Material Histories
This seminar examines the history of architecture of the last two centuries by following the thread of the history of materials.
Fulfills minor requirements for: Architectural History
Original cardboard canisters of New American Plastic Bricks, a toy manufactured in the 1950s. Image from a vintage toys reseller.
Materials affect the way we engage with the built environment and carry complex cultural meanings. Their histories are deeply and at times messily intertwined with the social, political and ecological context. This seminar examines the history of architecture of the last two centuries by following the thread of the history of materials. It considers materials’ lifecycles and the networks of extraction, production, transportation, and reuse; how the practice of architecture was affected by which materials were available, how they were produced, and the crafts and technology required to work them; how architects interpreted, manipulated, or added to those meanings through their own work; how everyday material culture adopted or abandoned materials and why. The course engages critically with the shifting meaning of materials and materiality’s role in the architectural discourse and with the presence of history as a layer of complexity embedded in the material itself.