ARCH 225: HISTORY OF WORLD ARCHITECTURE I Paper Assignment: Historic Architecture and its Context OVERVIEW For this paper, you will research and analyze a specific building that falls within the chronological period covered in class--up to 1500 CE (see list below). The paper is a careful visual analysis of your building relating it to a specific, well-articulated social or cultural context. For the purpose of this paper, a context is any specific historical condition or circumstance immediately affecting the construction of a particular building (see list below). A context is not an architectural feature of the building, but rather a political, social, economic, cultural, or technological factor affecting the building from outside it. (N. B. An architectural style, such as Islamic or Gothic, is NOT a context.) It is important to choose a context that helps explain as many visual and physical aspects of your building as possible. For example, a paper on the Byzantine church of H. Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul), might choose as a context the patronage of Emperor Justinian, along with his propaganda of reviving the ancient Roman Empire. As part of your research, you must learn the approximate dates of construction of the building in its original build. Use the library resources we discuss in class to guide you to sources on dates, patronage, political regimes, etc. You will compose your paper piece by piece over the course of this semester. First, you will complete eight separate draft components. Then, based on feedback from your instructor, you will revise your draft components and compile them into your final paper. 1 PAPER DRAFT COMPONENTS 1. Topic and Start-up Bibliography (2 pts; DUE THURS. 2/15 IN CLASS). a) Choose a building from the following list: - Amarna, Egypt. Great Temple of Aten (New Kingdom Egypt). - Susa, Iran. Apadana of Darius (Achaemenid Persia). - Delphi, Greece. Tholos sanctuary of Athena Pronoaia (Classical Greece). Rome, Italy. Domus Aurea, octagonal reception hall (Imperial Rome). - Teotihuacán, Mexico. Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent (Ancient Mexico). - Ravenna, Italy. Neonian Baptistery (Early Christian). - Chang'an, China. Great Wild Goose Pagoda (Tang China). - Conques, France. S. Foy (Romanesque Europe). - Reims, France. Reims Cathedral (Gothic Europe). - Djenné, Mali. Great Mosque of Djenné (Islamic sub-Saharan Africa; N. B. please discuss original build, not the 20th-century restoration). On the first page of your document, give the name of your building in the following way: (City), (Country). (Conventional name of building). (Approximate date range). b) On a new page, write a bibliography of at least three peer-reviewed journal articles, books, or entries from a scholarly encyclopedia such as Oxford Art Online (access through UMD online catalogue). You should search the database JSTOR (available through the UMD catalogue) for journal articles. N. B. Many books are available electronically during the COVID-19 through HathiTrust and other open-access resources--make sure to access the book through the UMD online catalogue, and then, when you get rerouted to HathiTrust log in again using your UMD credentials. Your bibliography should rigorously follow correct Turabian-style bibliography format.¹ ¹ https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/turabian/turabian-notes-and-bibliography-citation- quick-guide.html 2 2. Glossary and Images (4 pts; DUE THURS. 2/22 IN CLASS). a) On the first page of a new document, write a glossary of fifteen specialized architectural terms necessary for the description of your building, accompanied by definitions in your own words. These terms should not be universal vocabulary such as "massing" or "poché," but terms specific to the style of your building, such as "flying buttress," "apadana," or "talud-tablero". b) Starting a new page on the same document, include three images, each with a caption that reads "Figure [#]. [Name of building]. [Type of image (eg. Plan, Section, Elevation, Axonometric Drawing, Isometric Drawing, Photograph of Exterior, Photograph of Interior, Detail]]." 3. Thesis Paragraph (4 pts; DUE THURS. 3/7 IN CLASS). Starting a new document, write a thesis paragraph, 4 - 7 sentences in length. The purpose of this paragraph is to launch your research argument, which states a hypothesis that relates the architectural form of your building to a specific historical context. A context is a historical condition pertinent to the moment of the building's construction and directly affecting the form of a particular building (see list below). Think deeply about the first sentence and how it will hook the reader directly into the premise of this paper. Please pick one of the following as a context: - function of use. - site (the dimensions, topographical, environmental, or urban character of the specific location). - patron (the individual who paid for or ordered the construction of the building, whether a ruler, a priest, or a wealthy elite). - political regime. -building technology. 3 - specific religious symbolism (only choose this if your sources know the specific symbolism; do not write a paper about how a Gothic Cathedral is vaguely religious). N. B. The style/building culture (Roman, Gothic, etc.) of your building is NOT a suitable context, as it refers to the general character of architecture during the time period rather than a condition affecting your particular building. Please do not write a paper explaining that a building has Gothic features because it is in the Gothic style. 4. Annotated Bibliography (4 pts; DUE THURS. 3/14 IN CLASS). The purpose of this assignment is to take research notes based on your reading and consolidate them in one document. Duplicate your Bibliography document as a new file and rename it "Annotated Bibliography." Under each bibliographic entry, take research notes based on your reading of that source, using correct Turabian style footnotes. DO NOT COPY sentences directly from your sources. Write them as short, simple notes in your own words, citing the source from which the information for each note comes. Later, you will copy-and-paste these notes (along with their footnotes) into your paper and mold them into a cohesive argument. 5. Context Paragraph (4 pts; DUE THURS. 3/28 IN CLASS). In a new document, write a paragraph detailing the context you have chosen for your paper and how it relates to the construction of the building. This paragraph should synthesize your research notes to tell the specific story that is your context. Give any relevant events and trends directly relevant to the context, as well as contemporaneous building events of your building (founding, dedication, building campaigns, etc.). This paragraph may make passing reference to more recent restorations of your building but should not dwell on this for any more than two sentences. This paragraph is about the original construction of your building and how your context directly affected it. 4 6. Typological Comparison Paragraph (4 pts; DUE THURS. 4/4 IN CLASS). In a new document, write a paragraph comparing your building to other examples from the same building culture (eg. Gothic) that belong to the same formal typology (eg. Early Christian octagonal Baptistery). Name and define the typology using architectural vocabulary, and describe the features that define your building as part of the typology and those that expand on or depart from the typology. What do these similarities and differences from other examples of the typology do to help your building address the context you have chosen to write about? 7. Thick Description (4 pts; DUE THURS. 4/18 IN CLASS). In a new document, write a 3-to-4-paragraph thick description focusing on the particular ways that the architecture of your building responds to the context you have chosen to write about. As opposed to a thin description, a thick description explains the deeper rationale behind architectural choices. Start your description at the general level (plan, massing, elevations, or the total form of the voids), and zero in on details that hammer home your point. 8. Conclusion Paragraph (4 pts; DUE THURS. 4/25 IN CLASS). In a new document, write a paragraph that synthesizes the main points of your thick description and reinforces their relationship to the context. Just as your introduction opened with a hook, the last sentence of your conclusion should be short and punchy, and ring with a sense of finality. 5