Paris and Its Architecture: From Monument to Urban Landscape

Transcription

1 Boston University, Paris Architecture and Urbanism Program, Summer 2013 Paris and Its Architecture: From Monument to Urban Landscape AH383, Professors Tricia Meehan and Bernard Zirnheld Course Description This course traces the development of Parisian architecture and urbanism from the Roman period to the present, with a strong emphasis on the 19 th and 20 th century development of the city. It is designed to offer students a sense of the dynamic exchange between architectural form, urban development, the history of ideas and the larger cultural and political history of Paris. The course prioritizes first-hand exploration of the city, which requires that students complete readings and arrive prepared to relate those texts to the sites we visit. Students will choose one of five conceptual themes through which to investigate the city, culminating in an individual final written paper at the end of the class as well as a group presentation at the capstone seminar. This final seminar will bring together faculty from Boston, London and Paris for a comparative discussion of the capitals explored during the eight-week program. Course Logistics Class Schedule: On designated mornings, 9:30-12:30. See attached schedule. Capstone Seminar: Friday, 12 July 2012, 9:00-1:00. Location: Seminar room on lecture days and designated meeting points on visit days. Office Hours: By appointment. Tricia Meehan: tricia.meehan@libertysurf.fr; triciam@bu.edu Bernard Zirnheld: bzirnheld@gmail.com; zirnheld@bu.edu s received after 6 pm will be treated the next business day. Required Texts Anthony Sutcliffe, Paris: An Architectural History, New Haven/London: Yale Univ. Press, (on reserve at the BU Center Paris) Paris par Arrondissement, L Indispensable. Course Reader (Two Volumes). A course reader of required readings will be available for purchase at a local copy shop. Photocopies of supplemental readings will be held on reserve at the BU Center Paris. Grading Weekly Journals 15% Mid-Term Exam 30% Final Paper 30% Capstone Presentation 15% Class Participation 10% This is an intensive course and your presence at each session is indispensable. Thus, absences and tardiness cannot be tolerated:

2 1 absence from class, a required activity or in-class = -1 point on your final grade presentation More than 3 unexcused absences = F for the course Unsubmitted written work, = F (0 points) for the assignment in question Absence for a presentation or exam, Plagiarism *Excused absences = absence for illness excused by the certificate of a French doctor or an internship interview. Documentation to be submitted to Renée the day following the absence. Tardiness The professor reserves the right to not admit a tardy student to class or to count a tardy arrival as either a half or whole unexcused absence. Late arrivals to class will impact the class participation grade. Late submission of written work will entail a penalty on the assignment grade. Written work submitted more than a week late will not receive credit (grade =F). Official BU Plagiarism Policy All students are responsible for having read the Boston University statement on plagiarism, which is available in the Academic Conduct Code. Students are advised that the penalty against students in a Boston University program for cheating on the examinations or for plagiarism may be expulsion from the program or the University or such other penalty as may be recommended by the Committee on Student Academic Conduct, subject to approval by the Dean. Grading Scale : A : A : A : B : B : B : C : C : C : D : F Journals and Thematic Inquiry Students will select one of five themes on which to focus their four-week investigation of Paris. These themes Conceptions of the City, Heritage, Infrastructure, Nature and the City, Public Space will serve as a unifying lens through which to mark changes in urbanism and architecture across the city's 2,000-year history. In 2-page journal entries students will relate the week's readings and site visits to their particular theme of inquiry. Journals might offer an analysis of a particular site or reading, but always with an eye to organizing one's cumulative, focused reflection on continuities and changes within the development of Paris. Your journal entries will help you prepare for the capstone seminar group presentations. Final Paper Your final paper will explore the topic Taming the Metropolis through the lens of your thematic inquiry. The paper may take the form of a research paper (bearing in mind that appropriate resources in English may be difficult to access) or an extended, theoretically structured investigation of a site, text, or other phenomenon related to Parisian architectural or urban development. Required readings from the course reader and supplemental readings, that will function as the common starting point, will be identified during the 1 st week of class. You will then need to add sources to reinforce the development of your thematic inquiry. The paper should be 6-pages long and you may add up to 4 pages of images if you wish. Proper footnoting, a bibliography and appropriate illustrations are required. A list of libraries accessible to students is provided to guide you in your research.

3 Session 1. Course Introduction. From the Roman to the Medieval City BU Center: Seminar Required Reading: Please have this read for our initial course meeting. A.E. J. Morris, History of Urban Form, London: Godwin, Session 2. The Roman and Medieval City Visit: Cluny, Île de la Cité and Les Halles. Meeting Point: Metro Cluny-La Sorbonne, above ground, southeast corner of Boulevards Saint Germain and Saint Michel. Required Reading Vitruvius on the Laying Out of Cities. Anthony Sutcliffe, Paris, An Architectural History, New Haven/London: Yale University Press, Session 3. Gothic Architecture Visit: Sainte Chapelle, Conciergerie, Notre Dame and St. Severin. Meeting Point: Corner of Place Saint Michel and Quai des Augustins. Métro: Saint- Michel. Abbot Suger and What Was Done in His Administration, (ca.1122), translation 2000 by David Burr. Robert Scott, The Gothic Enterprise, Berkeley: University of California Press, Session 4. The Hôtel Particulier and Renaissance Urbanism Visit: Hôtel de Sens, Hôtel Aumont, Hôtel de Beauvais, Église St. Paul-St. Louis, Hôtel de Sully, Place des Vosges, Le Carnevelet, Hôtel Angouleme, Hôtel Soubise. Meeting Point: Metro Saint Paul, above ground. Session 5. The New Rome of Louis XIV Visit: Louvre, Collège de Quatre Nations, Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, Place Vendome and rue Saint Honoré. Meeting Point: Above ground at Metro Louvre-Rivoli. Session 6. The Enlightenment and Nineteenth-Century Questions BU Center: Classroom Lecture and Discussion Barry Bergdoll, European Architecture , Oxford: Oxford University Press, Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture: A Critical History. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.

4 Session 7. Theories of History and Architectural Form: Soufflot and Labrouste Visit: Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève and the Panthéon, Meeting Point: In front of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, 10 Place de Panthéon Barry Bergdoll, European Architecture, op. cit. Session 8. The Rationalized Metropolis: Napoleon, Haussmann and Beyond Visit: Rue de Rivoli, Palais Royal, Galerie Vivienne, Place de la Bourse, Place de l'opéra and rue Réaumur. Meeting Point: Place du Palais Royal, Metro Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre above ground in the place. Barry Bergdoll, European Architecture, op cit. Session 9. Spectacle, Modernity and the Metropolis BU Center: Lecture Required Reading: Norma Evenson, Paris, , in Anthony Sutcliffe (ed.), Metropolis , London: Mansell Publishing, Session 10. Regulating Diversity & the Emergence of Modern Architecture Visit: 16 th Arrondissement: Palais de Chaillot, Eiffel Tower, Housing rue Franklin (Hennequet, Perret), Housing rue Raynouard (Nafilyan, Perret), Castel Beranger (Guimard), Housing rue de la Fontaine (Guimard), Villas La Roche-Jeanneret (Le Corbusier). Meeting Point: Palais de Chaillot, in front of the entry to the Théâtre national de Chaillot. Métro: Trocadero or RER C Champs de Mars/Tour Eiffel. Richard E. Etlin, Le Corbusier, Choisy, and French Hellenism: The Search for a New Architecture, The Art Bulletin, Vol. 69, No. 2 (June, 1987). Session 11. Renewing the Fringe: Cités jardins & Habitations à bon marché Visit: Cité Jardin Pré-Saint-Gervais and social housing around the Reservoirs de Lilas and the Butte du Chapeau Rouge. Meeting Point: Corner of rue de Belleville and Blvd Séruier (19 th ). Métro: Porte de Lilas. Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow, London: Routledge, 1964 [published 1898].

5 Session 12. After the Future, After the Past: Back to the Present BU Center: Seminar Le Corbusier (Ed.), The Athens Charter, New York: Grossman, 1973, [French ed. 1943]. Session 13. Rethinking the Center: The Marais & Plateau Beaubourg Visit: Le Marais: Îlot insalubre no 16 (rue des Barres, Hôtel de Chalons-Luxembourg. Village Saint-Paul), Operational îlot no 1 (Hôtel Carnavalet, Place de Thorigny, Hôtel Salé-Musée Picasso, CARAN). Visit: Plateau Beaubourg: Îlot insalubre no. 1 (Quartier de l Horloge, Centre Georges Pompidou, IRCAM) followed by Les Halles (Eastern commercial sector, western public sector, garden). Meeting Point: In front of Saint Gervais Church. Métro: Hôtel de Ville. Sebastian Loew, Modern Architecture in Historic Cities: Policy, Planning and Building in Contemporary France, London: Routledge, Session 14. Deindustrialization and the Livable City Visit: ZAC of Bercy (Ministry of Economy and Finances, Palais Omnisport Bercy, Housing, Maison du Cinema, Bercy Park, Bercy Village) as well as the Passarelle Simone Beauvoir and the BNF. Meeting Point: in front of the Palais Omnisport de Bercy, on the side facing the rue de Bercy. Métro Bercy. Paul L. Knox, Cities and Design, London: Routledge, The professors reserve the right to modify the course syllabus

6 Capstone Seminar, Paris and London: A Comparison (Tentative Program) Final Presentation The Capstone Seminar will offer an opportunity to summarize and reflect critically upon the comparative operation that underpins the London-Paris program. Discussion will be based on five presentations organized around the semester s thematic inquiries, which will each function as a springboard for topical discussion between students, faculty and distinguished guests. The Capstone Seminar will bring together students and the entire program faculty for a comparative discussion of the urbanism and architecture of London and Paris. The students presentations should offer a sense of the commonalities and differences of each city as understood in relationship to the thematic inquiry. Presentations will offer a brief comparative overview supplemented by concrete examples drawn from journal entries and final papers. The keynote lecture, by a senior scholar, will broaden our perspective beyond the London-Paris dyad to place these two great European capitals in a wider European context Introduction. 10 minutes. Fred Kleiner, Chair, Department of History of Art & Architecture, will present an overview of the program s development and its goals. Session 1. Conceptions of the City Session 2. Heritage Session 3. Infrastructure Session 4. Nature and the City Session 5. Public Space Break 10 minutes Keynote Speaker. Fred Kleiner: Before London and Paris: Rome as a Model for Europe. 45-minute presentation; 15-minute discussion. Fred Kleiner is our distinguished invited speaker and he will situate the morning s discussion in a larger context, by speaking about Roman influences on the development architecture and urbanism in Paris and London. Conclusion 15 minutes: Caroline Donnellan, Tricia Meehan, Bernard Zirnheld The three professors of the London Paris Program will offer short reflections on the day s proceedings, before opening up for comments from the participants.