor Hugo architect and romantic theory’
Session 10 (03.12.2021):
Charles Blanc - Grammaire des arts du dessin (1867) Text
Le Corbusier - Vers une architecture (1923) - French
/ English .Session 11 (10.12.2021):
Heinrich Wölfflin - Prolegomena zu einer Psychologie der Architektur (1886) German
/ English / complete text in English Christian Norberg-Schulz - Genius Loci (1980) Text
.