This class provides you an insight to the discipline of architecture. Some of the materials are really challenging and takes a lot of time to fully comprehend, if you are really interested in the subject. Otherwise you can just understand the key ideas of each reading (and the title, author and the architectural concepts), plus paying 100% attention to the lectures. You need to write a reading response every week, plus a midterm and a final.
In order to get good grades, there're a lot of memorization and it was kind of overwhelming. The prof will ask you to write very specific details of a work from many many works you've learned (like the year of a work, or its relation with another one)
I can be your TUTOR and point out which concepts you actually need to memorize for exams, and also help with the reading responses, help with the reading. I got near perfect score from this class and still memorizes the class very well, so A PLUS is GUARANTEED ! Text me at 4243755809 (Mike)!

There are a lot of readings! Plus, it's really confusing...at the start. It took a while to get use to the material, but once I started to take notes on each reading and lecture in my own words, everything started to make sense. Looking at the grade spread, I can't believe that in Fall of 2015 I was 1 of like 2/3 who got an A+. That's why I want to help my fellow bruins and sell copies of my notes that I used to ace the class. I am selling them for $20, and you can text me at 408-438-8449. The class, overall, is very interesting but I spent so many hours trying to comprehend the different concepts. So trust me when I say my notes are going to save you probably dozens of hours trying to understand this class.

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-

definitely take this, easy and interesting. professor seemed like a genuinely good guy n wants class to get A's...take notes during class like mad..he posts all the slides that u need to know for the exams so be prepared to write on those and u'll get an A. u don't need to do the reading.

ARCH&UD 30 is your typical class of lecture slide and readings responses. Professor Michael Osman is very engaged in teaching and he is very passionate about every single details of the class. Sometimes it might feel fragmented as Osman switches topics constantly, but if you like architecture, I can assure that you find no problem to overcome.

The biggest problem with this class is how it is FULLY dependant to your TA, it does not matter how good you are in lecture, if your TA doesn't like your writing style, you are screwed. We submit a reading response weekly which contributes to a large proportion of your grade. Readings varies, interesting or full. Some TAs are more oriented to responses as some are to analysis. Make sure you know what your TA wants.

Reading response is your key to get good at this class, I am selling my reading response for $5 each to let you take reference. You can use them to get a good concept on what the readings are about. Feel free to contact 508-714-1399 if you are interested.

super easy A. just take really good notes and regurgitate on exam. don't need to do reading..book was def waste of 100 bucks. he's also very passionate and a fun lecturer.

It was easy to just ramble on the papers and get check plus grades on them. I had Rebecca, the Asian TA, and she always gave me check pluses on my papers and midterm. I really don't understand how people get checks and check minuses as the papers only require you to put some sort of an opinion into it to receive that check+ grade.....some people just want to be hand-held through "easy" GEs.

The second half of the course was foggy because I started to not care about the course as much after I found out how easy it was to bs the tests, but I still got an A in the end.

Yes, Osman did have his own psychological BS thing going on, but to be honest, this course seemed pretty free reined in that you could say whatever popped into your mind and as long as you could back it up, you were never really wrong.

Pros: Easy to bs, easy HW, easy material
Cons: No slides provided online (you had to take pictures of the slides shown in class), short time crunch on tests, and the reader was a waste of money

Note: Rebecca is the harder TA who will yell at you if you attempt to take photos during review sessions. Plus she likes to sit back and watch people debate in discussion.

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.