Program Overview

Research and Dissemination of Architectural History (BARC0041)

Key Information

• Faculty: UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
• Teaching department: Bartlett School of Architecture
• Credit value: 30
• Restrictions: Restricted to MA Architectural History students

Alternative Credit Options

There are no alternative credit options available for this module.

Description

Content

The module investigates how different ways of researching, working, and communicating architectural history allow different information to be obtained and different things to be said about the discipline, and different audiences to be reached. Through a programme of lectures and discussion, the module introduces students to a diverse range of ways in which architectural history may be researched, applied, and communicated within and beyond conventional forms of scholarship, and to some of the skills involved. The module addresses more familiar modes of research associated with the architectural historian (such as archival research), through to more experimental modes (such as ethnographic film and sound art practice).

Teaching Delivery

Core teaching is by 10 weekly lecture sessions with discussion, group assignments, presentation/feedback sessions, and a workshop. Lectures are delivered by a combination of internal staff and visiting experts.

Indicative Topics

Topics covered include diverse modes of research within architectural history and associated disciplines, and include:

• Journalism and the interview
• Oral history
• Archival research
• Curatorship
• Ethnographic film
• Community-based and participatory research
• Sonic recording and photography

Module Aims and/or Objectives

Students successfully completing this module gain an increased knowledge of these different areas, and an introduction to the skills involved, helping to bring an awareness to the practical aspects of their research, development, and application. Students also gain a greater awareness of the benefits and challenges such activities offer to the discipline of architectural history and opportunities for the development and dissemination of research beyond academia. The module has a vocational dimension through its regular contact with visiting professionals with knowledge of diverse fields of practice and of the role of architectural research within institutions. The module is also aimed to give students a rich experience of researching collaboratively through different methods and across different sites in the city.

Recommended Readings

A range of optional, additional reading is recommended, including:

• David MacDougall, The Corporeal Image: Film, Ethnography, and the Senses (Princeton, N.J.; Oxford: Princeton UP, 2005)
• Emilie de Brigard "The History of Ethnographic Film," in Principles of Visual Anthropology, edited by Paul Hockings (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2003)
• Andrew Higgot and Timothy Wray (eds.) Camera Constructs (Ashgate, 2012)
• Isaac Marrero-Guillamón and Hilary Powell (eds), The Art of Dissent: Adventures in London's Olympic State (London, Marshgate Press, 2012)
• Ralph Rugoff (ed) Scene of the Crime (MIT Press, 1997)
• Sarah Chaplin and Alexandra Stara (eds) Curating Architecture and the City (London, Routledge, 2009)
• Brandon LaBelle and Claudia Martinho Site of Sound: Of Architecture and the Ear (Los Angeles/Berlin, Errant Bodies Press, 2011)

Module Deliveries for 2026/27 Academic Year

Intended Teaching Term

• Term 1
• Postgraduate (FHEQ Level 7)

Teaching and Assessment

• Mode of study: Online
• Methods of assessment: 100% Coursework
• Mark scheme: Numeric Marks

Other Information

• Number of students on module in previous year: 20
• Module leader: Dr Robin Wilson