Green Modern: A History of Environmental Consciousness in Architecture from Patrick Geddes to the Present

The main themes of the contemporary ecological movement in architecture are often presented as responses to the environmental damage that modern architecture and urban planning have caused. Yet many streaks of the modern tradition displayed both a very strong awareness of the environment and its problems and a possibility that architecture and planning could meaningfully engage the environment at the technical and aesthetic levels. The aim of the course is to study the environmental consciousness of modern architecture and urbanism. The course examines specific case studies faround the themes of: nature, sustainability, climate control, the vernacular, organicism, and technology. The historical cases include Patrick Geddes, Le Corbusier and CIAM, Constantinos Doxiadis, Hugo Haring, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean Prouve, and Buckminster Fuller. The contemporaries include Peter Calthorpe, Sim van der Ryn, Ian McHarg, Thomas Herzog, Ken Yeang, and Renzo Piano. The course will also rely on texts from a variety of sources including ecological philosophy and theory in order to elucidate the debate. Authors include Rachel Carson, Arne Naess, Aldo Leopold, Luc Ferry, and Ulrich Beck.