The new Electa History of Italian Architecture names Leone Battista Alberti (1404-1472) as the most influential architect of the Renaissance. His treatise On the Art of Building (c. 1450) has been described as the "inaugural text" in the western tradition of critical writing about the discipline of architecture. (Choay) "Without him there would not have been a Palladio or probably a modern movement or a Corbusier." (Burns) His voluminous writings address moral and philosophical questions and provide the first theoretical statements on a number of technical and artistic subjects. The seminar will read a selection of Alberti's texts and some of the most recent as well as the classical critical literature. It will examine his most significant architectural projects.

MArch students and undergraduate students (who should first talk to the instructor) may receive 9 credits and will make an oral presentation. SMArchS and PhD students (12 credits) will make a presentation and prepare a 20 page paper.