Rich housing types embody all manner of forms, customs and styles, which vary in cultures in pre-modern times, and are likely to vary even in individuals in our time. But when viewed as a formal configuration, beyond shapes and dimensions, housing throughout human history, surprisingly, can be classified into a few limited patterns. They include, specifically, the courtyard pattern, the inter-connected room matrix pattern, and the pattern of terminal rooms opening to a common corridor. This course examines the human relations that are not only cemented but also animated through the human occupation of these patterns, which leads to an understanding of modern housing against such historical background.

This course introduces to students various interpretive and analytical approaches drawn from the humanist tradition and historical studies, as well as nineteenth-century development of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and modern anthropology, which will enable them to gain an overview of housing history in both Europe and Asia from antiquity to the present. By offering focused and in-depth studies of selected themes and cases in housing history, this course uses the house as a vehicle to enable students to reflect on, and enhance, their prior studies of architectural history and housing design.