1a // seancurran

SEAN CURRAN//

Dell Upton, “Architectural History or Landscape History?” Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) Vol. 44, No. 4. (Aug., 1991), pp. 195-199.

ARGUMENT// In “Architecture History or Landscape History” Dell Upton gives a explanation of the current system for architectural historians and then explains why he thinks this is incorrect, stating that the focus should be on the human or cultural landscape as a whole, and less on the creator.

AUTHOR// Dell Upton has written books such as “Another City: Urban Life and Urban Spaces in the New American Republic”, “Architecture in the United States”, “Holy Things and Profane: Anglican Parish Churches in Colonial Virginia” and “Madaline: Love and Survival in Antebellum New Orleans”. He is a Professor of Architectural History at the University of California, Berkeley.

METHOD// Upton starts explaining his theories by giving the reader a history of architecture and architecture history as a profession using information “The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis” by Magali Sarfati Larson, “The American Builders Companion, or a System of Architectural Particularly Adapted to the Present Style of Building” by Asher Benjamin, “The American Architect” by John W. Rich, and his own book: “Pattern Books and Professionalism”. Using these writings he explains the time a time in architecture when architecture was only believed to be for the high class and how that contrasted the low class, or vernacular architecture. Upton then proceeds to comment on how both these types of building are so far intertwined that they both act as a “high” architecture. He then questions who should build architecture? Comparing ideas from “Architecture Considered as a Fine Art” by Thomas U. Walter and “The Making of the English Working Class” by E.P. Thompson. From there he moves on to say that architecture, or landscape as a whole is not built of the original ideas of the architect, but the unintended effect it has on the human experiences through senses using writings from his own “White and Black Landscapes in Eighteenth-Century Virginia”. Upton next compares the two ways of thought to for contemporary architectural historians looking at “Framing the Sign: Criticism and its Institutions” and “The Painting of Modern Life”, Clark. Lastly Upton Talks about his ideas for a future in architectural history called Cultural Landscaper references his own writing “Another City: The Urban Cultural Landscape in the Early Republic”.

KEYWORDS// Cultural Landscape, Human Landscape, Unintended Architecture, Imaginative Phenomena

EVALUATION AND RATIONALE//

Groth, Paul, and Todd W. Bressi, eds. “Understanding Ordinary Landscapes.” New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1997 Pp. ix, 272. Maps, black and white illustrations, bibliography and index.

This writing relates to the imaginative phenomena that Upton writes about, stating how ordinary landscapes can have an unintended effect on people that we can not really explain. The Article explains how we use all senses to really get a feel for a space, and just like upton states, that feel is what creates the landscape.

Herbert J. Gans, “Toward a Human Architecture: A Sociologist's View of the Profession” JAE, Vol. 31, No. 2, Research on the Profession (Nov., 1977), pp. 26-31

This article has a similar focus to Upton’s. It wants architecture to focus on the users and less the designers. It also talks about the field of architecture being very inward focused and having an elite feel. Upton also talks about how this was a problem in earlier times of the profession but says it still is today.

Jeremy Korr, “A Proposed Model for Cultural Landscape Study” Material Culture, Vol. 29, No. 3, (Fall, 1997), pp. 1-18

Korr in this article talks of the layering of time, people and culture that creates this cultural Landscape that Upton asks for in his essay. Korr also tries to create a model for creation of this Cultural Landscape.