CORE MODULES:
Semester one:
DESIGN PROJECT 1
You will be asked to formulate a conceptual strategy at an urban scale that engages with issues of cultural identity and globalisation in the city. You will work both individually and collaboratively within a group. The project will be based on a different topic of investigation each year, and will respond to current concerns about architecture within a specific urban and cultural context, as well as its broader global context.
THEORIES OF IDENTITY, CULTURE AND GLOBALISATION
The aim of the module is to introduce you to the notion of the ‘culturally sensitive designer’. A series of lectures and seminars will serve as a broad introduction to those discourses dealing with issues of cultural identity and globalisation, and which have a particular relationship to architecture. In addition to discussing the way in which architects and designers have engaged cultural identity through their work, the module will draw upon the discipline of Cultural Studies as major reference for theoretical ideas.
THESIS DEVELOPMENT
This module prepares you for the subsequent Major Thesis Project by introducing research issues and themes, and covers research methods, analysis, agenda, concept and strategy. You will undertake a series of short projects (both creative and written) throughout the module.
Semester two:
DESIGN PROJECT 2
This module focuses on a site-specific design project examining the nature and meaning of cultural identity and globalisation in spatial and material terms. You will develop methodologies, visual ‘languages’ and programmatic strategies that result in a design project of considerable conceptual, formal, spatial, and material resolution. You will work individually, and your project will be based on a different topic of investigation each year, responding to current concerns about architecture within a specific urban and cultural context, as well as its broader global context. This module is linked with the international field trip, in which the site is usually located.
REPRESENTATIONS OF DIASPORA, CULTURAL IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE
This module focuses on diasporic communities and explores their representation and cultural practice in the city. Student-based seminars will enable you to explore your individual responses to the given brief. You will be introduced to the discipline of anthropology from which you will utilise methods that allow a deep understanding of particular communities, their complex cultural contexts, and their relationship with the built environment.
Semester three:
MAJOR THESIS PROJECT
The module specifically deals with the research, development, exploration, synthesis and conclusion of your chosen area of study for your Major Thesis Project. It is important to note that the Major Thesis Project can take a form that is design-based or text-based, depending on your choice. The course of study for the Thesis Development module will as a consequence depend also on the type/format of research methods that you are evolving for your thesis project.