MA Architectural History Started in 1981, the MA in Architectural History (AH) is the UK’s longest established Masters course in the historical and critical interpretation of architecture. Over the past twenty five years the course has been continually developed and revised, prioritising the exploration of new and existing methodologies and critical theories as they might be applied to the study of architecture and cities. Rather than dealing with architecture solely through the work of famous individuals, stylistic classification or normative categories, the course locates architecture within social, ideological, creative, political and urban processes, and in doing so explores the boundaries of what might be regarded as legitimate architectural objects of study, and of the interpretations which might be made of them. The main focus of the course is on architecture and cities of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, but to provide a perspective on the events and interpretation of this period occasional reference is made to a wider range of historical material. The main teaching mode is the seminar, supplemented by lectures from internal staff and visitors, building and gallery visits, video and film screenings, group working and one-toone tutorials. The Architectural History & Theory section of the Bartlett also organises public lectures by distinguished visiting speakers, focusing on the intersection of historical and critical theory with different kinds of architectural practice, as well as a PhD seminars and conferences on advanced architectural historical and critical method. The course is for architects already qualified or who are in the process of qualification, and for graduates of other disciplines such as art history, history, geography or anthropology who wish to develop a specialist knowledge of architectural history or acquire a foundation for research in the history of architecture. The student cohort comprises home, EU and overseas participants.
The MA Architectural History provides skills in the historical and critical techniques for the research and critique of any architectural subject. A student having completed the course will be equipped to undertake research in the history or criticism of architecture, and to evaluate work done in that field. The culmination of the course is a supervised research project, undertaken on a topic of the student’s choice, the outcome of which is a 10,000 word report. The following students, listed with the title of their reports, graduated in 2009: *Wesley Aelbrecht Architecture and Ethnography in the Slums of Lisbon: a Study of Participation in the Films of Pedro Costa, 1997–2006. Kristina Desman Back in Europe. Exhibitions of Slovenian Architecture Abroad 2004–2009. Amy Frearson Mediating Robin Hood, A Study of Robin Hood Gardens in Media Discourse. Madeleine Helmer A Walk in the Garden: Gertrude Jekyll’s Munstead Wood. *Justin Smith Sundays in October: Texas Prison Rodeo and Huntsville Prison Stadium. A Monograph of Power. Susannah Stopford ‘The Uncanny’ Effect: Paris, 1919 and the Photographic Work of Eugène Atget.
* = Commended as outstanding.