Days and Times: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Location:
Girvetz 2128
Days and Times: Friday, March 6, 2009, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Location:
Girvetz 1106
Days and Times: Saturday, March 7, 2009, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.,
Location: Field trip to Schindler Home In West Hollywood
Transportation will be provided.
Enrollment Code: 59782
Description:
The seminar meets on three days. On the first day, we will begin with a slide-assisted
examination of early to mid-20th-century domestic architure in Europe and the United
States. Then, we will assess some buildings on the UCSB campus for their “modernist”
elements. On the second day, the focus of our interest will be buildings by Frank
Lloyd Wright, Rudolf Schindler, and Richard Neutra, all of whom were active in L.A.
in the first half of the 20th century. We will learn about the economics and the design of early 20th-century homes, and about the history of their preservation. The second half of
this day will be spent at the Schindler archive at UCSB where much of the famous architect’s archive is preserved. The students will learn what role archives such as this one can play when it comes to preserving architecture. They will also be able to interact
with some more unique materials preserved on our campus. The third day will be spent
in Los Angeles. We will visit the Schindler home in West Hollywood, as well as
Wright’s Hollyhock house in Hollywood, and Richard Neutra’s VDL research house.
We will study our buildings and learn about their design, history of their preservation,
and current uses. I hope to be able to involve an official from L.A.’s municipal
preservation agency in the hopes that he/or she meet with us briefly. I plan to give the
students group assignments that lets them search the buildings we visit for specifically
“modernist” elements.
Professor Sven Spieker, Russian, Germanic, Slavic & Semitic Studies, teaches in GSS and CompLit, affiliated with Art History. His specialization is 20th-century modernism. He also teaches courses in 20th-century Russian and Eastern European art and literature.
Email: spieker@gss.ucsb.edu
