Course Syllabus

ARCH A6801 -Structural Daring and the Sublime in Pre-modern Architecture

 

Many works of pre-modern architecture are daring, poised at the very edge of structural stability. Others are well-supported, but strive to give an illusion of precariousness or even of levitation. This seminar invites students to explore the sublime effects of precarious architecture through visual and literary representations, as well as simulation models that examine the dynamic behavior of ancient and medieval monuments. Discussion topics will include: the a priori and culturally specific aspects of daring architecture; the ancient and medieval sense of the sublime and aesthetics; environmental psychology; and strategies for reading architectural forms. Students will present two or three readings during the semester, participate in class discussions, and write an eight-page final essay. 

 

Semester: Fall 2025

Time: Wednesdays, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Room: 412 Avery Hall

Instructor: Rory O’Neill 

ro32@columbia.edu

 

Sept. 3: 1. An Introduction to Structural Daring and the Sublime

 

Sept. 10: 2. Heavy Architecture I: Ancient Works

*Reference readings (not required)

 

MacDonald, W.L. 1976. The Pantheon : design, meaning, and progeny (Cambridge, Mass).

 

Ousterhout, R.G. 1999. Master Builders of Byzantium (Princeton, N.J.).

 

 

Sept. 17: 3. Heavy Architecture II: Medieval Works

*Reference readings (not required)

 

Erlande-Brandenburg, A. 1995. Cathedrals and Castles: Building in the Middle Ages (New York).

 

Bony, J. 1983. French Gothic Architecture of the 12th and 13th Centuries (Berkeley).

 

Frankl, P. and P. Crossley 2000. Gothic Architecture (New Haven).

 

 

 

Sept. 24: 4. Height, Light and Levitation 

(First student presentations) 

 

[Claire] Bony, J. 1983. “The Technical Bases of Gothic Architecture” in French Gothic Architecture of the 12th and 13th Centuries (Berkeley), 5–44. 

 

[Neha] Binski, P. 2010. “Reflections on the ’Wonderful Height and Size; of Great Gothic Churches and the Medieval Sublime,” in Jaeger, C.S. (ed.), Magnificence and the Sublime in Medieval Aesthetics : Art, Architecture, Literature, Music (New York) 129–56. 

 

[Sanjana] Branner, R. 1961. “The Formation of the Burgundian Gothic Style,” Burgundian Gothic architecture. (London), 38-54. 

 

[Ashley] Otto G. von Simson 1952. “The Gothic Cathedral: Design and Meaning,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 11, 6–16. 

 

 [Zachary] Trachtenberg, M. 2000. “Suger’s Miracles, Branner’s Bourges: Reflections on ‘Gothic Architecture’ as Medieval Modernism,” Gesta 39, 183–205.

 

 

 

 

Oct. 1: 5. Gothic Structure 

 

[Elise] Tallon, A. J. (in press.) “Structure in Gothic,” The Cambridge History of Religious Architecture (Cambridge). 

 

[Gabriela] Mainstone, R.J. 1997. “Structural Analysis, Structural Insights, and Historical Interpretation,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 56, 316–40. 

 

[Joshua] Gilman, R. 1920. “The Theory of Gothic Architecture and the Effect of Shellfire at Rheims and Soissons,” American Journal of Archaeology 24, 37–72. 

 

 [Isaac] Heyman, J. 1972. “‘Gothic’ Construction in Ancient Greece,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 31, 3–9. 

 

 [Avalon] Mark, R. and D.P. Billington 1989. “Structural Imperative and the Origin of New Form,” Technology and Culture 30, 300–29.

 

 

 

 

 

Oct. 8: 6. The Medieval and Modern Senses of the  Sublime 

 

 [Luyan] Shaw, Philip 2017. “Before (and After) Longinus” in The Sublime (New York), 17–40. 

 

[Nadeysh] Jaeger, C.S. 2010. “Richard of St. Victor and the Medieval Sublime,” in Magnificence and the Sublime in Medieval Aesthetics : Art, Architecture, Literature, Music (New York), 157–178. 

 

Burke, E. 1885. On the sublime and the beautiful. (New York,). Part II. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15043/15043-h/15043-h.htm#PART_II] 

 [Kate] Part I

[Zayna] Part II

 

 [Amani] Kant, I. 2007. Critique of Judgement (Oxford ). Second Book.—Analytic of the Sublime § 23-29. There is a PDF in the course Files and is online at [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/48433/48433-h/48433-h.htm#book_2] § 23-§ 29

 

 

 

 

Oct. 15: 7. Patrons and Desires

 

 

[Marly] Suger, E. Panofsky, 1979. “De Consecratione” in Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its art treasures (Princeton, N.J.), 83-121. 

 

[Jennifer] Willis, R., Woodman, F. 1981. The architectural history of Canterbury Cathedral (London; Boston), CH. 3, pp. 32-62. 

 

[GG] Murray, Stephen, 2014. “Villard de Honnecourt” in Plotting Gothic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 17-46. 

 

[Hongan] Murray, S. 1989. “The Cathedral of Bishop Miles of Nanteuil: An Ambitious High Gothic Synthesis” in Beauvais Cathedral : Architecture of Transcendence

(Princeton, N.J.), 77-83.

 

 

 

 

 

Oct. 22: 8. Sublime Space and Place 

 

[Yake] Tuan, Y. 1977. Space and place : The Perspective of Experience (Minneapolis). Intro, Ch. 3-4 (19-51) 

 

 [Yunhao] Meyers‐Levy, Joan, et al. “The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing That People Use.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 34, no. 2, 2007, pp. 174–86. 

 

[Kantanat] Stoppino, E. 2010. “‘Error left me and Fear came in its Place’: The arrested Sublime of the Giants in Divine Comedy, Canto XXXI,” in Jaeger, C.S. (ed.), Magnificence and the Sublime in Medieval aesthetics : Art, Architecture,  Literature, Music (New York). 

 

[Dajin] Procopius, Vol. 7: On Buildings (London; Cambridge, Mass, 1940), Book 1, Ch 1 [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Buildings/1A*.html] 

 

 

Nov. 29: 10.  Final Essay Presentations

Present your ideas for your final essay (~10 minutes). Please bring several images for your discussion. The essay itself is due on Monday, Dec. 15 and should be no more than 8 double-spaced pages. In the essay, choose one or more pre-modern works of art and/or architecture (and possibly a modern work for comparative analysis) and discuss your observations on structural daring in the use of components such as slender supports, spans, and overhangs). You should also consider sublime responses generated from the work/s related to vertigo, levitation, precariousness and gigantism. Please do not relate any historical chronology or cite any prior research. Your essay should be a personal, phenomenological observation and response to the work of architecture that you have chosen and you may make your essay as poetic as you like.

 

 

 

Nov. 5: 11.  Final Essay Presentations (cont.)

 

 

Nov. 12: 12.  Final Essay Presentations (cont.)

 

 

 

Dec. 15: Final Essays Due