history of art

Department of Architecture—College of Technology—BGSU

ARCH 2340 History of Architecture 2

Semester Paper

Overview

This paper reflects students’ capability of using written language to effectively communicate their research

result, their description, analysis, and organizing of the materials of the subject, as well as their historical and

cultural standpoint to an average educated audiences outside the discipline of history of architecture. The paper

will be assessed according to all aspects of the Written Communication VALUE Rubric adopted by BGSU.

Details of this rubric can be found in http://www.bgsu.edu/provost/assessment/learning-outcomes.html. In

addition, the content of the paper will be assessed with the following rubrics:

Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric

A B C D

Skills Empathy Interprets intercultural experience from the perspectives of both own and other's world views, with appropriate responses in interactions requiring adaptation or cultural synthesis

Demonstrates recognition of both cognitive and affective dimensions of other cultural perspectives, with limited responses that attempt to address both own and other's world views

Demonstrates knowledge of basic components of other cultural perspectives, with responses predicated on own cultural world view

Views the experience of others through own cultural world view

Attitudes Curiosity with cognitive flexibility

Explores intercultural issues in depth; makes observations that reflect an understanding of the complexity of cultural issues; demonstrates flexibility in shifting cultural frames

Explores intercultural issues, making observations that demonstrate understanding of their complexity. Often makes observations that reflect an understanding of the complexity of cultural issues; demonstrates instances of cultural frame shifting

Explores intercultural issues in order to compare and contrast different cultural contexts. Explores intercultural issues seeking similarity between differing cultural contexts; demonstrates a discomfort with cultural complexity and frame shifting.

Interested in exploring intercultural issues; demonstrates resistance in cultural frame shifting.

Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric

A B C D

Explanation of issues

Problem/issue relevant to situation in context is clearly stated

Problem/issue relevant to situation is stated and partially described

Problem/issue relevant to situation is stated

Problem/issue relevant to a different situation identified

Own perspective, hypothesis, or position

Student's perspective is multifaceted and exhibits complex and appropriate consideration of other perspectives.

Student's perspective is rational and considered in light of other perspectives.

Student's perspective is clear and an alternative is recognized.

Only student's perspective is apparent.

Topic: The Spread of Western Classical Architecture

No sooner than Baroque design had established itself as the main stay across the areas stretching on both sides

of the Alps did it appear far-away to the overseas, accompanying the ecclesiastic outreaches it was meant to

serve. From the seventeenth-century missionaries traveling in the Far East to the eighteenth and nineteenth-

[P1]

century European political consolidations in South America, Baroque architecture, as well as the Western

classical architecture in other guises, left strong marks on every continent.

This assignment examines existing artifacts as a consequence of the spread of Western classical architecture.

Focusing on the result of the spread rather than its cause or process, the assignment challenges students to

collect information, both graphical and textual, about monumental buildings designed in Western classical style

and built in the era of Western cultural expansion, of which colonialism was a central theme, in the seventeenth

to nineteenth centuries. The information will form a springboard for further understanding classical architecture

outside the Western cultural sphere (whose geographic equivalent is roughly Europe, North America, and

Australia).

Each student will select a major building designed in classical style in one of the countries located in Asia,

Africa, or Latin America, and find information about this building in both image and text. The image part must

include an aerial view, for which some online tools such as the birds eye view in Bing Map may provide an easy

solution; the rest are to be “normal” views, which should (ideally) include a detail view for interior as well as

exterior. The text part should include as wide a range of information about the building as possible, such as date,

location, architect, user, design features, construction traits, popularity, comments, descriptions, its presence in

other media, and so on, keeping in mind that normally for every written page of a research paper there should be

at least ten pages of information of the subject to support the writing. The paper should clearly and convincingly

address most of the following issues or beyond, although not necessarily in this order:

Basic:

 Chronicle information of the building: Date, location, architect, builder, owner, user, and so on.

 Formal or physical description of the building: Design features, construction traits.

 Cultural feature of the building: Popularity, tourism, comments, or media.

 Images of the building: “Normal,” aerial, detail, and interior views.

 One particular treat of the building that attracts you.

More demanding:

 Possible prototype design found in Europe for this building.

 A discussion relating this particular building to the general spread out of the Western classical architecture.

 Any other creative way of describing or interpreting the building.

Please note the “basic” and “demanding” modes do not respectively imply a basic grade or a higher grade. A

well-done essay in basic mode can still receive a high grade, whereas an attempt to accomplish a more

demanding component for a poorly-worked essay may also received a poor grade.

If you find yourself often struggling in writing, you need to get help from The Learning Commons at BGSU

Library. Their information can be found at http://www.bgsu.edu/learning-commons.html. To use this resource

more effectively, bring the materials you have collected and explain your intention about your work.

Guidelines for Paper Format

(The following paragraphs are intended to be informative rather than instructive.)

Font of the research paper should be size 10 or 12 in standard text such as Times New Roman, Helvetica (Arial)

or Schoolbook, rather than a difficult font like Monotype Corsiva, Gothic, or Impact. The text should be double-spaced with a one-inch margin all around, and pages should be numbered.

The text should be well-versed and conform to the formal academic writing style. All words should be spelled

out—do not use contractions (“don’t”, “isn’t”, “it’s”, etc.) or abbreviations (“dim.”, “in.”, “sqft.” etc.). Spell out

numbers that a) are two or fewer digits, except for reference numbers, and b) contain no more than two words.

Please pay particular attention to spelling and the correct use of letter case. (In most cases, the first letter of

disciplinary words, such as “architecture”, “mathematics”, “interior design”, or “computer science”, should not

be capitalized.) There must be no confusion between such word sets as “there” and “their”, “where” and

“were”, “your” and “you are”, “alter” and “altar”, “its” and “it is”, “whenever” and “when ever”, “awhile” and

“a while”, “whereas” and “where as”, “overall” and “over all”, “throughout” and “through out”, “within” and

“with in”, and so on. Please also pay attention to the correct use of punctuations, especially to the difference

between a colon [:] and a semi-colon [;].

All quotations and references must be cited in endnotes. Do not use footnotes or put your references in the body

of the text. In general, for generic information, such as date, location, and building name, as well as general

description, such as the number of columns, structural or stylistic types, it is not necessary to provide sources.

For specific information or viewpoint, the author must provide sources. Usually this takes the forms of

paraphrase or direct quote. Any direct quote (words, phrases, or sentences) should be organically inserted into

your text with appropriate introductory words or phrases of your own. Do not let a direct quote interrupt the

natural flow of sentence, grammar, and logic in your text. A quotation longer than three lines should be

separated from the main text in a single spaced paragraph indented half an inch.

Illustrations should be numbered and captioned. They appear after the text but before the endnotes and

bibliography. Illustrations are labeled as [Figure 1], [Figure 2], etc., and should be referenced in the text of your

paper, such as (see Figure 1). Do not include illustrations that are not discussed in your text. Students are

encouraged to use their own drawings, sketches, diagrams, computer images, collages, etc., as well as live

pictures. Each image must have a caption. Do not insert image in text. (Do not even think about using images to

inflate the apparent length of your paper. The length of the paper is to be measured by the word count function

on computer, not by counting pages. Length constitutes only a small part in grading.)

For how to insert endnotes in Office 2013, refer to the following link:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/add-footnotes-and-endnotes-HA102809783.aspx

Submission Format

 Cover—1) name, class, year, date. 2) Title of your paper. 3) Design of the cover (optional).

 Text—1,500 words minimum, must be page numbered.

 References or bibliography.

 Illustrations.

 Endnotes.

Save your file using your last name followed by a dash and “P1” and upload the file to the corresponding

location set up in Assignment. Please note only Word file with all content viewable on a PC and with correct file

name will be accepted. If your personal computer does not have Microsoft Office installed or you use a Mac,

you must use a BGSU University Standard PC in a computer lab to verify your file can be viewed as intended

before submitting it.

Submission Date

Thursday, April 21.