EDBERT CHENG
  • CV
  • Digital + Web
  • Architecture
  • Visual Design
  • Drawing
  • CV
  • Digital + Web
  • Architecture
  • Visual Design
  • Drawing
EDBERT CHENG

crash course history of architecture

9/28/2020

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Potential Title Card, John Green with Corb Glasses

​​Introduction
A thought experiment: how would I teach the history of architecture?

Where would I start? 
And how would I make it different and better than before? 

I love the "Crash Course" series on YouTube, created by the vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green. I used to watch the World History obsessively, and now I've been watching the History of Science, which is another fantastic series. I love how engaging and exciting the short videos are, and they pack such excellent information in a very digestible way. Each episode is like a "gateway" to understanding the topic further, but it gives a very good foundational basis to each time period/subject matter. The "thought bubble" interruptions and excellent animations also keep the mind from wandering. 

​I feel like their show began as a reaction against history class stereotypes -- long, boring, and full of rote memorization of unnecessary peoples and places. The vlogbrothers seem to recognize that in today's world, educators have to compete with a host of other media to keep students focused - television, video games, and even TikTok. As such, they were able to compete with those media by making equally compelling content, and by doing so revolutionize education, much like their peers Khan Academy or even Extra Credit. (Side note, How I Built This recently released an episode on Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy. I highly recommend you check it out.)

Why Crash Course Architecture? 
When it comes to architecture --- where should we even begin, with over thousands of years of history? How can we make it engaging and meaningful, and fit for a 21st century audience? Architectural history is one of my favorite subjects in college, and I really wish it can become more mainstream, within architectural education and even in the general public. There are so many interesting stories and anecdotes involved in architectural history, and it explains so much about modern society and how we live today. (Think of studying architecture as an archaeology of recent human history, and how it reveals the slow evolution of human society and culture.) Perusing the great history books and monographs at the Cornell Fine Arts library was like time-traveling across the globe, engaging with different societies and learning from elders. How can we democratize this knowledge to make more people care about these stories, and by extension their own environments? 

If we give people the language and knowledge to describe their built environment, they will come to demand more from designers, architects, builders, and public officials. (See How to Make an Attractive City) Over time, this will elevate the quality of architecture and address the larger societal and quality-of-life issues that buildings represent. Because architecture is a public, highly visible art with a comparably long shelf life,  it belongs to everyone --- and not just folks in big cities, universities, western countries, or the wealthy. 
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Overarching Themes
Any history text or series must have an overarching theme, or an editorial agenda. What do I want folks to get out of the series? My "Crash Course History of Architecture" would center around three themes: technology, power, and the human scale.

  • Technology: Architecture is a means to shape the environment.
  • Power: Architecture is an expression of cultural, political, and economical forces in a civilization. 
  • Human Scale: Architecture is a negotiation between Man and Nature and then Man and Machine. 

Technology. Unlike the hypermarketed image of architecture as an "individualistic, exclusive art form", I want to present architecture as one of humanity's breakthrough innovations, spanning the time between the discovery of fire and the first modern computer. Just like the scientific disciplines, it is driven by teamwork, collaboration, and the exchange of knowledge. The practical need for shelter, coupled with countless creative and scientific breakthroughs, drove centuries of architectural and engineering marvels. Architecture curates and disseminates technology. (See this American short story on smart homes) 

Power. Due to the highly public and capital-intensive nature of building, architecture is also a physical record of the dominant powers and concerns of a society. For centuries, its space-shaping potential have been utilized as a political and economic tool, promoting the agendas of those in and with power. Architecture represents political space and is therefore always contestable and controversial. (See protest and architecture).

Human Scale​. The most important thing to understand about architecture is that it is profoundly human-centric, or "pro-human". As a human invention it always places people first, whether that means the dimension of doors or city zoning codes. Architecture started out as a dialogue between humans and nature. By nature, I mean climate and weather, but I also mean the gods, spirits and metaphysical forces that control the natural environment. (This dialogue produced the great Ziggurats of Mesopotamia, as well as the delicate Shinto Shrines of Japan.) Later on, as humans developed more and more tools to "master" nature, architecture became a mediator between us and the machines we created; we now coexist with automobiles, computers, and the internet infrastructure. Today, we face the twin existential threats of climate change and artificial intelligence, and architecture's role will be to help people adapt to these challenges. 
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A Rough Course/Episode Outline
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I have created a brief, early outline of about 20 episodes, roughly mirroring major developments in world history -- from early human settlements to today -- but specifically targeting architectural themes. You can imagine it as supplementary materials to World History, or as a major subsection of Art History dedicated to architecture. In making this outline, I have tried to move away from a "Great Man" history of the discipline, defined by individual geniuses, and towards a more systems-based, high-level view of the field defined by geography and movements. 

Disclaimer note: I am aware that this course outline dedicates many episodes to western architecture, and specifically European developments, such as the Renaissance and the War of Styles. As such, it may come across as having a western or American bias. I am fully open to amending the outline to include more diverse content, such as dedicated episodes devoted to Chinese, Japanese, Pre-Columbian American, Malian (The Great Mosque of Djenné is awesometacular) and Indian architecture. The course may even be retitled to a "History of Western Architecture", though I want to strive for a more global perspective. Comments and suggestions are welcomed. 
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  1. Early Settlements: Çatalhöyük & Other Dwellings
  2. The Middle East: Water, Worship, and Monuments
  3. India, China, and Japan: Hierarchy and Harmony
  4. Ancient Greece: Color, Cities, and Proportion
  5. Roman Antiquities: Bureaucracy and Engineering​
  6. Islamic Architecture: Faith, Trade, and Mathematics
  7. Gothic Architecture and the Church​
  8. The Italian Renaissance & Baroque
  9. Enlightenment Monuments: Boullée & Ledoux
  10. Brave New World: The Americas and the Atlantic Trade
  11. Neoclassicism: Empire and Colonization
  12. War of Styles: 19th Century European Industrialization​
  13. City Beautiful: The Rise of Urban Planning
  14. ​Modernism in the 20th Century: Skyscrapers, Airplanes, & Automobiles
  15. Globalization 1.0: Modernism in the Americas, Asia, and Africa 
  16. Radical Modernism: Counterculture, Brutalism and Other Developments
  17. The Sustainability Movement: LEED, Green Fighting Machine
  18. Postmodernism: Consumption and Spectacle
  19. Globalization 2.0: Urbanization in the 21st Century
  20. Computational Design & Digital Twins​​
  • Potential Side Quest: Venice - I really want a bonus episode just talking about Venice, because I love Venice. I think it can be placed between Ep. 7 (Gothic Architecture) and Ep. 8 (Italian Renaissance). 

Further References & Education Strategies
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We now understand why the history of architecture is important, and what exactly we will talk about. So, how can the series go beyond the video format and make a real-world difference? I have laid out some strategies of teaching and engaging viewers who may want more information, so that hopefully the series materials will stick and inspire. 

  • Start Local
"All politics is local", so why not also architecture? I really don't want folks to leave the course thinking they might need to go fly to Italy or Chicago to see some amazing buildings. There are beautiful spaces and buildings everywhere in America, and throughout the world. You just have to look carefully. See a Tadao Ando building in Saint Louis. See the extensive collection of beautiful bridges in Pittsburgh. See Crystal Bridges in Northwest Arkansas. It may be possible to create local study groups and archi-tours that plug in to existing universities and schools of architecture, inspiring new cohorts of designers, architects, planners, activists, and developers. 
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  • Celebrate the Stories behind the Buildings
As much as I believe in a systemic understanding of architectural history, rather than one based on "great" individuals, I still like to learn about the personal stories behind the architecture. I believe that by highlighting personal struggles alongside successes, we can humanize the industry and make it less foreign, elite, and unwelcoming. There are high profile success stories, like the trailblazing careers of Paul Revere Williams and Zaha Hadid. There are high profile tragedies, like the misfortunes of Borromini, or William Van Alen and his legal battle with Walter Chrysler. There are also failure-turned-successes like Buckminster Fuller, or less well-known stories like Bradford Gilbert's first New York skyscraper, and Emily Warren Roebling's contributions to the Brooklyn Bridge as a woman engineer. All these stories, and many more, should be told and celebrated. 

  • ​​Create a Design Foundation​
A potential next step, after a solid historical understanding, would be to dive into design foundations. Audiences can learn about form, space, balance, geometry, rhythm, proportions, and color theory, among other topics. There can potentially be video-based tutorials where folks can easily follow along, creating simple design exercises to build up a very basic portfolio. It could be a way to build up design thinking and encourage design awareness, or simply let people get in touch with their own design tastes. At the very least, it can help build up a design vocabulary -- critical and constructive ways to talk about architecture. 

  • Construct Meaningful Design Arguments​​
Further down the road, I think this crash course can generate meaningful design debates and discussions. Viewers can understand and dissect historic architectural movements, and then they can take that knowledge back to their communities. My hope is that they can start to see the underlying forces, trends, and ideas that shaped their surroundings, and how their environment can be improved. They can independently make proposals, attend local planning meetings, and see the value behind good design and good architecture. ​
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