Architectural Syles and Movements of the 20th century

  Select two (2) 20th century architectural styles or movements that were practised simultaneously (i.e. in the same decade(s)). Outline the course of their development and compare the ideas associated with each style or movement, citing relevant examples, architects and contemporary texts. The final piece of assessment in the subject ABPL 30050 / ARCH 20003 Modern Architecture: MoMo to PoMo is a written examination. The exam is two hours (120 minutes) in duration, before which there is 15 minutes allowed for reading time (during which you may not write). The advertised start time of the examination is the beginning of the examination (ie, the time from which you are allowed to write). The examination is worth 40% of the overall marks given in this subject. A practice examination has been written to demonstrate the format of the examination, both in terms of its layout and the types of questions that will be asked. Students are urged to review the practice examination (available on the LMS) so they gain a clear understanding of the examination’s format. Students who have looked at past exams in the older version of this subject (702232 Modern Architecture B, 2008 and earlier) will realize there has been some change to the format of the exam: those past exams can provide only limited extra guidance to this year’s exam, because of the shift in content and format. The examination paper is divided into three main parts (questions 1, 2 and 3). Question 1 has multiple parts and is worth 30 marks in total. It asks specific questions about buildings, architects, events, movements and ideas that require short answers (at most, one sentence, but more likely to be a single word or name). None of the questions in this section will ask you to date a building. Some of the questions relate to an associated image of a building: horizontal lines divide the question parts so that all the questions related to an image are contained within those lines, for example: The image is always immediately adjacent to the related questions; and up to two questions may be asked about the same image. Other questions do not have an image associated with them (the image space is left blank). For example: iii) Name the group whose projects included the futuristic visions Walking City and Plug-in City. N.B. Please make sure you write your answers on the script book, NOT on the exam paper. i) What is the name of this building? ii) With which movement was it associated? Question 2 is an essay-type question and is worth 30 marks. Six choices are provided: students are to choose only one of these and answer it to the best of their ability. Long answers are expected to these questions. Answers are expected to be in prose, not dot point form. This part of the examination is designed to consider issues raised within the tutorial and lecture program content of the subject. Question 3 is also an essay-type question and is worth 40 marks. Students have the choice of six generic questions, of which they should choose only one to answer. These generic questions are identical to that shown in the practice examination, which allow students to prepare their answers in advance of the examination. Within the generic questions, students may identify any aspect of the subject on which to focus. In preparing answers, students should ensure that they plan to answer, as best as possible, every component of the chosen question. Answers are expected to be in prose, not dot point form. Students often ask how many pages the long-answer questions need to be: there isn’t a clear answer to this, as handwriting size can vary considerably, but in general, we rarely see an answer that is adequate that is less than 2.5 pages. Most answers are between 3-5 pages in length, but some are quite long (the examination booklet is slightly smaller than A4 size and some people have large handwriting). We prefer to think about the length of answers in terms of time: indeed the apportioning of the marks throughout the examination paper can be easily translated into minutes. The examination is 120 minutes long and the examination paper is divided into 100 marks: if students notionally give one minute for each mark, this translates to 30 minutes for Q1, 30 minutes for Q2 and 40 minutes for Q3, with 20 minutes spare for planning, checking, etc. The examination seeks to test students’ knowledge of the subject, so there is a considerable emphasis on content in assessing the exams: some students are very adept at cramming content into tightly written answers which are well-structured and cogently argued; others take a little longer to get to the key points. You should aim to get the content across in a clear manner and demonstrate your knowledge to the best of your ability. No written material – notes, dictionaries or otherwise – will be allowed in the examination. As a result, we are happy to accept phonetically-spelled words. Again, the emphasis is on content: if you can demonstrate that you understand the material and have knowledge of it, and you have managed to communicate that, (even with creative spelling!), then we will be happy with your effort. The examination assumes students have attended the full lecture and tutorial program and completed the set readings for the subject. The examination is written so that an average student who has done an average amount of study will get an average mark – it does not set out to be ‘hard’ or ‘easy’, although there will be harder and easier questions within it. Students are often very concerned about the buildings (and numbers of them) to be learned: familiarity through the lectures is expected, but a shortened list of important buildings is provided to provide some outer limits to revision. And, although this (longish) short list is provided, students should understand that some buildings are listed/discussed more than once in the lectures and some are often featured in various histories of modern architecture. Knowing these oft-profiled buildings is a very good foundation for your knowledge and study of the subject. Below are responses to many of the exam essay questions received previously, as well as some general advice: • “contemporary texts” (3 i) refers to primary texts i.e. that were written at the same time as your examples. • “work of contemporaries” (3 iii) refers to architects who were practising at the same time. • Practiced at the same time” (3 iii) means practiced simultaneously i.e. in the same chronological period. You may select one decade in which both your architect examples were practicing and compare and contrast the works of that period alone. • You may refer to city planning examples. • Make sure you back up your arguments with examples throughout. There is no limit on the number of examples, nor is there a minimum number. Just ensure that your arguments are supported by examples as evidence. • There is no word limit for the essays; nor is there a minimum word count but please read the exam advice, above, regarding this. • Citations are not required, but if you can mention key texts/authors in your essays this will inform your examiner that you are familiar with the relevant literature. • You may answer the three sections of the exam in any order you wish. Please make sure you put the number at the top of the page. • You may use pencil. • Take a few minutes to prepare a plan for each of your essays. Break your work up into paragraphs and make sure that there is one argument per paragraph. • Make sure that you write all your answers (question 1 included) in the booklet, NOT on the exam paper. • You may request a second booklet if you run out of space • Please write as neatly as possible (be kind to your examiner!). All questions about the examination should be posted on the LMS discussion board under the “exam related questions” thread. We will be present in the examination hall at the beginning of the examination to answer any questions you may have when you are there – throughout reading time and into writing time. Please ask about anything that is not clear. Good luck & best wishes, Stuart King & Bronwyn Stocks