Harvard University offers a free online course on architecture, providing fundamental principles of architecture as both an academic subject and a professional career. You will study some of history’s most significant buildings to understand architecture as a cultural expression and a technical achievement. The course consists of vivid analyses of exemplary buildings and hands-on exercises in drawing and modeling.

The first part of the course covers the concept of architectural imagination, including perspective drawing and architectural typology, and challenges in writing architectural history. The course then explores technology as a component of architecture, showing how innovative technology can promote new aesthetic experiences or disrupt age-old traditions. Finally, the course examines architecture’s relationship with its social and historical contexts, audiences, achievements, and aspirations. You will learn about architecture’s power of representation and how it produces collective meaning and memory.

Architecture is a globally recognized cultural practice, involving technical, aesthetic, political, and economic issues within a given society. Enroll in this course to examine how architecture engages, mediates, and expresses a culture’s complex aspirations. The course is eligible for American Institute of Architects (AIA) continuing education units (CEUs) for those who want to earn credit.

By the end of the course, you will learn how to read, analyze, and understand different forms of architectural representation, the social and historical contexts behind major works of architecture, basic principles to produce your architectural drawings and models, and pertinent content for academic study or a professional career as an architect.