2008 Modern Architecture + the Modern City

PROGRAM INFORMATION

The Graduate Summer Program in Europe - Modern Architecture and the Modern City: Paris, The Netherlands, Berlin, received a seed grant from the Georgia Tech Foundation, initiating the first program in the summer of 1991. Based on that successful experience, the program continued to develop and has been offered annually except for the summer of 1996.

Three characteristics of the program have been important to the program's success.

• First, the program is an integral part of the graduate curriculum in architecture and urban design. What begins in classrooms and studios in the graduate curricula at Georgia Tech is continued to the direct experience of modern and contemporary buildings, landscapes, and urban design projects in Europe. The three places: Paris, The Netherlands and Berlin are three of the most important sites for architecture and urbanism in the 20th Century and are leading locations of contemporary architecture and urban design.
• Second, all students in the program are graduate students in architecture or the allied design disciplines. Although most students are enrolled in the Master of Architecture or Master of Science Programs at Georgia Tech, graduate students in the City and Regional Planning Program often participate. Space permitting, graduate students from other universities are accepted, but only those in the design disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture and city and regional planning.
• Third, the Architecture Program faculty who direct and teach the program have many years prior experience teaching abroad and in their respective teaching locations. Richard Dagenhart has taught this summer program in The Netherlands for the past 10 years; he has also taught this program in Berlin, Barcelona and Paris. Michael Gamble has taught this summer program in Berlin since 1998. David Green taught the 2004 program in Paris jointly with Richard Dagenhart, and took over the Paris portion of the program in 2005.All faculty have taught in the Architecture Program’s Paris Program during the academic year and have traveled and lectured internationally.

PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM

The Graduate Summer Program examines the modern and contemporary city and its architecture, urban design and landscapes. The study begins with the emergence of the modern city in the second half of the 19th Century, when modern urban reform movements were founded. These reform movements coincide and propel the emergence of modern architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design in the 20th Century. Students in all three disciplines – architecture, landscape architecture and planning – study these movements in their normal academic coursework and recognize their importance in contemporary theory, research and professional practices. However, classroom instruction, using texts and slides, can never substitute for direct observation. The primary purpose of this summer program, therefore, is to provide graduate students rigorous study through direct observation and experience. This includes a week of (1) preparatory seminars in Atlanta, (2) seminars and lectures in the cities, both in classroom settings and during tours of buildings, landscapes and urban places, and (4) site visits for the purpose of in depth observation, including required visual and technical analyses recorded in the students’ journals. The program also requires independent research, formally approved by the Architecture Program, for each student, which includes work both during the time abroad and in library-oriented work before departure and before the end of the semester.

The program has three main objectives:

• To expand graduate students’ understanding of the history of modern architecture and urbanism through lectures, seminars and visits to important buildings, urban projects, landscapes, as well as significant examples from the visual arts, including painting, drawings, sculpture, and film.
• To deepen the students understanding of the complex relationships of 20th Century architecture and urbanism to specific cultural settings, historical events, and political movements through lectures, seminars and visits to cultural and historical museums and exhibitions.
• To immerse the students in contemporary architecture, landscapes and urbanism in Europe and their relationships to the century of modernism through lectures, seminars and visits to significant contemporary buildings, urban projects, and landscapes, as well as to architecture, landscape and urban design offices.

ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM

The Program is organized as a full summer semester. The formal foreign study-travel portion totals about 8 weeks proceeded by one week of initial seminars and followed by students’ independent travel and research relating to their independent study proposals. It includes four parts, as follows:

• Georgia Tech Initial Seminars and Lectures. This first four days of the program will is conducted at Georgia Tech lecture/seminar formats, devoted to the three required courses. The students also initiate their independent study projects and submit initial materials and detailed study plans prior to departure to Europe.
• Primary Study/Travel Program. The primary part of the study/travel program is visits to the three places that are the most important to an understanding of European modernism: Paris, The Netherlands, and Berlin. Faculty and students will spend a minimum of 12 class days in each of these cities. The total time in each city, including free time and independent research time is approximately 20 days.
• Additional Travel Program – Each year, an additional short trip of five to seven days is devoted to another city or area that is important to understanding modernism and contemporary works in Europe. Previous trips have been to Barcelona, Vienna, Prague, and Basel and vicinity. Tentatively, the summer 2008 trip will be to Copenhagen.
• Independent Study. Each student’s independent study proposal is prepared in the Spring Semester and approved by the Architecture Program prior to departure. The research topic is related to modern or contemporary architecture in Europe, using direct visits, documentation, and interviews where appropriate. Research topics include: building technology and construction, affordable housing, urban design at the urban fringe, urban and landscape design of public spaces, architecture and urbanism of transit and transportation, etc. The requirements for this independent study are the same as independent study credits during the academic year.