RESEARCH METHODS FOR ARCHITECTS ARCH 627 (4 credits) Fall 2012 Prof. Annmarie Adams Mon and Thurs 12:30 to 2:30 Room 206

Office: 205 Macdonald-Harrington Building Phone: 514 398 3492 Email: [email protected]

Course description: This graduate seminar is an intensive course in research methods for students with professional training in architecture. Our focus in Fall 2012 is the social analysis of the built environment. What are our most useful interpretive tools for understanding the social impact of architecture? How do we gather architectural information? The course invites you to analyze a building from nuanced social perspectives, inspired by classic readings since 1980. These readings provide models for the presentations and focus on the cultural landscapes of home. Students are responsible for finding copies of the readings; the suggested texts are on reserve at the library. It is highly recommended students take ARCH 679 in Winter 2013, Writing in Architecture, whose content complements this course.

The following books will be useful in this course: Arnold, Dana. Reading Architectural History, NA190 A76 2002 Crossley, Nick. Key Concepts in Critical Social Theory, HM511 C77 2005 Eggener, Keith L. American Architectural History, NA705 A483 2004 Forty, Adrian. Words and Buildings, NA2543 L34 F67 2000 Groth, Paul and Bressi, Todd W. eds., Understanding Ordinary Landscapes, GF90 U53 1997 Hubbard, Phil et al, Key Thinkers on Space and Place, GF90 U53 1997 Leach, Neil. Rethinking Architecture, NA2500 L47 1997 Upton, Dell and Vlach, John Michael eds., Common Places, NA705 C58 1986 Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture [series], NA705 E86 1997

1 Evaluation: Each week 1-2 students will lead the discussion of readings and present information on the contributions of a major author (see list). See Prof. Adams for recommendations one week in advance. Leading a discussion 15% Weekly presentations 35% Conference paper 50% (draft paper, rehearsal, presentation)

Schedule ------Thurs Sept 6: Course objectives Mon Sept 10: What is architectural research? (Arnold 1-33, 71-81) Thurs Sept 13: Research topics presentations Mon Sept 17: Formal analysis (Forty 18-27, 149-172; Rowe, “Mathematics of the Ideal Villa,” Architectural Review, March 1947; Henry Glassie in Upton/Vlach, 394-425) Thurs Sept 20: Formal analysis presentations Mon Sept 24: Functional analysis (Forty 174-195; Cromley, "Transforming the Food Axis, » Material History Review 44 [Fall 1996]: 8-22) *Thurs Sept 27: CANCELLED (Azrieli lecture + events) Mon Oct 1: Functional analysis presentations Thurs Oct 4: Structural analysis (Forty 256-275, 276-285; Barthes in Leach, 172-180) Mon Oct 8: THANKSGIVING Thurs Oct 11: Structural analysis presentations Mon Oct 15: Social analysis (Foucault in Leach 356-367, Girouard in Arnold 143-163; Hayden, “Two Utopian Feminists and Their Campaigns for Kitchenless Houses,” Signs 4 [Winter 1978]:274-290; see also Crossley 60-63, 213-227) *Thurs Oct 18: CANCELLED Mon Oct 22: Race (Upton,” White and Black Landscapes,” Places 2, 2 [1985], 59-72; Harris, “Little White Houses,” [http://warrencenter.fas.harvard.edu/builtenv/Paper%20PDFs/Harris.pdf]; Crossley, 234-237) Thurs Oct 25: Gender (Adams, “The Eichler Home,” Gender, Class, and Shelter: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture V [1995]: 164-178; Friedman in Eggener 316-341; see also Crossley 280-284) Mon Oct 29: Social class (Crossley 290-296; Groth, "’Marketplace’ Vernacular Design,” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture 2 [1986]: 179-191) *Thurs Nov 1: CANCELLED Mon Nov 5: Exhibitions, Guest Prof. Ipek Tureli (Rose, Visual Methodologies, 164-186; Bennett, The Birth of the , 59-88)

2 Thurs Nov 8: Visit to the Canadian Centre for Architecture Mon Nov 12: Context (Jackson, "The Westward-Moving House,” Landscape 2 [Spring 1953]; Herman, “The Embedded Landscapes of the Charleston Single House, 1780-1820,” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture 7 [1997]: 41-57. Thurs Nov 15: Urbanism presentations, Guest Prof. Nik Luka Mon Nov 19: Material culture analysis (Mellin, « The Material Culture of Tilting, Fogo Island, Newfoundland, » Canadian Journal of Irish Studies 26 [Fall 2000/Spring 2001]:49-73; Pocius, “Is It Authentic, Is It Real, Does It Matter?: The Lesson from Professional Wrestling and Buildings” in Bean Blossom to Bannerman, Odyssey of a Folklorist ed. Martin Lovelace et al [2005] :343-364. Thurs Nov 22: Social analysis presentations [draft papers due] Mon Nov 26: Abstracts, title, arguments, oral presentations (Simpson, “Crimes and Misdemeneanors,” http://www.secollegeart.org/forms/Crimes_and_Misdemeanors.pdf) Thurs Nov 29: Discussion of drafts Mon Dec 3: Conference rehearsal Wed Dec 5: Conference rehearsal Fri Dec 7: Annual Student Conference, presentations of proposals* (time = three cancelled classes)

Authors to Explore: THE SOCIAL ANALYSIS OF SPACE ------

Annmarie Adams Anna Andrzejewski James Borchert Thomas Carter Margaret Crawford Elizabeth Cromley Alice Friedman Mark Girouard Henry Glassie Paul Groth Marta Gutman Cynthia Hammond Dianne Harris Richard Harris Dolores Hayden Bernard Herman

3 Kim Hoagland Thomas Hubka JB Jackson Anthony King Spiro Kostof William Littmann Richard Longstreth Nik Luka Tania Martin Sally McMurry Robert Mellin Gerald Pocius Jessica Sewell Pamela Simpson Ipek Tureli Dell Upton Abigail Van Slyck John Michael Vlach Camille Wells Gwendolyn Wright

4 Suggested Buildings to Study

Your chosen building should be complex enough to sustain your interest through the term; well documented in terms of drawings and photographs; and accessible such that you can visit it multiple times. The Montreal buildings listed below, in my opinion, satisfy these criteria. You are also welcome to choose a building pertaining to your proposed thesis research as long as you are able to analyze it in multiple ways.

3605 Mountain 3647 Peel (or other houses owned by the university) Biosphere (US pavilion, Expo 67) Birks jewellery store Canadian Centre for Architecture Chateau apartments Churches (any) Ernest Cormier house (later ) Douglas Mental Health University Institute Grande Bibliothèque Hall Building, Concordia University Holt Renfrew store Hugh Allan house/ Nahum Gelber Law Library, McGill University Palais des Congrès Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology Redpath Museum, McGill University Ritz Carleton Royal Victoria College, McGill University Sofitel University Club Westmount Library

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