Prof. Wittman is highly knowledgable and clearly puts effort into teaching. His lectures were fascinating and suffused with an enjoyably dry sense of humor. I recommend attending his office hours - you'll learn a lot; just make sure to have questions prepared. He does try to stuff a ton of details into lectures, though, so be prepared for that!

I took this as a GE and I honestly really enjoyed it. The lectures were basically just looking a cool buildings for an hour and Wittman did a good enough job of keeping things interesting/relevant. The 2 papers were straightforward and graded fairly, and as long as you try to understand & use the terminology you'll be fine.

If you want to fulfill a GE, take another class.

Amazing lectures. Very interesting lecture materials explained in detail. Requires u to listen carefully otherwise u wont be able to follow. Exams are weird and hard. I paid a lot of effort on the exams. Hard class but interesting.

interesting lecture but a hard exam.

I took ARTHI6F reluctantly to fill an art GE, and I was blown away with how interesting the class and subject are. It may just be personal preference but some of the things discussed in class were incredibly interesting and eye-opening. All reading is online, there are 2 papers, one midterm, and the final. Very cool class and prof.

Thought it would be interesting but nope. Long lectures where he rambled on trying to squeeze as many concepts as he can in 75 minutes. Attendance is mandatory with a sign in sheet passed around in lecture. Only good thing was that all readings were PDF files no bookreader. It was just overall very boring and difficult DO NOT take for GE

Attendance is mandatory. Lectures are god awful long. Never stops lecturing the entire period. Is kind of full of himself. Wrote two papers on architecture on campusin SB. Midterms are easy if you read the bookgo to class, same for the final. Make flashcards for the IDs. Will come out ahead if you know the dates of all structures.

tough class , attendance and reading is mandatory.

Lot of reading and memorization. You have to be there every day or else you won't understand anything . Lectures are all just pictures . Professor has high standards, tests are extremely tough as well as the grading . Acts contemptuous . do not recommend taking this class

I took two of Prof. Wittman's classes last quarter and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. The classes are no walk in a park, haha, but they are far from impossible. He is an engaging and interesting prof. although the lectures can become dense and daunting. Definitely take his courses if you are at all interested in architecture.

Fast lecturer, hard to keep up with topics. He jumps around from one idea to another making it confusing to follow. He acts snobbish to students . tests are harshly graded . Would not take this class again for credits . Avoid at all costs

He is a good guy. But an impossible professor. His tests are so difficult. I did all the readings, and payed attention in every class. Still got a D. The questions on the test make little sense. You'll be doing a lot of comparing of two buildings. You have to come up with things on your own, chances are you will be sorely wrong. I would avoid.

personally condescending towards students. unclear, very high expectations. harsh grading. do not take this class if you need credits!

asking for a lot for a class that doesn't cover GE's. perhaps because of Harvard background, hard grader for essays and material is very dense

Most interesting class I have taken at UCSB. He speaks very well, is very knowledgeable, and provides a good course curriculum. He has a website where he posts all the readings and additional material but he still makes you go to class and sign an attendance sheet. Even so, 1010 would recommend.

DO not take him if you are just taking art for a GE. He takes it way too seriously. Lectures and sections are mandatory. He does have homework. And tests don't actually test if you understand the concepts, but instead if you memorized obscure architects names and dates. Overall, a horrible class for anyone who isn't an art history major.

Wittman is awesome. His lectures are like listening to someone tell a story so the material is actually presented in an interesting and memorable way. He is really passionate about the subject matter and knows the topics really well. I would really like to take another course with him.

Great professor. He knows his stuff, and you can tell that he is passionate. There is no homework, and the tests are all memorization. If you are remotely interested in buildings/architecture at all, I recommend taking this class.

He is AWESOME. A great, very intelligent, clear lecturer, and funny. If you go to class, and pay attention (I didn't even take notes), you will pass. He provides every lecture (with pictures and text) online, and the readings are free PDFs! This is a great class, and he makes it interesting and challenging, but very easy to pass.

Professor Wittman is HANDS DOWN one of the top lecturers at UCSB (or anywhere). He takes clarity to a new level; so thorough and so in depth but easy to stay with it if you pay attention. He provides all the readings for free. The course content (french public sphere/architecture) was fascinating. I HIGHLY recommend taking a course with him

Great lecturer. Very intelligent and knowledgable about subject matter. Presented the material in a clear, organized, and interesting way. Attendance during lecture was mandatory. Exams (midterm and final) were straightforward, and essay questions were given out before the day of the exam. Slide IDs were on both exams.

Great lecturer, used lots of awesome visual aids. Exams directly correlated to lectures. Readings were supplementary to lectures. Attendance required. One of my favorite profs here. Do recommend!

Good at lectures keeps it interesting but tests are not reasonable. Expects students to write 5 essays and 10 identifications in one hr and 15 min. Gets someone to grade tests, which leads to you get things wrong on tests that should be acceptable.