Summer Semester, 2026
Mon, June 8 - Fri, July 3, 2026
Amelia, Italy
Meets daily: Monday – Friday, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
after the (survey tech) co-requisite lecture 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Afternoon Workshop: Monday - Friday, 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM (4 weeks)
Students will be divided into two groups. Group 2 will meet in sketching and Group 1 will meet in the survey tech course. For the second two weeks, Group 1 and 2 will switch.
Location: Various places in the Historical Center
Lead Instructor: Elisa Pilia

Course Description:

This course follows a structured chronological approach, equipping students with essential tools for the observation, analysis, and interpretation of historic buildings and their cultural contexts, key to their preservation and conservation. Topics covered include building typologies, materials, structural systems, and construction techniques. The sketching workshop enhances analytical skills through measured drawing, focusing on the documentation of architectural heritage.

Summary of Lecture Content:

1. Presentation of the course and program of lectures and a tour of Amelia.

2. From Nuragic to Roman architecture

• Building techniques (megalithism)

3. Rome | Kingdom Age

• Building techniques (vaults and domes)

• The origins of the city

• Republican Age (The Forum, the Basilica, the Tabularium, sacred architecture, early circuses, the Amphitheatres, residential architecture)

• Augustan Age (The Monumental Gardens, evolution of tombs: the Mausoleum)

• Imperial Age (Process of Romanisation of the colonies: the infrastructure, the theatre and amphitheatre, the triumphal arches, the Baths, circuses and stadiums)

• Trajan: Imperial Forums and Markets

• Hadrian: Pantheon, Hadrian's Villa and Mausoleum

• The Antonian and Severian ages

4. The Late Antique

• Building techniques (development of reticular trusses, masonry in opus mixtum)

• Evolution and development of new architectural types

(Imperial palaces and the domus, late antique villas, the domus ecclesiae, catacombs and cemeteries, the baths and temples)

• The Age of Constantine (birth of the Christian Basilica, cruciform basilicas and mausoleums, Roman basilicas, churches with a central plan, baptisteries)

• The end of the Empire

5. The early Middle Ages and Byzantine architecture

• Building techniques (masonry, vaults, domes on pendentive)

• Constantinople, the new Rome, Ravenna and Southern Italy

6. Romanesque architecture

• Building techniques (pointed arch, Groin vaults with ribs)

7. The mature Romanesque

• The Lombardy- Padana area

• The Venetian Lagoon

• Central Italy

• Rome

• Arab-Norman Sicily

8. A) Gothic architecture

• Building techniques (Arches, vaults, flying buttresses and pinnacles)

• Origin of Gothic: L'Ile de France

• Italy and Umbria, Venice, Siena, Milan

b) Late Gothic architecture

• Catalonia and Aragon

• Sardinia

9. The Italian Renaissance

• Building techniques (Domes and tie-rods in masonry)

• Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Bramante and Leonardo

• The Florentine urban palace

• The ideal city

10. The early sixteenth century

• Rome (Bramante, Raffaello, Baldassarre Peruzzi)

• The new basilica of St. Peter's

• The Roman palace

11. Mannerism and the Catholic Reformation

• Rome: Giulio Romano, Michelangelo and Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola

• Florence: Vasari

• Veneto: Palladio

• The Italian garden

• The reformed church: new design requirements

12. The Roman Baroque

• Building techniques (Borromini and the reinterpretation of ancient models)

• The great aristocratic families and the transformation of the city

• Baroque design principles: straight streets, squares, and backdrops

• The great protagonists: Borromini, Bernini and Pietro da Cortona

13. The Eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment

• Manuals and Treatises

14. Italy in the Nineteenth Century

• Building techniques (pre-modern treatises and manuals)

15. Restoration in the 19th century

• Archaeological restoration in Italy: R. Stern and G. Valadier

• Stylistic restoration in France: E.E. Viollet-le-Duc

• Conservation initiatives in Great Britain: J. Ruskin

16. Restoration between the 19th and 20th centuries

• Philological restoration: C. Boito

• Historical restoration: L. Beltrami and G. Moretti

17. Restoration in the first half of the 20th century

• Scientific restoration: G. Giovannoni and the Athens Charter (1931)

• Restoration between the two wars

18. Restoration since the Second World War

• The years of reconstruction

• Critical restoration and the reintegration of gaps: C. Brandi

• Urban restoration: R. Pane

• Contemporary restoration

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

§  Identify and analyze historic buildings and their settings.

§  Demonstrate knowledge of the evolution of building typologies, architectural styles, traditional building materials, structural systems, and construction methods.

§  Develop analytical skills through methodical observation and documentation of historic structures.

§  Communicate effectively through sketching observations and analysis of buildings.

Format:
> Morning Lectures: Monday – Friday, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM (4 weeks). Location: TBC.

Lectures are mostly dedicated to the presentation of material, with time for questions and answers.

> Afternoon Workshop: Monday – Friday, 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location: Various places in the Historical Center. 

Workshops include time for completing sketching assignments, instruction on sketching techniques, and both individual and group reviews.

Useful Tools:
Sketchbook, transparent paper, drawing tools (pencils, sharpener, eraser, pens, watercolor pencils, watercolors, markers, compass, ruler, squares, etc.), notepad, tape measure, laptop computer, digital camera.

Useful Skills:
Freehand drawing, digital photography.

Recommended Readings:
The following reading list provides some resources; participants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the titles and authors listed. Many of these titles are available online. English-language titles and some foreign-language titles have been included in the reading list. Those who are proficient in other languages are especially encouraged to explore literature not available in English.

Key readings - History of Architecture

• Fleming, John, Hugh Honour, and Nikolaus Pevsner. The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 5. ed. Penguin Reference. Penguin, 1998.

• Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: A Critical History. 4. ed., rev. expanded and updated. World of Art. Thames & Hudson, 2007.

• Murray, Peter. The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance. New rev. ed. Schocken, 1997.

• Watkin, David. A History of Western Architecture. Seventh edition. Laurence King Publishing, 2023.

Roman Architecture and building techniques

• Jean-Pierre Adam, Roman Building. Materials and Techniques, London-New York: Routledge, 2005.

• Lynne C. Lancaster, Concrete Vaulted Construction in Imperial Rome, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

• Lynne C. Lancaster, Innovative Vaulting in the Architecture of the Roman Empire. 1st to 4th Centuries CE, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

• Paolo Vitti, Building Roman Greece: Innovation in Vaulted Construction in the Peloponnese, Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2016.

Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture and building techniques

• Richard Krautheimer, Rome: profile of a city, 312-1308, Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, 2000.

• Robert G. Ousterhout, Eastern Medieval Architecture: The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands, New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Romanesque and Gothic Architecture and building techniques

• Gerardo Boto Varela, Justin E.A. Kroesen (eds.), Romanesque Cathedrals in Mediterranean Europe. Architecture. Ritual and Urban Context, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2016.

• Paul Frankl, The Gothic Architecture, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

• Paula Fuentes, Anke Wunderwald (eds.), The art of vaulting. Design and construction in the Mediterranean Gothic, Basel: Birkhäuser, 2019.

Italian Renaissance Architecture and building techniques

• Christy Anderson, Renaissance Architecture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

• Leonardo Benevolo, The Architecture of the Renaissance, Boulder: Westview Press, 1978.

Baroque Architecture and building techniques

• Andrew Hopkins, Italian architecture: from Michelangelo to Borromini, London – New York: Thames & Hudson, 2022.

• Rudolf Wittkower, Studies in the Italian Baroque, Boulder: Westview Press, 1975.

Building materials

• Harley McKee, An Introduction to Early American Masonry, APT Press: New York, 2008.

• Russell Meiggs, Trees and Timber in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.

• Gennaro Tampone, Atlas of the failures of timber structures, Firenze: Nardini 2019

• Willis, Robert. On the Construction of the Vaults of the Middle Ages. Nabu Press, 2010.

History of construction, engineering and mechanics

• Antonio Becchi, Robert Carvais and Joël Sakarovitch (ed.), Construction History. Survey of a European Building Site, Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2018.

• John Fitchen, Building construction before mechanization, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1986

(https://archive.org/details/buildingconstruc00fitc/mode/2up).

• Stephen P. Timoshenko, History of Strength of Materials, New York: Dover publications inc., 1983.

Key readings - History and Theory of Restoration

• Brandi, Cesare, Giuseppe Basile, e Cesare Brandi. Theory of Restoration. Arte e Restauro. Istituto centrale per il restauro, 2005.

• Carbonara, Giovanni. Architettura d’oggi e restauro: un confronto antico-nuovo. UTET scienze tecniche, 2011.

• Carbonara, Giovanni. Avvicinamento al restauro: teoria, storia, monumenti. Liguori, 1997.

• Glendinning, Miles. The Conservation Movement: A History of Architectural Preservation: Antiquity to Modernity. Routledge, 2013.

• Jokilehto, Jukka. A History of Architectural Conservation. Second edition. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.

• Stubbs, J.H. Time Honored: A Global View of Architectural Conservation. Wiley, 2009. https://books.google.it/books?id=9Bfks6nl334C.

• Stubbs, John H., Emily Gunzburger Makaš, e Mounir Bouchenaki. Architectural Conservation in Europe and the Americas: National Experiences and Practice; with a Contribution of Images from the Photo Archive of the World Monuments Fund. Wiley, 2011.

Sitography

•                    The online version of the Bibliography of the Vernacular Architecture Group: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/vagbiblio/index.cfm

•                    Publications by the Centre for Ancient Studies – University of Pennsylvania: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/ancient/publications.html

•                    The Construction History Society online bibliography:

https://www.constructionhistorybibliography.org https://www.constructionhistory.co.uk/sources-information-construction-history/

•                    The ICOMOS online resources, as a global archive specialising in the conservation and restoration of monuments, sites, and landscapes: https://openarchive.icomos.org.

•                    Historic England A-Z catalogue of guidance publications available for free download: https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/find/a-z-publications/.

•                    Association for Preservation Technology APT Bulletin. https://apt.memberclicks.net/apt-bulletin.

(Available for free download through JSTOR, entered from the Architecture Library with ND credentials).

Grading:

You will be graded on the correct number and type of sketches for your structure (plans, elevations, details, etc.), completeness, and quality of draftsmanship.

Work will be evaluated holistically according to the course assignments. Attendance, active participation in class discussions, and general conduct will also be taken into account in the grading process. Since students often present varied previous education and experience, this, too, will be taken into consideration. Ultimately, a student’s grade reflects how well he or she has fulfilled the requirements of this syllabus.

Grading scale:

A | 95% - 100%: Truly exceptional work, meets or exceeds the highest expectations of the course.

A- | 90% - 94%: Outstanding, superior work in all areas of the course.

B+ | 87% - 89%: Very good, superior work in most areas of the course.

B | 83% - 86%: Good, solid work across the board.

B- | 80% - 82%: More than acceptable but falls short of solid work.

C+ | 77% - 79%: Acceptable, meets all the basic requirements and standards for the course.

C | 73% - 76%: Acceptable, meets most of the basic requirements and standards in several areas.

C- | 70% - 72%: While acceptable, work falls short of meeting basic standards in several areas.

D | 60% - 69%: Minimally passing work, just over the threshold of acceptability.

F | Below 60%: Failing, unacceptable work.

Grading Policy

The grading breaks down as follows:
Final examination       40%
Participation   30%
Contribution to class discussions        30%

Attendance

Daily attendance in lecture and workshop components is expected. If you miss class for any reason, please email the professor immediately.

Assignments / Exam

Produce 10 sheets (A2) of sketches: five give a general description of the building and five present details, components and analytical diagrams. 

Late Assignment Policy

Unexcused late assignments will be marked down one-half letter grade. Students should discuss with the professor beforehand any reason for anticipated late submission and specify when the submission will occur.

Must be taken with the following co-requisite:
Surveying Methods in Architecture: From Measuring Tape to Laser Scanning