Professor: Ayad Rahmani arahmani@archu Office tel.#: 5-7393

1. ARCH /ID 202Spring 2013T.TH 9:10-10:25The Built Environment Syllabuswww.arch.wsu.edu/classes/arch202 • Professor:Ayad Rahmani arahmani@arch.wsu.edu • Office tel.#: 5-7393 • Office #: 534: In Carpenter Hall • Office Hours: MW 11:00-12:00 • TAs: Sarah Eystad: seystad.arch202@gmail.com Travis Heim: theim.arch202@gmail.com Ashley Swanson: swanson.arch202@gmail.com

2. The class will be divided into 3 groups based on last names.Each will be led by a different TA • Group one by Sarah Eystad A-H • Group two by Travis Heim I-R • Group three by Ashley Swanson Q-Z

3. Professor and TA’s Responsibilities • My responsibility will be to prepare and present lectures • Prepare quizzes, exams and final paper • Respond to inquiries • Offer advice towards research and other issues related to class material • Grade extra credit papers • The TAs responsibility will be to grade quizzes, exams and final paper • Respond to inquiries about grades and research • Serve to relay concerns between student and myself • Offer advice • Record participation

4. Objectives • The objective of the course is to examine the factors responsible for shaping the built environment. • To explore and discuss the values that it represents. • To elevate awareness of the importance of the built environment and how we play a role in shaping it.

5. This course is built on the thesis that what shapes the built environment in the United States is less the love of democracy and more the desire for liberty. That a rural ethic pervades the making of the American built Environment. That even when we design and build buildings such as highrises and malls, we do so only to seek freedom and independence and less equality and beauty etc. The thesis of this Course

6. What Kind of Built Environment • While it would be useful and important to learn about the built environment across the world, this class will focus on the one as found in the US, starting with its origins in rural settings and then as it evolved in the city, the suburbs and finally today as it has been transformed in and by cyberspace.

7. The class will be divided into 4 Segments • The first segment will be devoted to the origins of the built environment in rural settings. • The second, to urbanization and the rise of the city. • The third, to the development of suburbs, before and after WWII. • The fourth, to contemporary developments including the effect of globalization on space and place.

8. The first segment • In the first segment the class will focus on the way the early thinkers and forefathers found in rural settings the perfect ground on which to build their political and social principles.

9. The second segment • In this segment, the class will look at the urbanization of America and how certain factors such as immigration and industrialization shaped the American city. We will also look at the way planning tools and inventions in transportation contributed to that shaping.

10. Thethird segment • In this segment focus will be devoted to the rise of the modern suburb and how it represents both a personal desire for a certain type of lifestyle but also an opportunistic move by developers to grow economically. We will look at some of its iconic components, such as the garage and the mall, and analyze the way they contributed to its social and cultural formation.

11. The fourth segment • The world has been changing rapidly; with the digital world well underway, much of the thinking that had once shaped design is now under revision. In this segment the course will address some of the current forces that are shaping how we understand and relate to the built environment including the question of sustainability. Is place important anymore, and, if so, in what way?

12. Schedule

14. Evaluations Students will be evaluated based on the following: Attendance and Participation: 15% Quizzes: 25% Exams: 45% Final paper 15% Extra Credit 15%

15. Attendance and Participation • Pop quizzes • Participation during class: I will leave some time at the end of each lecture for this purpose • Online participation: there will be an opportunity for you to demonstrate participation online through the “Forum” link on the class’s website. Each time you speak up or make an entry you earn 2%.

16. Quizzes • There will be a total of 7 quizzes given throughout the semester; only the best 5 will be taken into consideration • These quizzes will come in the form of pop and may appear at the outset of the lecture or at the end of it • No Make-up quizzes

17. There will be three exams given in this class. Each exam will cover one segment of the course. One class period will be devoted to each exam. The students will be expected to arrive already having purchased a blue book. All exams will be closed- book. None of the exams will be to the effect of testing your memory but your ability to synthesize the various lessons of the course. Exams

18. Final Paper • The final paper will be to the extent of looking back at the entire course and putting it in perspective. • You will be given a choice of at least two questions from which you will be expected to choose one and write an answer about it. • The objective of this paper will be to evaluate your understanding of the class and the degree to which you are able to analyze and synthesize the material in it.

19. Books and other reading material Books • Building Suburbiaby Dolores Hayden • How Cities Workby Alex Marshall • City Life by Witold Rybczynski • Redesigning the American Dream by Dolores Hayden This class is reading intensive; some of the readings will come from the books assigned to the class (listed here), others from other various sources, such as daily papers and scholarly journals. Whatever I don’t assign from the books I will copy and insert in the class’s website and which you will be able to access through the “Reading” link.

20. There will be no make up exams or quizzes. Please do not put me in the difficult position of having to refuse your request for make ups. Make sure that you take advantage of the extra credit opportunity. In case of extreme and unforeseen conditions, come see me and I will work with you on finding a solution. Make up Quizzes or Exams

21. Extra Credit: 15% There are intellectual events going on around campus all the time; lectures, presentations, symposia etc. Some of them may be directly related to our subject matter in this class and some not so much. For this extra credit opportunity I would like you to attend one such event and write about it linking it to the class. I am here looking to see how engaged you are in campus life and to what extent you are able to see in this class an impact on the way we live and relate to reality. The event may be on economics or art or media; whatever it may be on I will expect you to be creative in seeing in it a potential cause for a better built environment or the other way around. Feel free to talk to me about your ideas beforehand; I would be happy to help you establish an outline.

22. Computers and Cell phone • Please turn off your cell phones when you get into class; it is disruptive to the flow of the class when they ring. • Computers will be allowed in class but only for taking notes. If you surf the internet, check your facebook or email you will be given one warning and then be asked to leave the class.

23. Discussion Assignment for Thursday For Thursday I would like you to do three things. First read chapter one in the book City Life. Second go on a walk in a place in Pullman that I will assign you. And three, connect the two. Chapter one in City Life is entitled “why aren’t our cities like that?” In it the author speculates on the reasons as to why North American cities look nothing like European cities and especially Paris. Even though Pullman is not a big city and perhaps not a good representative of what a typical American city is, let us still use it to answer similar questions as the author of city life is asking. Why does it look the way it does? Why does it look so different from the Paris he is describing in the book? Think of the following? • Who generated/commissioned the places you see on your walk? • Why do the structures look the way they do? (height/materials etc.) • What is the nature of the spaces between buildings? • What is the nature of the space between the street and building? • What role does transportation play in shaping the built environment on your walk?

24. Groups and walks • Group One: Walk the distance between Main and Stadium Way on Grand • Group Two: Walk the length of Bishop Boulevard or at least the area around Safeway • Group Three: Walk up and down Itani Drive on Sunnyside Hill; to get there go up Crestview Dr. from Grand (this is a new residential neighborhood, so be discreet)