Six Modern Architects

Architects of the twentieth century faced the challenge of designing new forms for new functions, new materials, and new cultural conditions. They found very different ways of meeting this challenge, while also re-creating architecture into a wholly modern art form. This course examines the work of six great architects: Louis Sullivan (“form follows function”), Frank Lloyd Wright (“organic architecture”), Le Corbusier (“machine for living”), Mies van der Rohe (“less is more”), Louis Kahn (“silence and light”), and Aldo Rossi (“memory theatre”). The female architects who worked with them are also part of the story. We will meet in person to encourage class discussion. 

Readings will be provided online, on the course website. 

David Spurr, Emeritus Professor at the University of Geneva, has published numerous works on the relations between architecture and literature. In addition to teaching literature, he has taught architectural history at Geneva, at the University of Innsbruck, and at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik.