Architectural Design
ARCH 3100, 3101, 3102, 4100, 4101, 4102, 5100 DESIGN STUDIO (6 credits)
Instructors: Carmen Andriani, Mark Cruvellier, Luca Galofaro, Werner Goehner
Emphasis is placed on analytic and synthetic problems specific to the Rome experience. Specific content for the Rome studio will be determined by the instructor. Design studio is offered every semester. Visiting students must be enrolled in a five-year B.Arch. program to enroll for this course.
ARCH 5110 THESIS INTRODUCTION (3 credits)
Instructor: Werner Goehner
Lectures, seminars, and independent research leading to complete development of the student’s thesis program. General instruction in the definition, programming, and development of a thesis. Research should be directed toward a site and/or theme using the city and its environs as a source of inspiration and ideas. Must be taken in conjunction with ARCH 5100.
Architectural History
ARCH 3819 SPECIAL TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM: Urban Design, Architecture and Art in Renaissance and Baroque Rome (3 credits)
Instructor: Jeffrey Blanchard
This course will focus principally upon the Renaissance and Baroque phases of Rome's history (15th–18th centuries). However, the first class sessions will survey the city's growth and structure from its origins to the present, and throughout the semester the course will often turn to those earlier and later events, without an understanding of which the Renaissance and Baroque developments would be only partially intelligible.
The history of architecture in Rome will be treated more thoroughly and systematically than the arts of painting and sculpture, but these latter topics will occasionally be a main focus, and will often be a secondary one.
While the overall organization of the syllabus is essentially a chronological one, each lecture tends to reflect other criteria of selection as well: topographic (a particular zone of the city); typological (a particular architectural type, e.g. the 16th century palazzo); monographic (the work of a single artist).
ARCH 3820 SPECIAL TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM: Urban History and Architecture of Ancient and Medieval Rome (3 credits)
Instructor: Jan Gadeyne
Rome is a prisoner of its past. The entire city confronts the student with almost 30 centuries of urban and architectural history. This course intends to reconstruct the urban history of Rome from its origins through the Middle Ages (10th century BC–12th century AD). The purpose of this course will be to discover the layers of Rome, combining archaeology with literature, architecture, and urban history with art history. The goal is a thorough and direct knowledge of the Roman and Medieval urban landscape, and the way this landscape has sometimes survived until today.
Special attention will be given to Roman and Medieval building typology, both private and public, and the development of the urban infrastructure (street system, water supply, fortifications, etc.). Strong emphasis will be placed upon continuity, use/reuse and transformation of buildings and spaces, etc. Every week one or two different "regions" will be explored that are typical for a particular moment of the urban history. Visits to sites outside Rome also will be used to address the issue of urban history in Italy in antiquity and the middle ages.
Architecture Theory / Visual Representation
(Elective offerings vary each semester.)
ARCH 4509/459 SPECIAL TOPICS IN VISUAL REPRESENTATION I (3 credits/variable)
Additional topics may be announced before preregistration.
ARCH 4509/459 INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY (3 credits)
Instructor: Liana Miuccio
Rome is a visual feast for photographers. In this course, students will learn the art of photography while documenting the Eternal City's urban landscape. The technical component of the course consists of mastering camera operation, exposure, and digital input and output. Students will gain an understanding of the aesthetic possibilities of photography through weekly assignments, lectures on important photographers, photo field trips in Rome and visits to contemporary photo exhibits. By the conclusion of the course, students will have produced a visual diary of their European experience.
Students can choose to work with traditional or digital photography. A camera with manual functions is required. Digital cameras must have a minimum of 4 megapixels. The required digital or analog camera may have automatic functions but must also have manual override options. Students will be required to photograph approximately two rolls of 36 exposure film or 72 digital images per week. The film or digital files must be accompanied by printed contact sheets and two prints per assignment. A minimum of 20 rolls, 20 proof sheets and 30 final prints are required for the final individual critiques. Students should expect to spend approximately $500 on processing and photographic paper during the semester. If students take advantage of the Cornell in Rome digital facilities to scan film, output proofs, and final prints, the student cost will be greatly reduced. Both technical and aesthetic excellence will be evaluated in the final grade.
ARCH 3308/338 SPECIAL TOPICS: Theory of Architecture I (3 credits)
Instructor: Gabriele Mastrigli
The course will investigate the complexity and richness of cities through lectures, readings, walks, and through the contributions of architects, artists, writers, and geographers.
The city is the natural artificial surrounding of mankind. More than 60% of us live in cities, and this trend is on the rise. In cities, we live, work, relax, and enjoy ourselves. In cities, we realize our social, symbolic, and public identities.
We will start our discussion of the city using Rome, our temporary urban surrounding, the city in which we will live for four months, and contribute to its transformation, too. Having the city as a case study will permit us to explore and confront different ways to perceive, to explain, to intend, and to project our context. This program is open to all students of architecture, art and urban planning.
ARCH 3117/317 CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN CULTURE THROUGH FILM (1 credit)
Instructor: Carolina Ciampiglia
THE 1960s IN ITALIAN CINEMA - This one-credit course is designed to give an outline of Italian Cinema during the '60s through the films the most representative directors. These years represented for Italy a period of economic growth, known as the years of the “economic boom”, which resulted in a process of radical transformation of Italian society.
The movies featured in the course portray different aspects of Italian life in a moment of great transition from old to new. During the seminars followed by each of the four required films we will discuss how the changes taking place in Italy were witnessed and registered in the films of the period and analyze the different styles that characterized each director. Course begins in the second month of the semester and finishes before final exams.
