Between Cosmos and Chaos: Gottfried Semper’s Theory of Architecture

Lecture History and Theory of Architecture IX (063-0803-02)
Organizer: Chair of Prof. Ursprung
Lecturers: Michael Gnehm
Time: Autumn 2021 | Fridays 11:45–12:30
Location: HIL E 8
 

The lecture course discusses Gottfried Semper’s complex approach to architecture as the «small world» created by mankind within a global scope framing history and the present between a cosmological totality and chaotic fragmentation.
Course Catalogue

Lectures


Livestreaming
Recordings
Slides
24 September 2021  | Outline
. 1 October 2021  | Cosmology
. 8 October 2021  | Politics
15 October 2021  | Darwinism
22 October 2021  | Ethnology
. 5 November 2021  | Linguistics
12 November 2021  | Mathematics
19 November 2021  | Aesthetics
26 November 2021  | Psychology
. 3 December 2021  | Retrospect and Outlook
▬ 10 December 2021 | Exam

Optional Readings
▭ CONTAINING CONCISE INTRODUCTIONS
Haag Bletter, Rosemarie  «Gottfried Semper», 1974.
Kruft, Hanno-Walter  «The Leading German Architectural Theorist of the Mid-Nineteenth Century», 1994.
Mallgrave, Harry Francis  «Tectonics and Style in Germany», 2006.
▭ ON SPECIAL TOPICS
Cache, Bernard  «Gottfried Semper: Stereotomy, Biology, and Geometry», 2002.
Davis II, Charles L.  «Beyond the Primitive Hut», 2019.
Forty, Adrian  «Language Metaphors to Describe the Historical Origins of Architecture», 2000.
Forty, Adrian  «Forget Material», 2020.
Gaus, Joachim  «Die Urhütte», 1971.
Gnehm, Michael  «Bekleidungstheorie / Stoffwechseltheorie», 2015.
Rykwert, Joseph  On Adam’s House in Paradise : «Thinking and Doing / Necessity and Convention», 1972.
▭ OF GENERAL INTEREST
D’Alleva, Anne  «Thinking about Theory», 2005.
Grosz, Elizabeth  «What is ‹Origin›?», 2004.
Grosz, Elizabeth  «Chaos. Cosmos, Territory, Architecture», 2008.

Contact


Michael Gnehm