Cultural Context

Essay Brief

School of Architecture: Project Brief

Programme: Architecture

Award: Bachelor of Architecture with Honours

Stage: (1,2,3,4,PG) 2

Project Title: Essay

Duration: Term 3

Issue Date: Thursday, 28 January 2010

Interim Crits/

Tutorials:

Students needing advice can consult tutors by

appointment

Submission Date: Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Minimum Required

Output:

An illustrated and fully referenced essay about

2000 words long

Tutors: Ian Campbell and Margaret Stewart

Module Ref: AR080006

Module Title: Architectural Theories and Philosophies

LEARNING OUTCOMES CONTRIBUTED TO BY THIS PROJECT

LOs Description

1

display awareness and understanding of key

aspects of one or more of the

philosophies/ideologies discussed in the lectures.

2 display critical faculty in discussing a key aspect of

the module

3 display skills in writing and verbal communication.

INSTRUCTIONS

Write an Essay of around 2000 words chosen from list below. Deadline

Wednesday 3 June, 1700. To be submitted by Moodle. Name your document in

the following fashion: campbellccx2002essay.doc. File formats: Word documents

or pdfs. Not .wps.

For guidance on writing see the Student Services online guide:

https://eportal.eca.ac.uk/subsites/artofessay/index.htm

Remember that Harvard style (author-date) text references and bibliographies are

now standard for academic writing across eca. Remember that you should

support quotations, both direct and indirect, and paraphrases of an author’s

views by a text reference. You will be marked down if you do not follow these

conventions.

ESSAY TITLES

Can architects maintain the integrity of an urban fabric, without resorting

to pastiche? Discuss with especial reference to contemporary examples in

Edinburgh.

Analyse a building or area known to you personally using either a

Structuralist, a Deconstructionist or a Phenomenological approach.

Choose one or more of the writers from the reading list and discuss one or

more of their writings in relation to architecture or urban design. Include at

least three quotes in your essay, and show how well (or not) they can be

applied to our understanding of the built environment, giving specific

examples.

Compare and contrast the theories and works of the 18th-century

Rationalists with those of the 20th-century Rationalists.

Using two or three examples from any periods of history, discuss how the

architects have responded to the particularity of place from a

phenomenological perspective.

Analyse a specific building, or group of buildings, that you have direct

knowledge of, according to one of the following perspectives:

Rationalism/Phenomenology/Structuralism/Semiotics/Deconstruction/Sustai

nability

Is Phenomenology too subjective an undertaking to have any place in the

creation of a social architecture? Explain the difficulties and possible

approaches

Is Sustainability the new grand narrative for architecture?

Do Architectural Conservation and Environmental Conservation share a

common agenda or are their aims in opposition?

If none of these appeals you can propose another title to your tutor but must get

their agreement before writing.