ABPL30053

FORMATIVE IDEAS IN ARCHITECTURE

PART ONE

Questions 1-5

*Choose three out of five questions to complete.

*For each of the following images / quotes (1-5) provide at least two to three sentence answers for each sub-question in the space provided.

Each question is worth a total of 25 marks (Remember that providing very long answers will not necessarily assist your marks. Aim to be clear and concise.)

Question 1

Read the following quotes and answer the following questions about them:

i)”To restore a building is not to preserve it, to repair, or rebuild it; it is to reinstate it in a condition of completeness which could never have existed at any given time.”

ii)”It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. That which I have insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled.”

1 a) Identify the author of each quote above and the published context of the writing. (4 marks)

*

*

1 b) Compare and contrast the meaning and importance of what each quote is saying. (7 marks)

*

1 c) Describe the influence it had in its own time on either design thinking and/or a particular built project. (7 marks)

*

1 d) Name one example of an architect or building which continues to reflect each of these approaches today. Briefly explain your response.  (7 marks)

*

*

Question 2

Study the following images and answer the following three questions about them:

2 i)   

2 ii)   

2 a) Identify where each image is from and with which major figures in the history of architecture is it associated. (4 marks)

*

*

2 b) What does each figure illustrate? Make sure you articulate any relevant theoretical and stylistic context. (8 marks)

*

*

2 c)  What are two important enduring and influential principles that each represents in the history of architecture? (8 marks)

*

*

2 d) For each image, describe one thinker, architect or building that has challenged or extended these principles and briefly explain how and why. (5 marks)

*

*

Question 3

3i) “... Having thus from a variety of examples endeavoured to show, that roughness either real, or apparent, forms an essential difference between the beautiful, and the picturesque; it may be expected, that we should point out the reason of this difference. It is obvious enough, why the painter prefers rough objects to smooth: but it is not so obvious, why the quality of roughness should make an essential difference between objects of beauty, and objects suited to artificial representation.

To this question, we might answer, that the picturesque eye abhors art; and delights solely in nature: and that as art abounds with regularity, which is only another name for smoothness; and the images of nature with irregularity, which is only another name for roughness, we have here a solution of our question.”

3ii) Consult the Genius of the Place in all,
That tells the waters whether to rise or fall;
Or helps th’ ambitious Hill the heavens to scale,
Or scoops in circling theatres the Vale;
Calls in the Country, catches open glades,
Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades;
Now breaks, or now directs, th’ intending Lines;
Paint as you plant, and, as you work, designs.’
Nature shall join you; Time shall make it all grow
Without it, proud Versailles! Thy glory falls;
… goes on an on to mock vast parterres, terraces, foundations and statues…

3 a) With the above quotes in mind, identify the name of one historical figure who was most clearly associated with each and why. (4 mark)

*

*

3 b) Name three qualities associated with the Picturesque movement in landscape and/or architecture (At least two sentences per quality) (6 marks)

*

*

*

3 c) Name one example of an historic estate or garden in Britain that can be associated with the Picturesque. State three main elements that reflect a Picturesque approach to design in this example and comment on their use. (8 marks)

*

*

*

3 d) Name one example of a contemporary place that might reflect the lasting influence of the Picturesque. State two main elements that reflect a new, contemporary understanding of the Picturesque approach. (7 marks)

*

*

Question 4

4 i)

4 ii)

4a) Name each of these buildings and where they are located. (4 marks)

*

*

4 b) Name two principal designers associated with each of them (4 marks)

*

*

4 c) Note three stylistic qualities that each building displays and describe reasons why these can be discerned. (9 marks)

*

*

*

4 d) Explain ways in which each building has approached the task of conserving and protecting yet also modernising and maintaining its usefulness in contemporary times. (In at least three sentences on building i) and two sentences on building ii)) (8 marks)

*

*

*

Question 5

5i)

5ii) “The interchange between the academic and the more or less

imaginative meanings of Orientalism is a constant one, and since

the late eighteenth century there has been a considerable, quite

disciplined- perhaps even regulated- traffic between the two. Here

I come to the third meaning of Orientalism, which is something

more historically and materially defined than either of the other

two. Taking the late eighteenth century as a very roughly defined

starting point Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the

corporate institution for dealing with the Orient-dealing with it

by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing

it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism

as a Western style. for dominating, restructuring, and having authority

over the Orient.”

5 a) Identify the building in figure 5i). Describe its architectural style. Briefly explain it’s function and how it symbolised the power of the British Empire.

(6 marks)

*

*

5 b) Briefly discuss the key ideas that this passage outlines.

Name one painting that we have studied in the subject that could be discussed in light of passage 5ii). Explain why this painting reflects Orientalist stereotypes. Refer to two features in your response. (6 marks)

*

*

5 c) Name one building (including designer, style. and location) that we have studied in the subject that could also be discussed in light of passage 5ii). Briefly explain why you have selected this example. (8 marks)

*

*

5 d) Choose one former colonial country and describe, using one example, how architecture became ‘hybridised’; blending western historical styles and eastern or vernacular architectural approaches. (5 marks)

*

PART TWO

* Answer ONE (1) only of the following essay questions by addressing all the points listed under the main question.

* Your essay is worth 25 marks.  

* A minimum of 500 and maximum of 1000 words is expected.

* Address each of the points under each broad topic option, but write in complete sentences and paragraphs not dot points.

* You can include images if this supports your arguments.

If you refer to bibliographical sources, you only need the source, author, date, title.

*You may refer to lectures as a resource.

* You can refer to your own essay content, but not copy this (it will come up in Turnitin as self-plagarism).

* Note that all exam scripts will also be scrutinised by Turnitin for evidence of AI use (this is not visible to students when uploading assignments.)

Option 1: PLACES

Choose ONE city or major centre we have covered in this subject. Discuss how its spatial and urban organisation and its architecture express the processes of development, power and modernisation through the following points:

i) evolving social and economic conditions; 

ii) city planning initiatives and the design of public space and civic institutional types; 

iii) transportation and services (gas lighting, water supply, sewerage and health);

iv) the evocation of political and nationalistic expression through art, planning and architecture.

Option 2: TECHNOLOGY & MATERIALS

Select ONE material used in 18^th–19th-century buildings / structures and discuss how its use was subject to debates between tradition and innovation. You must refer to at least TWO examples of building types or structures in which it was used and address the following points:

i) debates about design aesthetics vs engineering; 

ii) any constructional / structural advances and/or disadvantages associated with its use, safety or longevity;

iii) how it changed future architectural language or building systems;

iv) Particular conservation issues today in maintaining if relevant to examples. 

Option 3: STYLES & IDEAS

Revivalism is a general term used to describe a wide range of 18^th and 19^th-century architecture that revived and reinvented the architectural language of a past time or style.

Some architects drew from the past as a source of style. and ornament for symbolic or representational purposes, while others borrowed from it to inform. their own particular design approach and as a springboard for innovation.

*** In light of the above statement, choose ONE particular style, and compare and contrast the approaches of any TWO architects or writers/theorists who contributed to this style. by addressing the following aspects:

(i) the origins, or historical sources, of the language of revivalism that their work reflected; 

(ii) the characteristics of the particular language of revivalism their work contributed to (e.g. planning, composition, use and expression of materials);

(iii) examples of building types typically associated with the revivalist style. or approach;

(iv) key social, political or nationalistic attitudes associated with the revivalist style. or approach.

Option 4:  IMPORTANT PEOPLE

Select one important figure from the lectures, readings or tutorials covered in the subject and discuss the following.

***Include at least TWO specific works (built, written or drawn) that illustrate these points.

i) their most influential ideas; 

ii) how these ideas were communicated (e.g. through texts, imaginary schemes, or built works);

iii) how they influenced design / historical practices of their time; 

iv) the legacy / relevance of their ideas into the present.