Maarten Delbeke: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2023

Name	Prof. Dr. Maarten Delbeke
Field	History and Theory of Architecture
Address	Geschichte und Theorie der Arch. ETH Zürich, HIL D 70.6 Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5 8093 Zürich SWITZERLAND
Telephone	+41 44 633 01 89
E-mail	maarten.delbeke@gta.arch.ethz.ch
URL	https://delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/
Department	Architecture
Relationship	Full Professor

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
052-0804-00L	History and Theory of Architecture II	2 credits	2V + 2U	M. Delbeke, T. Avermaete, L. Stalder, P. Ursprung
Abstract	Introduction and overview of the history and theory of architecture from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. (Prof. Dr. M. Delbeke) Introduction in the methods and instruments of the history of art and architecture. (Prof. Dr. M. Delbeke, Prof. Dr. L. Stalder, Prof. Dr. P. Ursprung, Prof. Dr. T. Avermaete)
Learning objective	Acquiring basic knowledge of the history of architecture and architectural theory, resp. of the methods and instruments of research into architecture. Being able to identify the main architectural issues and debates of the period and geography covered in the course. Acquiring the attitudes and tools to develop a historically informed reading of the built environment. Acquiring the tools to be able to draw on historical, theoretical and critical research to nourish one's architectural culture.
Content	The course History and Theory of Architecture II offers a chronological and thematic overview of the architecture and architectural theory produced in Europe from the 15th up to 19th century. Thematic lectures about key questions at play during the period will be combined with the in-depth analysis of historical buildings. Themes will cover the emergence and development of Vitruvian design theory and practice up to the 19th century, and related issues such as the emergence of the architect; the media of architectural design and practice (drawings, models, building materials); patterns and media of dissemination and influence (micro-architecture, imagery); building types (the palazzo and the villa); questions of beauty and ornament; questions of patronage (e.g. the Roman papacy); the relation of buildings to the city (e.g. the development of European capitals); attitudes towards history (origin myths, historicism); the question of the monument. The course Fundamentals of the History and Theory of Architecture II consists of different parts, each dealing with a particular area of research into the history of art and architecture (1) The historiography of architecture (M. Delbeke) (2) Architectural media (L. Stalder). (3) Architecture and art (P. Ursprung) (4) Urbanism and the Commons (T. Avermaete)
Literature	Literature and handouts will be provided over the course of the term.
Prerequisites / Notice	For the course History and Theory of Architecture II students will rely on assisted self study to acquire basic knowledge of the canonical history of architecture in Europe.
052-0830-23L	History of Art and Architecture: Special Topics - Marxist Architectural Histories Not eligible as a Compulsory GESS Elective for students of D-ARCH. The number of participants is limited. Enrollment on agreement with the lecturer only!	2 credits	2G	M. Critchley, M. Delbeke
Abstract	Marxist Architectural Histories How do we write history? Just as Marxism posed the most profound challenge to politics in the 20th century, it also confronted the way history could be told. We will uncover the origins of Marxist architectural history and the heated debates which surrounded its authors.
Learning objective	- To give an account of a number of different approaches to Marxist architectural history. - To understand some of the debates surrounding Marxist histories of art and architecture. - To develop one’s own critical position towards architectural history.
Content	Marxist Architectural Histories How do we write history? Just as Marxism posed the most profound challenge to politics in the 20th century, it also confronted the way history could be told. We will uncover the origins of Marxist architectural history and the heated debates which surrounded its authors. We will look at the texts of Marxists, of those against Marxism and of those who while not Marxist were nevertheless part of a general adoption of Marxist ideas within art and architectural history. Frederick Antal wrote “Methods of art history, just as pictures, can be dated.” And many of these texts are clearly historically contingent. Antal himself was a revolutionary, becoming an official in Béla Kun’s short lived Hungarian Soviet Republic and his colleague the British art historian Anthony Blunt, was a Communist spy. In contrast, the conservative scholar Ernst Gombrich who opposed Marxist history, was closely aligned with neoliberal philosophy and economics. It was in history where their political positions played out. Participants will be encouraged to think through these debates and to question these positions with current ideas on race, gender and other forms of critical discourse. A reflexive need to critique historical writing is perhaps the most enduring legacy of Marxism’s entrance into architectural history. For any questions regarding the course please contact Matthew Critchley: matthew.critchley@gta.arch.ethz.ch
Prerequisites / Notice	Not eligible as a Compulsory GESS Elective for students of D-ARCH.
056-0210-10L	MAS-Thesis	15 credits	21D	S. Schindler Kilian, A. J. Bideau, M. Delbeke
Abstract	Credited master thesis as assessment of students’ competence in dealing with a chosen research subject (90,000-120,000 characters).
Learning objective	Proof of competence to independently work on an individually selected research topic.
Content	An individually selected research topic is developed independently. Scope: 90,000-120,000 characters.
063-0316-23L	History of Art and Architecture VI: Antiquity and Medieval	2 credits	2V	C. Rachele, M. Delbeke
Abstract	This lecture studies Antiquity and the Middle Ages through their reception since the Renaissance. We will investigate the role of history for architects then and now through analysis of how architecture has been defined in relationship to the antique and medieval past. Short readings and class participation required.
Learning objective	Deepen basic knowledge, improve ability to critically analyze architectural history texts, develop humanities-based reasoning and argument skills.
Content	In the Renaissance, the practice of architecture fundamentally transformed into the design-based discipline it is now largely assumed to be. Both then and especially in nineteenth- and twentieth-century architectural history, this change was understood in opposition to “good” ancient and “bad” medieval models. This course investigates Antiquity and the Middle Ages as variously fashioned in the mind of the architect and the architectural historian. How does our understanding of these periods inform our thinking about the use of history for the contemporary architect? This course is a combination lecture and discussion class. Occasional at-home reading and active in-class participation are required; the final assignment is a written research assignment (due during the exam period).
Literature	Scans of the readings will be made available on the course website.
063-0802-23L	History and Theory of Architecture: New Brutalism	2 credits	2V	M. Delbeke, L. Stalder
Abstract	The course offers an advanced introduction into the practices and debates of architectural history and theory.
Learning objective	Basic knowledge of the history and theory of the architecture.
Content	Maarten Delbeke, Rococo This lecture series explores and interprets the rococo church architecture of what is now Southern Germany, by examining its religious and political context, by proposing a close reading of a number of case-studies, and by offering a thematic analysis of some of its key features. The course is intended at once as a thorough introduction and an open-ended process of discovery, where preliminary observations will be weighed and discussed collectively. Laurent Stalder: What is new about New Brutalism? LIVESTREAM/RECORDINGS: https://www.video.ethz.ch/lectures/d-arch/2022/spring/063-0802-22L Taking the English avant-garde as an example, the lecture examines the deep transformations in architecture during the postwar period. The focus lies on the question of performance in architecture, from constructive questions (e.g., prefabrication), structural challenges (e.g., theory of plasticity), physical properties (e.g., isolation), infrastructural changes (e.g., pipes and machines), to spatial challenges and their aesthetic consequences for people, architecture, and the environment. The goal of the lecture is to use the recent architectural history to shed light on different concepts still relevant for contemporary architecture.
063-0856-23L	Subject Semester FS23 (Fachsemester) in the Field of History and Theory in Architecture (gta) Does not take place this semester. Enrolment only after consultation with the professor (meetings as required and after consultation with the chair). A student can only register once for a "Fachsemester" during the Master studies! The application deadline is Wednesday January 25, 2023, 8 p.m. You will receive a message about acceptance or rejection for the subject semester by Wednesday. February 1, 2023, 2 p.m. at the latest. Students who have been rejected have the opportunity to choose a design class.	14 credits	29A	M. Delbeke
Abstract	The theme of this History Research Studio is "'Exotic' Art and Architecture in Switzerland": We will discuss issues of exoticism, orientalism and other forms of “othering”, race and national stereotypes, colonial heritages and other related topics. The Studio aims at mapping different forms of Exoticism in buildings, but also material objects or ephemeral events of the early-modern period.
Learning objective	Working together, we will map “exotic” art and architecture in Switzerland, by identifying and collecting different case studies. You will collaborate on in-depth research through historical materials and methods (field research, archival material, secondary bibliography), and you will develop individual projects in whichever medium fits your interests and your topic (text, drawing, image, video). The outcomes will be presented together at the end of the semester, and can have different forms: essays, drawings or other visual materials, maps or guides, models, films or exhibition concepts. The course will be organized in weekly meetings: We will begin with some introductory lectures and reading sessions, but we will mostly focus on discussing your findings and work, sharpening your tools of analysis and fostering the development of each project. Rather than individual ‘desk crits’, we will discuss each project collectively, in a round table, to enable mutual feedback and a more collective exchange of ideas. As each project develops, there will also be individual feedback sessions.
Content	Ever since Columbus’ ship reached the Americas and the Ottoman dynasty conquered Istanbul in the 15th century, Europeans have been obsessed with depicting, describing, understanding or spectacularizing the extra-European “other”. Whether fuelled by fascination or fear, this preoccupation generated a cornucopia of exoticizing imagery in books, art, architecture and household objects: From drawings of south-American “savage” natives and their houses in geography atlases, to pavilions in the form of “Turkish kiosks”, “mosques” and “tents” in the gardens of European aristocrats; and from “Chinese” vases, wall-papers or even entire rooms inside European palaces, to entire “African villages” in national expositions. Coined sometime around the 16th century and rooted in the Greek word “έξω” (i.e. “outside”), the word “exotic” summarizes the preoccupation of early-modern Europeans with defining a distant, peripheral or external “other”. This preoccupation runs parallel to the centuries-long anxiety for delineating the centre of a (European or national) “self”: The image of “exotic” places, cultures and peoples grew side-by-side with the ideological construct of a collective “European” identity, and the invention of national identities and traditions. Switzerland was also entangled in such acts of othering: As recent research has shown, the Swiss confederation did not technically have colonies, but numerous Swiss individuals participated in colonial networks, and partook in the production of exoticist imagery, art and architecture. A recent exhibition (Exotic? – Regarder l'ailleurs en Suisse au siècle des Lumières, Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, 2020-21) has demonstrated that by the 18th century Swiss households were filled with “exotic” objects and images, often placed alongside folkloric idealizations of the internal “other”: the Swiss countryside, its inhabitants and their vernacular houses. By the 19th century, such exoticizing tendencies fuelled the construction of “Human Zoos” and other public displays of exotica (from objects to living humans) in Zurich and other major Swiss cities (as Rea Brändle has shown in Wildfremd Hautnah: Zürcher Völkerschauen und ihre Schauplätze 1835–1964. Rotpunktverlag, 2013). Many of these buildings and objects are still visible in the public space of Swiss cities or in the displays of ethnography museums; others are hidden in archives. The aim of this course will be to unearth such evidence and map out these objects, images and buildings in Switzerland and beyond. The aim of this mapping will be two-fold: - First, to understand these phenomena in their own historical context, and to understand the Where, What and Why: Where did Exoticism manifest itself (in what kinds of spaces or circumstances)? What themes and forms did it favour (what kinds of images and in what styles: figurative, allegorical, caricaturesque, idealized)? And finally, why did different people in different times and circumstances reconstruct the image or form of “exotic” peoples and objects in their houses or cities? - Secondly, to compare these historical phenomena to contemporary debates about race, colonialism and cultural appropriation in Switzerland and beyond; from the toppling of colonialist statues to tracing the provenance of museum collections, and from Black Lives Matter to discussions about Indigenous land rights, migration and displacement.
Prerequisites / Notice	A student can only register once for a "Fachsemester" during the Master studies! Places for this Subject Semester are limited. If you are interested in taking part, please send us an email with a 300-word motivation letter and a 300-word description of your topic of interest* to: professur.delbeke@gta.arch.ethz.ch *If you already have a specific case study in mind, please describe what this is. If not, you can describe a general idea or area of interest, and we will help you find a more specific object of study during the course sessions. For more information on the course, see the corresponding page on the website of the chair: https://delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/courses
064-0004-23L	Advanced Topics in History and Theory of Architecture: Read into it: Architecture through literature	3 credits	2K	M. Delbeke, T. Avermaete, L. Stalder, P. Ursprung
Abstract	This seminar avails itself of the complexities and richness of pre-1850 literary sources on architecture to explore and discuss some fundamental methodological questions: who writes about architecture and art, and why? What is a legitimate historical source? How can we gain access to it? How do we develop an at once historical and critical approach? How does mediation generate interpretation? Etc.
Learning objective	Acquiring insight in the different possible research methods available to PhD-researchers in the fields of the history and theory of art and architecture.
Content	The course will alternate bi-weekly reading seminars with individual work on a selection of historical literary sources on architecture. Participants will be asked to work on sources proposed by the lecturer, and to bring sources of their own choice.
Prerequisites / Notice	In-person meetings on alternate weeks.