Architecture

The Course Objectives

The Learning to Look at Western Architecture is a course taught by Oxford University's Continuing Education Department. The course is designed to enable students to 'read' the architecture of the Western world in a critically informed way. Students learn to recognise and differentiate between the major architectural styles of the western tradition and gain a greater understanding of the way that buildings are built, and why they look the way they do.

The course takes a more or less chronological look at Architecture from Greek and Roman times and observe how the elements of classical architectural tradition of earlier periods have been reflected and translated through Gothic, Renaissance and Modern architectural styles.

Below is a table of the major archtiectural styles studied with links to further information on the styles and architects who were most prominent during those periods.

Architectural table

Architectural Style	Sub-Style		Architect		Building		Country		Century
Greek	Sub Style		Architect		Parthenon		Greece		400 BC
Roman	Sub Style		Architect		Colosseum Pantheon		Italy		1st and 2nd Century
Byzantine	Sub Style		Architect		Hagia Sophia		Turkey		1st Century
Carolingian	Sub Style		Architect		Lorsch		Germany		8th Century
Romanesque	Sub Style		Architect		Duomo di Pisa		Italy		11th Century
Gothic	Early		Architect		Laon Cathedral Durham Catherdral		France/UK		12th Century
Gothic	Decorated		Architect		York Minster		UK		11th Century
Gothic	Perpendicular		Architect		Bath Abbey		UK		12th Century
Renaissance	Early		Brunelleschi Alberti		Florence Cathedral S. Francesco		Italy		15th Century
Renaissance	High		Bramante		Tempietto S Pietro		Italy		16th Century
Renaissance	Mannerism		Michelangelo		Laurentian Library		Italy		16th Century
Baroque	European Continental		Guarani Juvarra Vittone		S. Lorenzo Superga Valinotto		Italy		Century
Baroque	English		WrenVanbrughHawksmoor		St Paul's Castle Howard Blenheim		UK		Century
Neo-Classical	Palladian		Inigo Jones Palladio		Banqueting House Villa Capra		UK/Italy		17th Century
Neo-Classical	Post Palladian		Robert Adam		Apsley House		UK		Century
Neo-Classical	Empire		Percier Fontaine		Arc de Triomphe		France		19th Century
Gothic Revival	Sub Style		Pugin		Palace of Westminster		UK		19th Century
Bauhaus	Sub Style		Gropius		Bauhaus		Germany		20th Century
Art Nouveau	Modernisme		Gaudi		Sagrada		Spain		20th Century]]
Art Deco	Art Deco		Van Allen		Chrysler		USA		20th Century
Modern	International		Van de Rohr		Seagram		USA		20th Century
Modern	Brutalist		Goldfinger		Trellick		UK		20th Century
Post Modern	Sub Style		Graves		Portland PBS		USA		20th Century

The Architecture Glossary is here

• The First assigment on Wells Cathedral is here.
• The Second assignment on The dawning of Whiggish philosophy and Architecture is here