Birkbeck’s new MA in History of Architecture

We are excited to announce our new MA in History of Architecture. The MA will be launched in October 2019 and is already taking applications for admission. Students can also apply for the Postgraduate Certificate (the core course and one option) or the Postgraduate Diploma (all elements except the dissertation.)

The MA will be located in Birkbeck’s Department of History of Art, which has a long and distinguished tradition of teaching the history of architecture dating back to Nikolaus Pevsner’s time at Birkbeck. The planning for the new MA is part of a series of initiatives in the field of architectural history, which include the rich programme of activities run by the Architecture Space and Society Centre, the appointment of Mark Crinson as Professor of Architectural History, a series of PhD workshops and public events held with the ICA, and a major international conference next year on the relation between the history of architecture and the history of design.

Students on the new MA will choose two option modules on topics such as ‘This is Tomorrow: Architecture and Modernity in Britain and its Empire, 1930-1960’, ‘Space and Politics in Modernity’, ‘Rome: Place, Continuity and Memory’, ‘Gothic in England: Architecture, Liturgy and Identity, 1170-1360’, and ‘Architecture and Spectacle in Late Medieval Europe’. Students take the core course, ‘Frameworks’ alongside students doing the MA in History of Art and MA History of Photography. As well as seminars on key questions of shared interest to these disciplines, it will also discuss issues and methods of current importance in the development of the History of Architecture. Students also undertake two research modules, the Research Project and the Dissertation, on topics of their choice, supervised by subject specialists. The MA can be studied full-time or part-time. As with all Birkbeck’s degree programmes, teaching will take place in the evenings, allowing students to fit their studies around work commitments. Site visits and field trips will draw on the rich built environment of London and beyond.

The MA in History of Architecture draws on top researchers in modern, medieval and early modern architectural history –

Mark Crinson
Zoë Opačić
Leslie Topp
Dorigen Caldwell

For further information, including guidance on applying, see –

MA History of Architecture
PG Certificate History of Architecture
PG Diploma History of Architecture