ARH 320 Art and the Built Environment
In this course, we will explore the intersections of art, architecture, and the environment. We will examine society's continually changing relationship with nature by attempting to understand the historical conditions that have led to specific built environments, materials, and land use, as well as how modern artists have sought to intervene in an increasingly damaged environment. We will study the aesthetic, political, biological, economic, agricultural, and technological forces that have influenced what our buildings look like and how we understand their relationship to their surroundings in varying historical time periods and geographic locations. With particular attention given to the Land Art or Environmental Art movements beginning in the 1960s, we will learn about the visual and material implications of landscapes, technological innovations, environmental changes, weather, and natural disasters, and how the activist discourse surrounding environmentalism has impacted our built environment.