Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Upon successful completion students should be able to:

• recognize functional, structural, and aesthetic qualities in architecture and read visual and experiential elements, architectural and cultural styles, and symbols
• view the urban world "dynamically," that is, to appreciate and communicate simultaneously individual viewer response, the uniqueness of a work of architecture, its origins and precedent, its potential as an inspiration and influence on later architecture, and its relationship to a particular cultural moment
• decipher architecture through understanding of historical, social, cultural, economic, and political contexts
• generalize course content to other art not covered in the course so that he/she can understand and value the architecture of the urban world in allencompassing global ways

The student will:
 

• comprehend, apply, analyze and evaluate reading assignments
• identify artwork and architecture, and relate facts and ideas about these works of art in exam format
• research, plan, compose, edit and revise short papers
• keep journals assessing learning development in and out of the classroom
• participate in class field trips

Course Content:
Themes, Concepts, and Issues:
Theoretical
 

• theory and criticism in the history of the urban world
• pattern-based thinking and historical process
• various interpretations of art
• art and gender
• creativity and the impulse to make art and architecture
   

Stylistic and Interpretive
 

• visual literacy
• architectural media and technique
• "seeing and knowing"
• iconography
• the formal principles and elements of architecture
   

Social and Cultural
 

• other peoples and their histories, values, and culture
• the urban world and economics
• the urban world and the social fabric
• the urban world and religion
• the urban world and politics
• art and gender
• relationship of culture and style
• urban world and cultural transmission
• historical impact of art
  • the influence of architecture on one°s own culture
  • the influence of architecture on relations with other cultures

• urban world and the architect
  • the impulse to make the urban world
  • the Gestalt of art
  • the role of the architect in society
  • biography 
• geography and its influence on architecture and culture
• artifact recovery, analysis, restoration, and incorporation into a larger historical fabric
   

Competencies and Skills:
The successful student should be able to:
 

• work creatively with art historical data, using it to develop principles of art history
• recognize and appraise patterns in historical phenomena
• assess the ways in which an object from the urban world is affected by our own vantage point
• recognize and discriminate among various styles of architecture
• trace the development of art from one period to another
• analyze formally works of architecture and appreciate the interrelationship of various elements
• determine symbolism in architecture
• employ iconographical nomenclature
• express the relationship of the urban world and culture
• analyze the "meaning" of the elements of the urban world through understanding of historical, social, and political context
• use specific terminology to describe the urban world
• transfer to a four year college and continue a course of study in the field of art history, fine art, anthropology, and history in general
   

Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills:
 

• oral and written command of college level English