I took this class because a) I had an interest in learning about architecture b) it was my last GE as a senior and c) I read these reviews and saw that Osman received good marks.

To start with, I did minimal work, skipped whole weeks of classes / readings, and coasted straight to an A in the class.

That's all the good there was though. Not only did Osman not teach about architectural buildings or styles, the man was pompous enough to try to explain the origins of society, mankind, communication, war, peace, love, sex, learning, and god knows what else. In a class that was pitched to be an "introduction to architecture" Osman proved to me that he must have flunked out of being a successful architect but had gone too far down his educational path to find something else to do with his life.

Seriously, he was the cockiest, most arrogant, and annoying professor I have run across. His class is what I thought college would be before I arrived on campus 4 years ago -- a bunch of intellectual people sitting around pontificating about the origins of life. Unfortunately, his class is comprised of individuals with no idea about philosophy or theory (b/c surprise suprise they are taking an architecture GE not a graduate level philosophy seminar). If you have ANY other options or ideas than this class, save yourself the pain - the A may be easy to get study wise, but you'll thank yourself for not a torturous two hours per week.

On a side note, this may seem like I'm just railing on him for no reason - I'm not crazy. There was a strong contingent of us in the class that were smart individuals, getting good grades on the tests that could not stand him. We also are pretty sure he was having an affair with his TA (let you guess which one).

Osman is an engaging lecturer and I always found his classes to be interesting and captivating. He goes over the main concepts that drive architecture and its history. That said he talks extremely quickly and you must write very fast to keep up with him. The weekly reading response and the midterm/final require you draw upon the things he talks about in lectures, so it is important to keep comprehensive notes. He also assigns 3 readings with a total of 50-70 pages a week that you have to understand for the reading responses/midterm/final. I recommend you keep up with the reading schedule and take notes for each one, however I only read one reading a week and then crammed the rest into week 10 and still ended up getting an A. I highly recommend this class as a GE because it is so interesting but I would not take it if you are looking for something easy or are not curious about architecture.

Professor Osman is an outstanding lecturer who has been teaching this class for over a decade. He is extremely knowledgeable about architectural history and is very passionate about the subject. Not only that, but he is very charismatic and funny. He can take the driest subjects and make them into a joke that everyone can laugh at. This class really explores different concepts associated with architecture without a distinct timeline or chronological order. You'll find that the first two weeks will be a little confusing or vague due to the nature of the class and the nature of his lectures. But as the quarter progresses, the lectures become more interesting as well as the content discussed. The TA's are all very helpful and will help you understand concepts that a) aren't covered in lecture or b) are only brushed upon during lecture. I highly recommend attending discussion as much as you can for this class because it will only be easy if you make the effort to understand and memorize the different buildings, concepts, etc. alongside peers.

I learnt so much from this class last quarter. It's a lot of reading and often pretty dry (I was under the impression no one in my discussion actually did any of the readings ) but kudos to Osman for trying to impart some esoteric wisdom to a bunch of college kids. You don't need to be a prospective architect or artist or designer to do well in his class. Just keep an open mind and do the readings!

Makes students feel very welcome in having a discussion during class and posing arguments; he talks a little fast, but lectures are a pretty good pace; definitely knows what he's talking about; some of the readings were missing a page or so and some of them were uploaded out of order which made things very confusing, but the reading materials themselves were good; really good professor; helpful; concerned with student learning; definitely go into office hours— he's a professor you want to get to know; good lectures; must do readings because pop-quizzes, reading material is uploaded so you don’t have to purchase anything

A good professor, an interesting class, about 3 2 question quizzes that come out during the quarter randomly so its important to look over the readings at least. The exams were multiple choice and some questions are one-sentence answers. Final project include a 10-page paper about an urban planning issue that I urge others not to procrastinate on like me lmao! I also suggest going to the TA's for advice or at least a look through on your topic if you do take this class and have to do this paper. Professor is cool and lecture slides were posted online. Not too many readings, they're mostly news articles and excerpts from books. Overall a light and fun class, highly recommended to go to lectures.

I took this course during my first quarter here, because it sounded like an interesting GE to take.

The exact scope of the course is difficult to define. Every lecture (and the readings that accompany it) is focused on a specific abstract concept and its relation to architecture. The readings are highly diverse and can get quite abstract; this is where the lectures come in. Professor Osman is a tremendous lecturer, equal parts insightful and humorous. More than once I was befuddled by a reading only to have it perfectly explained by Osman in the next lecture.

Each week, you will have to write a brief (approximately one page) reading response. I found these slightly arduous, and they require you to be very concise, but they became easier as the quarter went on.

The midterm and final are very straightforward. If you understand the concepts introduced in the lectures, you are unlikely to run into trouble.

Overall, this is an interesting GE to take. The readings can seem quite confusing and dense at times, and they are not typically quick. But Osman’s tremendous lectures clear it all up and make for a fun course.

Took this as a GE after dropping out of two other classes (so i joined this class after two weeks) but i loved the decision. Professor Osman is a very engaging, caring, interactive, fun lecturer. Although there is a lot of reading to do in this class, eventually you learn how to skim and read and note only the important stuff. Sometimes he would go off topic (which wasn't always a bad thing) and if that meant he rushed through the last few slides, he ensured to brief them the next lecture. I would highly recommend anyone who id ready to put in a little effort to take this class. His midterm and final is not very difficult if you know your main important slides. He is not bent on failing students, rather will make sure he picks the most important, lengthy discussed slide so everyone has some idea even if they blank out.
His midterm and final cover completely different portions so even if the first half of the class is a little difficult, you can easily catch up in the second half. we have to submit weekly reading reviews that need not be very long (my TA wanted exactly one page,double spaces, point 12) and is not very difficult. you also dont HAVE to do all.

overall the only thing not satisfactory about this class was that sometimes the readings were posted a little late (especially at the end of the class near thanksgiving break) so i could not go through them when i has planned to earlier in the week. Other than that, make sure you have a good understanding with your TA and it is an amazing class.

Especially in the first quarter, this class was pretty heavy on the "buildings" and light on the "climate": it was a lot of architectural history and some thermo/architecture/design stuff. I thought this class was pretty boring, but the readings are skimmable and you can honestly skip a lot of lectures and be fine, since there weren't any exams when I took it. Your experience is heavily dependent on your TA - I had Luciana and I think there was a common consensus among the class that no one wanted to be there (including her) but it felt like she was on our side.
Winter quarter was pretty boring and almost everyone I knew skipped most of the lectures. Spring quarter was dependent on the seminar you took - I took the one about sensory cognition and really enjoyed it.

Great lecturer, one who cares about the subject.

About 10 hours of reading per week. The readings are philosophical and difficult to understand sometimes but the lectures help!

It was helpful to read prior to lectures or a day afterwards to solidify understanding of weekly themes and remember them in the long-run. Recalling things from readings will be necessary on the midterm and final so it's good to have a strong understanding of the readings.

I kept up with the readings for the most part and reviewed my lecture notes/connected weekly themes a couple days before the midterm/final.

My advice is to keep up with the readings, cramming before the final because falling behind even on a couple readings was a stress fest 10th week.

Also, his final is 10th week so it can be good (focus on other finals 11th week) or bad (less time to study).

Final grade: A-