Architectural Studies Courses
FA 3a Introduction to Drawing I
(ca)
Beginning-level course. No previous drawing experience necessary. Preference to first-year students and sophomores. May be repeated once for credit if taught by different instructors.
A studio class that introduces a range of drawing materials and methods, intended for both studio majors and non-majors. Students will draw from direct observation of still-life, landscape, and the human figure. Drawing media may include graphite, charcoal, ink, and collage, as well as watercolor and pastel. The drawings of great artists throughout history will be studied to provide examples of what is possible within this broad and expressive visual language. Usually offered every semester.
Alfredo Gisholt, Susan Lichtman, and Ariel Freiberg
FA 4a Sculpture Foundation: 3-D Design I
(ca)
Beginning-level course. Preference to first-year students and sophomores. May be repeated once for credit if taught by different instructors.
Exploration of three-dimensional aspects of form, space, and composition utilizing a variety of materials and sculptural techniques. Emphasizes students' inventing of images through the use of modern materials and contemporary ideas about sculpture. Assignments are based on abstract thought and problem solving. The intent of this course is to give students a rich studio experience and promote a fresh and meaningful approach to visual concepts. Usually offered every semester.
Tory Fair and Chris Frost
FA 5a Sculpture: Utilizing Waste Stream Materials
[ ca ]
This course encourages students to consider their studio practice through the lens of sustainability. Through out the semester, we will collaborate with the waste stream culture on campus to access materials for fabricating sculptural ideas and installations. Projects will be introduced through images and videos from contemporary artists that help inspire conversations as we move through the semester. A significant part of the course is participating in critique and trying to articulate what we see. Your skills will advance as a maker, and also as a more informed viewer. Usually offered every year.
Tory Fair
FA 5b Sculpture: Blurring the Boundaries
(ca)
This studio course is an opportunity to work both in painting and in sculpture. Students are expected to create a dialogue between methods of collage, drawing, monotype, painting, and methods of constructing three-dimensional objects, including mixed media and installation. We use paintings as a source for sculpture, and sculpture as a source for painting. There will be an additional two hours of monitored shop time that students are required to attend weekly outside of scheduled class time. Usually offered every year.
Tory Fair and Chris Frost
FA 6a Sculpture: Body as Source
(ca)
Explores how the body can be involved in the subject of making sculpture. Examines different ways in which the body is used as a source, including observation, process, fragmentation, narrative, and performance. Projects are introduced through slides from contemporary artists implementing the concepts put forth. Usually offered every year.
Tory Fair
FA 9a Introduction to Digital Photography
(ca)
Prerequisite: One Brandeis studio art course. May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
An introduction to the visual forms and concepts of the photographic image. A range of digital techniques is covered along with aspects of the history of photography. Students must provide their own digital camera. Field trips and image presentations supplement the studio aspect of the course. Usually offered every semester.
Sheida Soleimani
FA 16b Sculpture: Object in Clay
(ca)
With clay as the focused material, this course offers an in-depth examination of sculptural concepts ranging from object-making to site-specific works. Numerous techniques and processes will be introduced including hand-building, wheel-throwing, and working from the figure. Students will be encouraged to develop their own visual vocabulary and to understand their ideas in the context of contemporary sculpture. Usually offered every semester.
Chris Frost
FA 23b Architectural Drawing and Digital Design I
(ca dl)
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Priority given to Fine Arts majors and minors. Only Architectural Studies IIM students may take both FA 23b and FA 24a for credit.
Intended to develop new skills in conceptualizing, designing and communicating architectural ideas. Students will be exposed to conceptual strategies of form and space and site relationships within social and environmental factors. Students will study the basic techniques and concepts of architectural design and digital drawing, with two- and three-dimensional representational skills. Usually offered every year.
Staff
FA 24a Architectural Drawing and Digital Design II
(ca dl)
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Priority given to Fine Arts majors and minors. Only Architectural Studies IIM students may take both FA 23b and FA 24a for credit.
Intended to develop new skills in conceptualizing, designing and communicating architectural ideas. Students will be exposed to conceptual strategies of form and space and site relationships within social and environmental factors. Students will study the basic techniques and concepts of architectural design and digital drawing, with two- and three-dimensional representational skills. Usually offered every year.
Staff
FA 28a Painting Siena
(ca)
Explores the unique cultural and artistic contributions of Siena, Italy. Students will study and practice traditional and contemporary painting techniques with excursions to visit masterworks and experience the cultural life of the medieval city. Offered as part of Brandeis Siena Study Abroad program.
Joe Wardwell and Staff
FA 30a History of Art I: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages
(ca)
Open to all students; first-year students and sophomores are encouraged to enroll.
A survey of major styles in architecture, sculpture, and painting from prehistoric times to the Gothic cathedral. Usually offered every year.
Charles McClendon
FA 33b Islamic Art and Architecture
(ca)
Through case studies of cities, sites, and monuments, the course presents an overview of the art and the architecture of the Islamic world beginning from the seventh century up to the present. Some of the themes include, but are not limited to, Islamic material culture, orientalist imaginations, systems of governance and the colonial present, search for the local identity, urban modernity and nationalism, and globalization. Usually offered every second year.
Muna Guvenc
FA 42b The Age of Cathedrals
(ca)
Architecture, sculpture, and painting (including stained glass) in Western Europe from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, with particular attention to the great churches of medieval France. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
FA 45a Early Renaissance Art in Tuscany from the Age of Dante to the Medici
(ca)
Examines the development of late Medieval and Renaissance Art and Architecture between 1200 and 1500, with an emphasis on the centers of Siena and Florence, and artists who worked in these cities. Offered as part of Brandeis in Siena Study Abroad program.
Jonathan Unglaub
FA 48a Baroque Art and Architecture in Italy
[ ca ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took FA 45a in prior years.
Examines the artistic spectacle of Papal Rome, focusing on the works and legacy of Caravaggio and Bernini as the prevailing artistic forces, with major contributions by the Carracci, Poussin, Borromini, and Cortona. Apart from Rome and the patronage strategies of successive Popes, we will consider artistic and architectural production in such diverse centers as Venice, Naples, Bologna, and Turin. Usually offered every third year
Jonathan Unglaub
FA 80a Modern Architecture
[ ca ]
Explores major architectural developments from the 19th to the 21st century. While tracing major stylistic developments and new building types that have characterized "modernism" in architecture, the course also studies new forms of global dominance (via colonialism), expression of new sovereignties around the world (via the nationalist movements) and the creation of the new spaces of capitalism and consumption (the highway, the mall, the suburb, etc.) Usually offered every year.
Muna Guvenc
CLAS 111a Art and Archaeology of the Hellenistic World
[ ca hum ]
Surveys the art and archaeology of the Hellenistic world (including Greece, western and central Asia, north Africa, and Italy) focusing on the 4th century Mediterranean leading up to the conquests of Alexander the Great (336-323 BCE) and the kingdoms of his successors until the death of Cleopatra in 30 BCE. A major theme throughout this course will be the global culture of the cosmopolitan world created by Alexander the Great. Other themes will include encounters between varying cultural traditions, how material correlates of identity played out in all levels of society, and how the art, artifacts, and architecture of the Hellenistic communities were used to assert themselves in a rich multi-cultural environment. We will cover the elite, domestic, and funerary architectural remains associated with the Hellenistic kingdoms, as well as their material culture in the forms of mosaics, sculpture, and other portable artifacts. Usually offered every second year.
Alexandra Ratzlaff
CLAS 133a The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece
[ ca hum ]
Surveys the main forms and styles of Greek art and architecture from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period in mainland Greece and on the islands of the Aegean. Archaeological remains and ancient literary evidence help explore the relationships between culture, the visual arts, and society. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
CLAS 134b The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome
[ ca hum ]
Surveys the art and architecture of the ancient Romans from the eighth century BCE to the end of the empire in Sicily, mainland Italy (with focus on Rome, Ostia, Pompeii, and Herculaneum), and in the Roman provinces. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
FA 180a Contemporary Architecture
[ ca ]
Presents major innovations and stylistic developments in world architecture
in the aftermath of World War II. Examining the larger social, political and cultural contexts within which architecture operates, the course will trace the diverse positions that characterize the contemporary architecture across the globe. Special attention will be paid to the relationships between theories, debates, and the creative capacity of design and practice in architecture since the mid-twentieth century. Usually offered every second year.
Muna Guvenc
FA 181a Housing and Social Justice
[ ca ss ]
Employs housing as a lens to interrogate space and society, state and market, power and change, in relation with urban inequality and social justice. It trains students to become participants in the global debates about housing. In doing so, it teaches students about dominant paradigms of urban development and welfare and situates such paradigms in the 20th century history of capitalism. It will explicitly adopt a comparative and transnational urban approach to housing and social justice, showing how a globalized perspective provides important insights into local shelter struggles and debates. Usually offered every second year.
Muna Guvenc
FA 187a Approaches to Architecture and the City
[ ca ]
Designed for Architectural Studies minors and others interested in the design of built space, students will learn how to look closely, read and interpret their own environment and to apply broader theoretical approaches that are addressed in the course to "real" spaces in the local environment through creative projects. Usually offered every year.
Muna Guvenc
FA 193a Studies in Modern and Contemporary Architecture
[ ca wi oc ]
Topics may vary from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
Usually offered every third year.
Staff
FA 195a Engaging Across Racial and Ethnic Barriers: Islamic Architecture in the United States
[ ca wi djw deis-us ]Links between religion and racial integration in religious congregations are at the center of growing public and scholarly conversations with important implications for American public and religious life. This class draws upon the relationships between xenophobia, racism, and white supremacy in the United States by studying sacred spaces of the Muslim diaspora.