Overview

Started in 1981, the MA Architectural History at the Bartlett School of Architecture is the UK's longest established and best known master's course in the historical, theoretical and critical interpretation of architecture, cities, urban spaces, creative practices and of their representations.

Over the past 30 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 exclusively through the work of famous individuals, landmark buildings, stylistic classification or normative categories, the course locates architecture within social, ideological, creative, political, theoretical and urban processes. In doing so, it explores the boundaries of what might be regarded as legitimate architectural objects of study, and the interpretations that might be made of them.

The student cohort of 15-18 individuals comprises a dynamic mix of UK, EU and international participants from all parts of the world.

The course also benefits greatly from being situated within an extensive graduate and research environment, including the presence of a very large cohort of PhD students in the MPhil/PhD Architectural History and Theory and MPhil/PhD Architectural Design programmes, as well as a similarly extensive range of faculty members with interests in architectural history and theory. The latter include, among others, Dr Jan Birksted, Professor Iain Borden, Dr Ben Campkin, Professor Adrian Forty, Professor Murray Fraser, Professor Jonathan Hill, Professor Frédéric Migayrou, Dr Barbara Penner, Dr Peg Rawes, Professor Jane Rendell and Dr Tania Sengupta. Students on the MA Architectural History are thus immersed in one of the world's largest and most innovative centres for architectural history and theory, and are able to engage in innumerable seminars, research presentations and other events.

Located in the centre of London, MA Architectural History students also benefit from a huge range of research, study and personal opportunities, from the dynamism of the city itself as one of the foremost global centres of architectural and urban culture, to the use of extensive libraries and other research facilities, to the opportunity to enjoy innumerable public exhibitions, conferences, lectures, debates, film screening and other events.

Programme Objectives

The course is intended for architects who have already qualified or are in the process of qualification, and also 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 this area.

The main focus of the course is on architecture and cities of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, although occasional reference is also made to a wider range of historical material. Buildings, texts, architects, films, drawings, maps, plans, paintings and other representations and creative practices are all critically interpreted.

The main teaching mode is the seminar, supplemented by lectures from internal staff and visitors, as well as building and gallery visits in London and further afield, video and film screenings, group working and one-to-one tutorials.

The Bartlett's Architectural History & Theory team 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 methods.

The MA Architectural History provides a comprehensive overview of the subject, in terms of both the objects of study examined and the various methodologies which can be used to interpret architecture and disseminate work in the field. The modules combine advanced-level seminars and other structured teaching events with innovative student-led work. The final report (dissertation) provides students with an opportunity to conduct their own original research into a specific subject of their own choosing.

Contact details:

Programme Director, Professor Adrian Forty, send an email

Programme Administrator, send an email

Structure

MA Architectural History students must complete and pass 180 credits, made up of 120 credits of approved taught modules, and 60 credits of the Architectural History Report with Oral Examination. The 120 credits of approved taught modules must contain at least 90 credits from the course curriculum - a further 30 credits may be chosen from other UCL graduate programmes, on condition that the student has the agreement of both the course director, and the co-ordinator of the module the student wishes to take.

Compulsory Modules

BENVGAH5 Critical Methodologies of Architectural History
Credits: 30
Assessment: Coursework Term 1

BENVGAH3 Research and Dissemination of Architectural History Credits: 30
Assessment: Coursework Term 1

Optional Modules

BENVGAH1 Architecture in 19th-and 20th-Century Britain
Credits: 30
Assessment: Coursework Term 2

BENVGAH2 Representations of Cities
Credits: 30
Assessment: Coursework Term 2

BENVGAH4 Theorising Practices: Architecture, Art and Urbanism Credits: 30
Assessment: Coursework Term 2

Please note, only two optional modules are normally offered in any one academic year. Prospective students particularly wishing to study one specific option module should discuss with the course director in advance the likely availability of that module for their intended year of study.

Report

BENVGBE2 Architectural History Report with Oral Examination
Credits: 60
Assessment: Report (dissertation) + short Oral Examination Term 3 and summer vacation

Content

BENVGAH5 Critical Methodologies of Architectural History reviews the range of methods and approaches open to the architectural historian, critic and theorist, as well as the traditions from which each derives, and the controversies around them. Through a weekly seminar, students read and discuss works by a variety of architectural historians (e.g. Çelik, Colomina, Vidler and Wölfflin) and texts by authors including Barthes, Freud and Hegel on the theory of history and aesthetics. They also consider issues such as gender, semiology, psychoanalysis, theories of technology, phenomenology and postcolonialism in relation to architectural history. 

BENVGAH3 Research and Dissemination of Architectural History complements the more theoretical and historical modules of the MA Architectural History programme by examining some of the more practical aspects of research, development and application. The module investigates a variety of ways of working with, researching and communicating architectural history in order to allow different kinds of information, interpretations and audiences to be addressed. A series of weekly lectures and assignments explores alternative methods of researching (archives, photographs and imagery, oral history, internet and digital sources) and communicating (teaching courses, journalism, exhibitions, policy, radio and media broadcasting).

BENVGAH1 Architecture in 19th- and 20th-Century Britain examines a range of built work in London and Oxford, and asks what kinds of historical and critical judgements can be developed from encounters with buildings. Works studied in any one year might include such projects as Barry's Reform Club, Tecton's Finsbury Health Centre and Jacobsen's St Catherine’s College Oxford, for example. Students gain a specific knowledge of these particular buildings and of the wider historical context in which they have been produced and interpreted. Students also gain greater awareness of the challenges and opportunities presented to architectural history by encounters with the built fabric, as distinct from other available forms of evidence.

BENVGAH2 Representations of Cities reviews the variety of ways in which cities have been conceptualised in recent urban and cultural theory. It introduces how the city can be understood as a set of differing cultural experiences: experiences of time, space, social identity, artistic interventions etc. Methodologically, the module introduces some of the main architectural and critical theories - such as the work of Baudrillard, Benjamin, de Certeau, Debord, Deleuze, Derrida, Habermas, Le Corbusier, Lefebvre, Rossi, Simmel and Tschumi - relating to the experience of the city. In particular, the category of social space is introduced as an important concept which mediates between different disciplines, and links thinkers who have considered the intersection of buildings, cities and people.

BENVGAH4 Theorising Practices: Architecture, Art and Urbanism examines critical architectural and creative practices from an interdisciplinary perspective. In particular, it explores the relationship between the different practices of architecture, art and urbanism, the relationship between critical theories from an interdisciplinary perspective, and the relationship between practice and theory. A wide range of practices and projects are investigated, both contemporary and historical, from architecture to landscape, and from performance art to urban design. 

BENVGBE2 Architectural History Report with Oral Examination requires students following the MA Architectural History to submit a 10,000-word report (dissertation) on a subject agreed with the teaching staff. Students choose a subject lying within the scope of the syllabus, making use of the techniques and methods taught in the course. Examples of recent reports include:

• Architecture and the Ear: the Aural Experience of Travelling on the London Underground
• Italy and Albania: Architectural Encounters in the Fascist Age, 1925-1944
• The Ladies' Gallery: Life and Death of a Gendered Space in the House of Commons
• Line, Text, Silence and Scale: Reading the Raven Maps of Londonderry, 1622
• Ziggurats for Bureaucrats: Sir Leslie Martin's 1965 Whitehall Plan
• Is There Such a Thing as the Modern Detail?
• Szczecin: Formation of a New Identity after World War II

A full list of reports by all students on the MA Architectural History can be found here.

Staff

The MA Architectural History programme draws upon the full range of expertise offered by the Bartlett School of Architecture’s extensive team of professors and lecturers working in the field.

Between them, these staff represent some of the world’s most respected historians and theorists of architecture, producing both substantial scholarly work at the centre and highly innovative work at the leading edge of the field.

As experienced teachers, these staff also lead seminars, give lectures, offer one-to-one tutorials and engage directly with the students on the MA Architectural History.

Staff teaching on the programme currently include:

Professor Adrian Forty
Programme Director
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Professor Iain Borden
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Dr Ben Campkin
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Professor Murry Fraser
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Dr Barbara Penner
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Dr Peg Rawes
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Professor Jane Rendell
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Applying

Application procedures, fees, funding and scholarships

For information, please see the faculty admissions information here.

Programme-specific information follows below.

AHRC Award

For those wishing to be considered for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research Preparation Master's Award (only UK and EU applicants are eligible) applications must be received by 31 January in the calendar year in which they wish to commence study. Applicants wishing to be considered for the AHRC award should indicate this on their application and inform the programme director.

Prior qualifications

A good second-class honours degree (or its equivalent) in an appropriate subject is required for entry onto the programme. In addition, you are expected to demonstrate some understanding of the issues facing historical and critical enquiry into architecture, and to give evidence of a high level of commitment to advanced study in the history and/or theory of architecture and cities.

Contact

Should you have any questions about this programme, please contact the Programme Administrator or the Programme Director.

Opportunities

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. Graduates of the course have gone on to pursue careers in a wide variety of fields, including:

- Further PhD studies and academia

- Architectural and planning practice

- Journalism, media and television

- Publishing and editorial

- Curatorial, galleries and museums

- Heritage, preservation and conservation

- Politics and policy

- Tourism and leisure

- Film-making, photography and creative practices

Graduates of the MA Architectural History have, for example, gone on to become eminent academics and historians in their own right, as well as partners and practitioners of renowned architectural practices, editors and journalists of architectural publications worldwide, television presenters, gallery curators, policy advisors, members of parliament, and business entrepreneurs in architectural tourism.