You are on page 1of 6

SAMPLE SYLLABUS This syllabus is provided as a sample. Course content may vary.

Page 1 of 6


DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA, CULTURE, AND COMMUNICATION


E59.1030
Architecture as Media: Communication Through the Built Environment


COURSE DESCRIPTION
This class reads architecture and the built environment through the lenses of media,
communication, and culture. The course takes seriously the proposition that spaces
communicate meaningfully and that learning to read spatial productions leads to better
understanding how material and technological designs are in sustained conversation with the
social, over time. Through analyses of a range of spaces from Gothic Cathedrals to
suburban shopping malls to homes, factories, skyscrapers and digital cities students will
acquire a vocabulary for relating representations and practices, symbols and structures, and
for identifying the ideological and aesthetic positions that produce settings for everyday life.


LEARNER OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course students should be able to:
-Define the basic elements of the relationship of media and space
-Describe how media forms are integral to architectural forms
-Describe the role of technology in the formation of architectural and media spaces
-Analyze aspects of representation, symbols,
-Critique ideological and aesthetic aspects of mediated space relationships


REQUIRED TEXT
All course readings will be posted to Blackboard.


ASSIGNMENTS
This class will be structured around reading architecture in relation to media and social
practice. In addition to completing a selection of readings (available online), students will be
asked to prepare three original analyses of spaces. These readings, focused on particular
settings in New York City, will take the form of five page papers alongside supporting
photographic evidence, video, or drawings. Together, they will assemble entries on a
website/wiki devoted to media-space.

Evaluation
Three five page papers/supporting visuals (25% each)
Blog/Class Participation (25%)

Evaluation Rubric
A= Excellent
This work is comprehensive and detailed, integrating themes and concepts from discussions,
lectures and readings. Writing is clear, analytical and organized. Arguments offer specific
SAMPLE SYLLABUS This syllabus is provided as a sample. Course content may vary.
Page 2 of 6
examples and concisely evaluate evidence. Students who earn this grade are prepared for
class, synthesize course materials and contribute insightfully.

B=Good
This work is complete and accurate, offering insights at general level of understanding.
Writing is clear, uses examples properly and tends toward broad analysis. Classroom
participation is consistent and thoughtful.

C=Average
This work is correct but is largely descriptive, lacking analysis. Writing is vague and at
times tangential. Arguments are unorganized, without specific examples or analysis.
Classroom participation is inarticulate.

D= Unsatisfactory
This work is incomplete, and evidences little understanding of the readings or discussions.
Arguments demonstrate inattention to detail, misunderstand course material and overlook
significant themes. Classroom participation is spotty, unprepared and off topic.

F=Failed
This grade indicates a failure to participate and/or incomplete assignments

A = 94-100
A- = 90-93
B+ = 87-89
B = 84-86
B- = 80-83
C+ = 77-79
C = 74-76
C- = 70-73
D+ = 65-69
D = 60-64
F = 0-59


CLASS POLICIES
Absences and Lateness
More than two unexcused absences will automatically result in a lower grade. Chronic
lateness will also be reflected in your evaluation of participation. Regardless of the reason for
your absence you will be responsible for any missed work. Travel arrangements do not
constitute a valid excuse for rescheduling exams. There are no extra credit assignments for
this class.

General Decorum
Slipping in late or leaving early, sleeping, text messaging, surfing the Internet, doing
homework in class, eating, etc. are distracting and disrespectful to all participants in the
course.

Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism
SAMPLE SYLLABUS This syllabus is provided as a sample. Course content may vary.
Page 3 of 6
The relationship between students and faculty is the keystone of the educational experience
at New York
University in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. This
relationship takes an honor code for granted and mutual trust, respect, and responsibility as
foundational requirements. Thus, how you learn is as important as what you learn. A
university education aims not only to produce high-quality scholars, but to also cultivate
honorable citizens.

Academic integrity is the guiding principle for all that you do, from taking exams to making
oral presentations to writing term papers. It requires that you recognize and acknowledge
information derived from others and take credit only for ideas and work that are yours.

You violate the principle of academic integrity when you
cheat on an exam,
submit the same work for two different courses without prior permission from your
professors,
receive help on a takehome examination that calls for independent work, or
plagiarize.

Plagiarism, one of the gravest forms of academic dishonesty in university life, whether
intended or not, is academic fraud. In a community of scholars, whose members are teaching,
learning, and discovering knowledge, plagiarism cannot be tolerated.

Plagiarism is failure to properly assign authorship to a paper, a document, an oral
presentation, a musical score, and/or other materials that are not your original work. You
plagiarize when, without proper attribution, you do any of the following:
copy verbatim from a book, an article, or other media;
download documents from the Internet;
purchase documents;
report from others oral work;
paraphrase or restate someone elses facts, analysis, and/or conclusions; or
copy directly from a classmate or allow a classmate to copy from you.

The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development imposes heavy
penalties for plagiarism in order to safeguard the degrees that the University grants. Cases of
plagiarism are considered among the most serious of offenses.


STUDENT RESOURCES
Students with physical or learning disabilities are required to register with the Moses
Center for Students with Disabilities, 719 Broadway, 2nd Floor, (212-998-4980) and
are required to present a letter from the Center to the instructor at the start of the
semester in order to be considered for appropriate accommodation.

Writing Center: 269 Mercer Street, Room 233. Schedule an appointment online at
www.rich15.com/nyu/ or just walk-in.


SAMPLE SYLLABUS This syllabus is provided as a sample. Course content may vary.
Page 4 of 6
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES, READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

I. INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

Week 1 -- Introduction: Architecture as Communication?
Innis, H. (1951). The Bias of Communication. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, pp. 33
60.
Tschumi, B. (1996). Spaces and events. In Architecture and disjunction. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, pp. 140 152.

II. STRUCTURES & COMMUNICATION

Week 2 Seeing Like a State: Technologies and Strategies for Territory
Mukerji, C. Ch 5. Social choreography and the politics of place. Territorial Ambitions
and the Gardens of Versailles, 198 248.
Scott, J. (1998). Soviet collectivization, capitalist dreams. Seeing like a state: How
certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven, CN: Yale
University Press, pp. 193 222.

Week 3 Surveillance and Containment
Davis, M. (1992) Fortress L.A. In City of quartz: Excavating the future in Los
Angeles. Vintage Books, pp. 221 263.
Andrejevic, M. (2003). Tracing space: Monitored mobility in the era of mass
customization. Space and Culture (6) 2, 132 150.

Week 4 Monuments and Memory: Strategies and Tactics || Monuments and Media
Events: Organizing Remembrance and Forgetting
Sturken, M. (2007). Tourism and Sacred Ground: The space of Gound Zero. In
Tourists of history: Memory, kitsch, and consumerism from Oklahoma City to Groung
Zero. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press, pp.165 218.
Calvino, I. (1974). Cities and memory. In Invisible cities. New York: Harcourt, Inc.
(excerpts).

Week 5 Architectures for Worship : The Cosmology of Cathedrals
Panofsky E. (1951). Gothic architecture and scholasticism. Latrobe, PA: The
Archabbey Press, pp. 20 88.
Geertz, C. (1973). Ethos, worldview, and the analysis of sacred symbols The
interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. New York: Basic Books, pp. 126 141

III. MODERNISMS

Week 6 Mass Media/Mass Production: Architecture for the Machine Age
Marinetti, F.T. (1909). The Futurist Manifesto.
Le Corbusier Eyes which do not see: Liners, Airplanes, Automobiles. In Towards a
new architecture. pp. 85 129.

Week 7 Techniques of Awe: Spectacles and the Sublime
SAMPLE SYLLABUS This syllabus is provided as a sample. Course content may vary.
Page 5 of 6
Etlin, R. In Hitlers Salon: The German pavilion at the 1937 Paris Exposition
Internationale. In Art, Culture, and media under the Third Reich. Chicago: Univ. of
Chicago Press.
Nye, D. (1994). Bridges and skyscrapers: The geographical sublime. In American
technological sublime. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 77 108.

Week 8 Scripted Spaces
Couldry, N. Media 'pilgrimages' and everyday media boundaries. In Media rituals: A
critical approach. London: Routledge, pp 75 94.
Klein, N. (2004). Happy imprisonment: Labyrinths. The Vatican to Vegas: The
history of special effects. New Press, pp. 97 115

Week 9 A View of One's Own: Television and the Home
Spigel, L. The home theater. In Make room for TV Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press,
pp. 99 135.
Hitchcock, A. Rear Window.

POSTMODERNISMS

Week 10 Signage, Semiotics, and Vernacular
Venturi, R., Brown, D.S., Izenour, S. (1972). Learning from Las Vegas: The forgotten
symbolism of architectural form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (pp. 3 72).
Eco, U. The return of the Middle Ages. Travels in Hyperreality, pp. 59 85.


Week 11 Space is the Place: Counter-culture dwellings, Systems Theory, Network
Forums and New Frontiers
Rheingold, H. A slice of my life in virtual community
Turner, F. (2005). Where the counterculture met the new economy: The WELL and
the origins of virtual community. Technology and Culture, 46(3), 485-512.

Week 12 The Aesthetics of Late Capitalism
Muschamp, H. (2000, July 23). Architectures claim on the future: The Blob, TheNew
York Times.
Jameson, F. (1991). The cultural logic of late capitalism. In Postmodernism, or the
cultural logic of late capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1 54.


ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATION

Week 13 Architectures of Calculation
Yates, J. (2005). Early engagement between insurance and computing. InStructuring
the information age: Life insurance and technology in the Twentieth Century. Johns
Hopkins University Press, pp. 113 146.
Wigoder, M. (2002). The solar eye of vision: Emergence of the skyscraper viewer
in the discourse on heights in New York, 1890 1920. Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians, 61(2), 152 169.

Week 14 Cybernetics: Architecture as Information
SAMPLE SYLLABUS This syllabus is provided as a sample. Course content may vary.
Page 6 of 6
Martin, R. (2003). Computer architecture. In The organizational complex,
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 157 181.
Edwards, Closed World (excerpt).

You might also like