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AH4014: ARCHITECTURE AND POWER (2024-2025)

Last modified: 27 Aug 2024 11:46


Course Overview

Architecture can be a synonym for power. Castles that loom over the landscape, the country house and its links with the British Empire and the Victorian prisons designed to incarcerate and extinguish hope. This course takes a thematic approach to the history of architecture to examine the institutions that define our landscapes and cities. Far from being neutral blocks of stone, brick and wood, the architecture of power is designed to define the ways we navigate the world, to intimidate and to reinforce institutions and power structures.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 4
Term First Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Karl Kinsella

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Either Programme Level 4 or Programme Level 5
  • Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

Architecture defines how we live our lives, from the way we queue in an airport to the houses we grew up in. These buildings exert power across political, social and economic spheres. To study the relationship between architecture and power, means that the towns, cities and houses that we see and visit become an opportunity to study the past through the lens of power.

Architecture and Power will introduce students to the study of architecture and the social and political power structures in British history that defines our built environment. We will draw on case studies of prisons, country houses, castles, banks, churches and other representative examples to determine the role of architecture in the projection of power across landscapes and our urban spaces. Of particular importance will be the relationship between colonial power and its direct influence on British architecture up to the early 20th century. Aberdeen’s own history will be a central part of our discussion and contextualised against the backdrop of wider changes to British society. We will study examples from the Middle Ages to the modern period, along with the theories of power and space that can help us understand the world around us.

One or more field trips will form part of the teaching schedule, where students will get the opportunity to study architecture in person and to ask their own questions of the buildings that interest them.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

3,500-word Essay.

Written feedback will be provided plus follow-up verbal feedback if required.

Word Count 3500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualUnderstandDemonstrate an understanding of the link between architecture and power from the late Middle Ages to the 21st century.
FactualApplyDemonstrate an awareness of the role social and political institutions play in the construction of the modern countryside and cities through class discussion and measured through written assessments.
ProceduralEvaluateDevelop ability to search for and critically evaluate relevant primary and secondary sources.

Article / Book Review

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 30
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

2,500-word Article / Book Review.

Written feedback will be provided plus follow-up verbal feedback if required.

Assessment in week 8 of teaching; feedback in week 11.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualUnderstandDemonstrate an understanding of the link between architecture and power from the late Middle Ages to the 21st century.
FactualApplyDemonstrate an awareness of the role social and political institutions play in the construction of the modern countryside and cities through class discussion and measured through written assessments.

Poster and Presentation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks 5 Feedback Weeks 8

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided plus follow-up verbal feedback if required.

Assessment in week 5 of teaching; feedback in week 8.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualUnderstandDemonstrate an understanding of the link between architecture and power from the late Middle Ages to the 21st century.
FactualApplyDemonstrate an awareness of the role social and political institutions play in the construction of the modern countryside and cities through class discussion and measured through written assessments.
ProceduralEvaluateDevelop ability to search for and critically evaluate relevant primary and secondary sources.

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
FactualApplyDemonstrate an awareness of the role social and political institutions play in the construction of the modern countryside and cities through class discussion and measured through written assessments.
ProceduralEvaluateDevelop ability to search for and critically evaluate relevant primary and secondary sources.
ConceptualUnderstandDemonstrate an understanding of the link between architecture and power from the late Middle Ages to the 21st century.

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