PDF Version and Application

Architecture is the best expression of a society, where it is and where it hopes to go.
                                                                                        VINCENT SCULLY

…the man has not yet been found who can pass judgment, logically substantiated, on a building’s architectural value. The only result of trying to judge architecture as you would a school paper—A for that building, B for that one, etc.—is to spoil the pleasure architecture gives. It is a risky business. It is quite impossible to set up absolute rules and criteria for evaluating architecture because every worthwhile building—like all works of art—has its own standard. If we contemplate it in a carping spirit, with a know-it-all attitude, it will shut itself up and have nothing to say to us. But if we ourselves are open to impressions and sympathetically inclined, it will open up and reveal its true essence.
                                                                                        STEEN EILER RASMUSSEN
                                                                                        Experiencing Architecture, 1957

Just walking or driving around, architecture is the one art you can’t avoid. But understanding it inside-out and outside-in takes more than just a cursory look. As a subject for thought and appreciation, architecture has fascinated the Emperor Hadrian, Goethe, Thomas Jefferson, Victor Hugo, Henry Adams, Marcel Proust and even Prince Charles. Whether or not you’re planning to pursue architecture as a profession, learning about it can broaden your understanding of a vital part of the world we live in.

This course consists of slide-illustrated lectures, films and readings that will consider an eclectic range of buildings and architects, from Rem Koolhaas’s student center at IIT to the Alhambra in Granada, from the architecture of modern Rome to the buildings of Alvaro Siza in Portugal. (It also complements the UH Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture’s Summer Discovery Program in Architecture for High School Students.) Students who plan to apply to collegiate programs for the study of architecture will also receive help in developing portfolios for submission with their applications.

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Wonderworks is a non-profit organization offering pre-college, after-school enrichment learning opportunities for high school students of special promise and ability.

Enrollment is free and open to all qualified students in grades 9 through 12.  To apply, fill out the form provided and mail to:

Wonderworks
PO Box 667550
Houston, TX 77266-7500

Be sure to include an e-mail address you can be reached at or through (either your own or a parent or teacher’s).  If necessary, transportation may be arranged from campuses with sufficient enrollment.  Questions should be directed to 713.301.4882 or e-mail to info@wonderworkshouston.org.

The course will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis for qualified applicants.  Applications must be received no later than 20 September to ensure full consideration.
 

 

For more information: info@wonderworkshouston.org