The University of Chicago Summer
Mesoamerican Architecture

Mesoamerican Architecture


Course Status: Pre-College Application: Jan 2026

Applications for Pre-College courses will open in early January. We encourage you to review the courses offered below. Remember: you can select up to 3 in your application. We look forward to seeing you!

Course Code

ARTH 16010 10

Cross Listed Course Code(s)

ARCH 16010 10, LACS 16010 10

Course Description

This course will examine the range of architectural expression in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize from 1500 BCE to 1600 CE.

Using a relatively simple vocabulary of elements (house, pyramid, plaza, ballcourt, and road), each Mesoamerican city constructed a distinctive visual identity, exquisitely attuned to the surrounding environment. Moving city by city over time, we will look closely at individual buildings as well as the spatial relationships between structures.

At the end of the course, students will have honed their ability to analyze architectural space and its representations, and to write cogently about what they see.

Course Criteria

This course is primarily comprised of undergraduate students. A select number of places are reserved for advanced high school students.

The cost of this course for pre-college students is $4,980

Instructor(s)

Claudia Brittenham

Course Duration

Summer Online

Session

Session 1

Course Dates

June 15th - July 2nd

Class Days

Mon, Wed, Fri

Class Time

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Eligibility

11th Grade, 12th Grade, Undergrad

Core Course

Part of UChicago Core Curriculum

Modality

Remote

Other Courses to Consider

These courses might also be of interest.

  • Drawing and the Making of Architecture
    Drawing and the Making of Architecture

    This course focuses on the practice of drawing in the making of architecture. It explores the act of tracing lines on a surface as the foundation of design: a word that evokes through its own origins the very moment of architectural invention. As the most direct expression of the architect’s ideas and an operative form of non-verbal thinking, the physical response of the hand to media contributes crucially to the creative process.

    This intensive studio experience will offer an unmediated encounter with a range of techniques: we will test different tools and conventions to understand the interaction throughout history between drawing’s materiality and design practice. Parallel to this, we will discuss a wide selection of readings critically, thus reconstructing the evolving theory of representation in architectural writings and the relevance of graphic expression to both theorists and practitioners.

    Ultimately, the course will introduce students to norms and conventions of technical drawing by revealing a primary tool in the production of architecture from the point of view of its makers.

    Residential