University of Washington

Architecture 150A
Autumn Quarter 2014
Professor Ann Huppert
ahuppert@uw.edu
208N Gould Hall
office hours: W 11-12, Th 3-4 and by appt

Department of Architecture
Appreciation of Architecture I
TTh 3:30-4:50
Kane 130
Graduate Student Assistants
Jennifer Kim
Supasai Vongkulbhisal
Andrew Prindle

Class website: https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/962951/

appreciate: to form an estimate of worth, quality, or amount; to perceive the full
force of; to be sensitive to; to esteem adequately or highly; to recognize as valuable
or excellent; to find worth or excellence in.
Oxford English
Dictionary

Course Overview
Appreciation develops from understanding. This course, Appreciation of Architecture I, offers an
exploration of world history through the language of architecture and the built environment. We
investigate the origins, materials, methods, and social significance of architecture from pre-history
to the year 1400. Framed by chronology and geography, the course will address architecture in
terms of its form, siting, and cultural meaning, as well as the transfer of ideas across time and
place.
forms the setting for our daily lives. It includes places for rituals, living, working, and communitybuilding. It is the house, street, city, temple, church, theater, city hall, market, park, street
system, and garden. This course addresses the creation, aesthetics, and use of these built forms
and their landscapes, the components that make up what we describe as the built environment. A
study of the built environment explores the relationship between humans and the natural world,
and our most basic need for shelter, as well as our loftiest aspirations.
In Arch 150, the first of two 3-credit courses, students will develop the skills to see, read, and
interpret built environments as a means to understand human culture. This course uses lectures
and images, augmented by readings, to introduce themes of historical inquiry. Through these
themes we discover the diverse ways in which architecture has come to reveal the goals of society.
Lectures will demonstrate methods for looking at and analyzing architectural forms. Close
observation is fundamental for developing visual acuity. Students will be responsible for being able
to identify the monuments, sites, and features presented in class and readings, for understanding
and applying descriptive terminology, and for engaging the themes of the course. These skills help
to build architectural literacy and a knowledge of how built environments shape culture.

Objectives
By the end of his course, students should be able to:
Identify monuments, sites, and features as presented in class and in the readings
See, read, and analyze architecture and landscape as a means to understand human
culture
Understand and apply the language of architecture, landscape, and urban history
Describe selected origins, materials, methods, and social significance of architecture from
pre-history to the year 1400
Interpret early architecture in terms of its form, siting, and cultural meaning, as well as the
transfer of ideas across time and place.
Explore new skills in various techniques of analysis of architectural history and appreciation

Student Responsibilities

Arrival on time and prepared to engage in the course at the start of each class
Regular attendance and active engagement in class (i.e. listening, contributing, taking good
notes)
Completion of readings before the appropriate class
Successful completion of FOUR (4) Quizzes as assigned and within the time allowed
Successful completion of in-class Final Exam at the assigned time, June 11, 2:30-4:20

Academic honesty: The University takes the offenses of cheating and plagiarism very seriously.
Plagiarism is representing the work of others as your own without giving appropriate credit to the
original author(s). If you are unsure, ask.

Classroom Behavior
Engaged class attendance is essential. Looking closely at the projected images in class and
relating the visual material to class lectures and required readings are the keys to success in this
class. The images shown in class will be posted but the audio component of lectures will not be
recorded.
Laptop computer use must be limited to course related work meaning note taking.
No other electronic equipment including cell phones or cameras should be used in
the classroom. Please be courteous to others in the class, and consider taking notes by hand.
The materials distributed to you (lecture outlines and images) are designed to help you take handwritten notes and allow you to concentrate on learning by looking closely at the images
projected during lectures.

Course materials
The Canvas website provides links to essential components necessary for your success in the
course: this Syllabus, the Lecture Outlines, and the Course Images, as detailed below. On
the site you will also find information about office hours, grading, CLUE quiz review sessions and
other useful links. The materials available from the class website will help you study but these are
not a substitute for class attendance.
Lecture outlines list the buildings and topics for each lecture. These will be posted in advance of
class for you to read before lectures and have available for reference during class.
Course Images: A pdf with the slides for each lecture will linked to the Lecture Schedule on the
website following each class.
Textbook: The required text is Buildings Across Time: An Introduction to World Architecture by
M. Fazio, M. Moffett and L. Wodehouse (2014). A custom UW edition (comparable to the 4th
edition) is available to purchase at the University Book Store. Copies are also on reserve in the
Built Environments Library (334 Gould Hall) and Odegaard Library. The textbook has many, but
not all, of the photographs that will be shown in class. The book is organized more or less
chronologically, and the class lectures will be as well, but they won't match up perfectly. You are
strongly encouraged to read the assigned chapter in advance of class. Not all material in
lectures will be covered in the booka further reason to Come to Class!
Additional points:
The materials provided in this course are protected by copyright. They are made available to you
only for your personal use in connection with the course. Other uses are prohibited except as
allowed by law. Prohibited uses include posting course materials online on commercial websites
designed for document sharing. If you have questions, contact the instructor.

Course Requirements
Course grading will be determined as follows:
Quizzes
60%
Online assignments
10%
Final Exam
30%
Quizzes and Exam:
There will be four online quizzes and an in-class final exam. Students must take all quizzes
and the final exam. The exception is a medical or family emergency for which you provide
documentation, such as a doctors note that shows an incapacity for the duration of the quiz
availability. If you miss a quiz, you must contact the instructor within one week of the quiz date to
avoid a score of 0.
Each quiz will be open from Thursday 9 am to Friday 5 pm starting on the following dates: Apr
9, Apr 23, May 7, May 21. The final exam is on Thursday, June 11, 2:30-4:20 in Kane Hall 130.
The lowest quiz score will be dropped. The quiz score that gets dropped will be:
a score of zero for a missed quiz due medical or family emergency - this requires
documentation, OR
a score of zero for technical problem with the submission of quiz answers requires
immediately documented contacts to the UW IT Help Desk and an email to a course GSA
describing the issue, OR
if neither of the above apply, the lowest of the four scores
Quizzes are not cumulative in terms of the buildings or sites covered but you should be familiar
with terms and concepts that apply throughout the quarter. Each quiz will cover material from
approximately four class lectures. Your lecture outlines provide the material to review for these
quizzes. Be sure to review the lecture slides, your notes and all reading assignments. All quizzes
are multiple choice and will cover material both in the book and in the lectures.
The final exam will be given in Kane Hall 130. It will consist of multiple choice questions based
primarily on the material from the last segment of the course but will also include material from
throughout the quarter. The final exam will be closed book.
CLUE review sessions will be held in Mary Gates Hall before each quiz and the final exam.
You will need a strong internet connection when taking the online quizzes and are advised to use a
laptop or desktop computer rather than a phone or tablet. We recommend using Firefox, Chrome,
or Internet Explorer web browsers but NOT Safari. The campus libraries offer quiet settings to take
the quizzes. Once you have signed in you, will have 30 minutes to complete the quiz. The quiz
questions will be shown one at a time and the quiz does not allow you to move back to previous
questions, so carefully review each answer before proceeding.
You should prepare for these on-line open book quizzes as you would for any in-class, closed-book
examination. You may consult the course textbook, notes, and website is allowed during the
quizzes, however, you will benefit from being prepared since you will have limited time to
complete the questions. Keep in mind that the internet offers unlimited information but not all of it
is correct. Your course materials should be your first point of reference. You must work
independently. Group participation on quizzes is considered cheating; this includes, but is not
limited to, previewing the questions from another students quiz and conferring about the quiz
content with a classmate who has already completed the quiz.
Online Discussion Assignments:
There will be three brief written assignments to post to an online discussion board. These will be

short (50 word max.) responses to questions that will be provided the week the assignments are
due. The assignments will be due by 5pm on the following Fridays: Apr 17, May 1, May 29.

Grading:
Final grades will be calculated out of 100 points using the scale below.
We use the whole point spreadyou can find the point-by-point breakdown on the Canvas site
see Quizzes and Grading.)
NB: There are no extra credit opportunities in this course.
95+
86
81
74

4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5

69
64
59
55

2.0
1.5
1.0
0.7

Email and Office Hours:

We will use Canvas to send announcements to the class. It is your responsibility to make sure that
you are receiving the messages by means of your preferred means of notification.
You can meet with the instructor and the GSA during scheduled weekly office hours or by
appointment. We are happy to meet you and to discuss course content, and strongly encourage
you to talk with us about study skills. For questions about grades, missed quizzes or special
accommodations, you should speak with Professor Huppert in person.
In email please be brief, professional and courteous, and include your name. We will try to
respond promptly but not always immediately. We will not respond by email to questions about
grades or to lengthy course questions see us in person.
Any student who requires special accommodations for this course should speak with
Professor Huppert in person by week 2 of class

Lecture Schedule all reading assignments from Buildings across Time (BaT)
Mar 30
Apr 1

1. Introduction: Traditions of Building

2. Monumental Architecture in Stone

BaT xi-xvi, 1-7, 582-86

BaT 9-14, 20-28

Apr 6

3. Early Monumental Architecture and its Siting:

Egypt, Mesopotamia, Aegean and Peru
4. The Emergence of Cities

BaT 14-18, 28-33, 35-44,

269
BaT 10, 14-18, 63-65, 87-9

Apr 8

Quiz 1 lectures 1-4 open from 9am, Th Apr 9 to 5pm Fr Apr 10

Apr 13
Apr 15

5. Architecture and Ritual Sites: India, China

and Indonesia
6. Architecture and Ritual Sites: Ancient Greece

BaT 65-79, 81-86

BaT 44-61

Assignment 1 post by 5pm Friday Apr 17

Apr 20
Apr 22

7. Ritual, Procession and Civic Space: Persepolis and Athens BaT 19-20, 44-61
8. Empire Building: Rome and Central America
BaT 104-31, 259-74
Quiz 2 lectures 5-8 open from 9am, Th Apr 23 to 5pm Fr Apr 24

Apr 27
Apr 29

9. Empire Building: Central America and China

10. Ancient Rome

BaT 81-96, 103, 259-74

BaT 104-31

Assignment 2 post by 5pm Friday May 1

May 4

11. Late Imperial Rome and Early Christian

BaT 132-38

May 6

12. Byzantine Architecture

BaT 139-51

Quiz 3 lectures 9-12 open from 9 am Th May 7 to 5pm Fr May 8

May 11
May 13

13. Central and South American Architecture

14. Early Medieval and Romanesque

BaT 259-74
BaT 176-210

May 18
May 20

15. Early Medieval and Romanesque

16. Early Islamic Architecture

BaT 176-210
BaT 152-75

Quiz 4 lectures 13-16 open from 9 am Th May 21 to 5pm Fr May 22

May 25
May 27

HOLIDAY
17. Gothic Architecture

BaT 212-38

Assignment 3 post by 5pm Friday May 29

Jun 1
Jun 3

18. Monumental Architecture in the Medieval Period BaT 212-38, 274-83

19. The Medieval City
BaT 239-49
Final Exam Thursday June 11, 2:30-4:20 pm Kane Hall 130