Architecture | Utopia | Authoritarianism
HAA 171M
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Can utopian thinking produce a new world? Can architecture bring about spaces radically different from those we inhabit today? This course examines utopia as a central project of twentieth‑century modern architecture. Drawing on key theoretical texts and case studies across political regimes and ideologies in Europe, North Africa and the Americas, we will analyze how architects have mobilized utopian ideas in search of liberty and emancipation while also supplying techniques of authoritarian rule. The course distinguishes between utopianism and utopia: between the speculative openness of imagining alternative futures and the authoritative closure of the architectural project. We will study the material, spatial and intellectual entanglements of architecture and political power; analyze the materials, aesthetics and organizational strategies through which architects establish their authorship; and consider how architecture can function as a tool for both critique and rule beyond its formal service to society and the state.
Class Notes
Instructor approval required. Please submit a paragraph alongside your petition stating why you are interested in taking the course. If your petition is accepted you must enroll by April 8; if not, your petition will be canceled to allow other students into the class.
Enrollment limited. Priority given to concentrators in the History of Art and Architecture.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
