Really good professor, passionate and enthusiastic. Class was at 8:30 am twice a week, and I went to every single one. Easy class, just make sure to pay attention in lecture and read/skim the course reader as much as possible. Had Claudia as a TA, she was really good and tried to help us understand the material. Organization of material is through themes which at first seems weird, but once he starts teaching it makes a lot of sense. Lectures usually took the full Hour and fifteen minutes, but felt much faster.
Highly recommended!

Osman is a great lecturer. He gets super excited and into his lectures, and he pulls you into them even if you aren't interested in the topic. Under another professor I would have hated this class but under Osman I loved it. Plus, 40% of your grade is based on discussion participation and 5 one-page responses, and the final isn't cumulative, so what's not to love?

The class can feel overwhelming at times because he speaks very quickly, but you'll realize that even though he's saying a lot, a lot of the time he's saying the same thing in four different ways to really drive the point home (this sounds boring but it's really not), so it's not a big deal if you only write down half of what he's saying. Also, this is NOT an architecture class: It is a HISTORY and THEORY of architecture class, so keep that in mind when enrolling.

Also, shoutout to my TA, Christina! She was awesome.

I agree with the reviewer below. I really enjoyed this class even though I didnt realize it well into the quarter. Michael is passionate about architecture and this class is like a revelation to me in that it never occurred to me that architecture could deeply change the way we conceive the space in which we live, and the way we interact with space as well as others in the same space. This class is by no means like a survey of different schools of thought in architecture history. This is more about the philosophy behind buildings, thoughts and so on. His lectures are highly organized and in fact, very dense. I went to every one of his 8am lectures and even was only late for once(which is like a miracle to me) simply because I didnt want to miss any bit of his lecture!

Easily one of the best lecturers I've had. You can tell when he's excited about something because he geeks out, jumping up and down, waving his arms and shouting in exclamation. Like the other reviewers said, go to class, take notes, and learn to discuss two juxtaposed pieces of work. The TA's will usually have a review session before the midterm and final. Tip: you don't actually have to buy the reader if you're willing to do a little digging in the libraries and online for excerpts, but it's much less of a headache to just buy it.

Some people have said this course was not what they were expecting when they read "Introduction to Architectural Studies." These people were likely those who had preconceived notions of what architecture was and refused to let go. A not-so-small hint: it's not about "buildings." Engineers can do buildings (so why do we need architects?). Architecture is more about the way we think, talk about, and represent them. Drop your preconceptions and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'm not very good at architecture, so this class wasn't an easy A for me, but I can see how it would be okay. You have weekly reading assignments and participation in discussion, and one midterm and one final. The final isn't cumulative, which is nice, and he shows you all the slides that might be on the test in review sessions right before the tests, which is helpful too. Osman is very passionate about teaching architecture, but the subject itself is kind of wishy-washy, and your grade also depends a lot on your TA and whether or not he/she likes you.

I agreed with the review below. I thought I was getting into an introductory architecture class but I was deceived. It turned out to be a class about some abstract philosophical ideas loosely related to architecture (ex: air as an architectural material. What???) Your whole grade depends on your TA (I had the Asian TA and I think she hates some of us for no apparent reason).

Each week that I went to class I always came out thinking "What did I learn today again?" You probably don't need to go to class (even if he only shows a bunch of pictures, no notes/ words, rambles rapidly on each slide, and doesn't post anything online), just go to the review session because he (or his TAs) would show every slide that might be on the test.

As for the midterm/ final: You are given 5 pairs of slides (10 in total) and the TAs grade on 4 of them. However, the tricky part is finding the similarities and differences between each pair of slide. This can be tricky because each week the professor focuses on a particular theme (ex: Week 4 nature, week 6 air etc) but you often get 2 slides from different weeks that are paired together. The exams seemed time crunched as you only have 50 minutes to think and write.

It is not a difficult GE but I wouldn't take it. I definitely didn't care whether I remember anything from that class. There are probably betters one (such as DESMA 10 or Music 15) out there.

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!