Instructor Dr. Cristina Carbone will be offering HP 672-201 “American Roadside Architecture,” a new online course from May 24-July 2.

Buildings made to look like the product they are selling are a particularly American phenomenon associated with automobile culture of the 1920s and 1930s. This course examines these playfully idiosyncratic buildings, known variously as “Programmatic,” “Novelty,” “Mimetic,” “Thematic,” and “Roadside Vernacular” architecture.

Students will be challenged to look beyond mainstream architectural history and into a subject that has attracted attention from thinkers such as Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown, Leon Krier, Jean Baudrillard, and Charles Moore. Roadside architecture is a ubiquitous part of the American landscape and a major theme in twentieth-century architectural history. It is also enjoying a surprising Renaissance. Learn why these odd and unusual buildings matter in this six-week online course.