Ferris State University – ARCH 246 – Spring 2023
Twentieth Century Architecture
This exam is a take-home exam. The exam must be submitted via Canvas to the instructor by the time noted above. No exams will be accepted after that time. Your essay should be submitted as a Word document attachment through the link on the course website. No other means of submittal will be accepted! Do not e-mail the essay to the instructor!
Choose one of the following topics and construct an essay based on your interpretation of the course lecture material and readings. Whatever your choice of topic, you should provide specific examples to support your opinions.
Grading will be based on three categories, totaling 100 points:
1. Factual
accuracy and thoroughness
40
points
2. Conceptual
understanding of the material
40
points
3. Communication
of ideas, spelling, grammar, etc.
20
points
Before you begin you should review all lecture notes and images, review assigned readings for the applicable portion of the course and prepare a brief outline of the ideas you wish to discuss and the examples you will use in support of them. You do not need to turn in this outline.
You can work at your own pace and are free to use outside resources for information. It may also be necessary for you to rely on content from previous courses. Remember that if you use material from any source, you must provide a citation for it. As for its length, your essay should be as long as it needs to be to appropriately answer the question but should typically be approximately 1200 words.
Essay Questions:
1. The 90s musical play Rent contains the following provocative lyric statement: The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation. Certainly, a case may be made that this is true in the realm of twentieth century architecture. Examine how the two world wars—and any other conflicts you care to examine—have contributed to the character of art, architecture, and design in the past century. As always, be specific in your examples and avoid generalizations.
2. In his play Sunday in the Park with George, my personal hero Stephen Sondheim writes the words of the artist Georges Seurat: I want to move on / I want to explore the light / I want to know how to get through / Through to something new / Something of my own . . . To a great degree this reflects the goals of artists of all generations. Who do you think most compellingly reflects this quest in architecture during the time period covered in this course? Discuss the ways in which they got through to something new, something of their own, and those buildings that most clearly represent the attainment of their goal.
