Space Shaping Image Making II: Readings

ARC4119.01
Course System Home Terms Fall 2025 Space Shaping Image Making II: Readings

Course Description

Summary

“Not long ago, a near prerequisite for vanguard architecture was an engagement with theory; lately it has become an acquaintance with art” or so observed Hal Foster in his 2011 book ‘The Art Architecture Complex.’ While ideas about what constitutes cutting edge architecture may have transformed in the decade since, entanglements between art and architecture and the reciprocal effects that they have on each other remain central to architectural discourse. This course is about how various architects have engaged art in their work since (as Foster notes) “Minimalists opened the art object to its architectural condition” in turn prompting post-industrial architects to attend to surface, shape, and image with a new sensitivity. Through weekly readings, lectures, and discussions, we will consider how (regardless of the final outcome) lines between art, design, and technology become blurred when considering questions about utility, pleasure, and survival that undergird many architectural projects (and many works of art). Reading responses, a term paper, and an exam—this is not a studio course. Students enrolled in Picture Pattern Paper Model are encouraged to take this section of the course.

Learning Outcomes

  • - The ability to read (and read about) architectural drawings - plans, sections, elevations
    etc.
    - a familiarity with the influence of modern architecture on contemporary architectural practice
    - a familiarity of what constitutes Minimal art and its legacy in contemporary art and architecture
    - practice analyzing and writing about architectural projects and works of art independently, and as they relate to one another.

Prerequisites

- prior coursework in the humanities (Art History, History, Anthropology, Literature, Philosophy etc.) -- preferably at the advanced level
- prior coursework in Visual Art

Please contact the faculty member : farhadmirza@bennington.edu

Cross List

  • Design

Instructor

  • Farhad Mirza

Day and Time

TU 4:10pm-6:00pm

Delivery Method

Fully in-person

Length of Course

Full Term

Academic Term

Fall 2025

Area of Study

Credits

2

Course Level

4000

Maximum Enrollment

14

Course Frequency

Every 2-3 years