The boundaries of what might be regarded as a legitimate object of study are being constantly interrogated and expanded. Rather than dealing with history, architecture and the city exclusively through buildings and methodological classifications, History and Critical Thinking in Architecture attempts to transform these into distinct resources through which historical and political processes, spatial configurations and built forms can be analysed and better understood. The programme is a unique platform for engagement with the contemporary through critical enquiry into history and the politics of historiography.

Writing is essential, both as a practice of thinking and a tool of communication. Different modes of writing – theses, essays, short experimental pieces, critical reviews, commentaries, book proposals and interviews – are explored to articulate the various aspects of study. Seminars with members of staff, as well as distinguished practitioners from different backgrounds – historians, critics, writers, designers, artists and curators – bring a diversity of perspectives and skills to the programme. Architectural writings, philosophical and political thought, ecology, literature, drawings, photographs and film are introduced and considered in analysing the connections between the textual, the visual and the graphic. The aim is to be able to explore, adopt and adapt elements of these disciplines and practices in one’s own writing, while preserving one’s own voice.

The ambitions of the programme are three-fold: to explore writings of history and the ways in which social, political and cultural aspirations shape particular accounts of architectural and urban modernity; to connect current debates and projects with a wider milieu and interpret the contemporary from a historical, critical and cross-disciplinary point of view; to investigate technologies of research, production and knowledge distribution in relation to architectural practices and public cultures in the context of recent cultural and geo-political changes.