ARCH 462 - The Villa and the Garden

Master of Architecture
Delivery: Lecture

The course explores villas and gardens to better understand how men and women, from different times, cultures, and coun- tries, transformed the landscape for leisurely purposes and conceived their relationship between Architecture and Nature. We focus on the dynamic relationship between landscapes, villas and their gardens, mainly Renaissance and Baroque in Tuscany and Rome, where gardens where conceived as part of a multifaceted architectural system. The ‘villa & garden’ complex originates in the Mediterranean area, especially ancient Greece and Rome. Renaissance Tuscany shaped the early formal garden, later becoming the ‘rational’ geometrical garden as an extension of the architecture of the villa. From our base in Florence, where we explore villas commissioned by the Medici family, we look South to villas commissioned by Popes and Cardinals outside Rome. Then we look North, to 16th-century examples in Mantua and in the Veneto Region. We look East, to a different way of opening architecture to nature. We study the impact of Orientalism on the design of European villa & garden complexes. Back in Tuscany, we study the impact of 18th century England on Florentine culture and gardens. We look West, to the Anglo-American residents of Florence, and to their taste for villa life in late 19th-early 20th century.

Introductory lectures indoors, based on PowerPoint presentations, will be followed by direct experience of villas & gardens on site visits, in Florence and surroundings. Repeatable: yes

3 credits
Fall and Spring