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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Architecture - History

Undergraduate Course: Architectures of Socialism (ARHI10045)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course surveys the urban and architectural legacy of socialist systems from a global perspective.
Course description This course surveys the urban and architectural legacy of socialist systems from a global perspective. Beginning in the early twentieth century with the October Revolution, it traces the development of architecture in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and other territories throughout the twentieth century and up to the present. The aim of the course is to explore the vast and understudied built environment produced by state socialism, thereby mapping a history of architecture in the twentieth century that complements and corrects received narratives about the relationship of socialism to the built environment. It will address topics including: the radical social mission of early socialist projects for architecture and the city; the development of an enriched, monumental approach to architecture and urbanism during the Stalin Era; the diffusion of socialist architectural paradigms throughout Eastern Europe, China, and elsewhere; collaboration and competition among socialist architectural systems and the capitalist world; and relationships between socialist architectural culture and the developing world. Through case studies drawn from Moscow, Berlin, Kiev, Havana, Aswan (Egypt), Beijing, Hanoi, Pyongyang, and others, the course asks students to consider the proposition that there were - and perhaps may still be - distinct architectures of socialism.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed ( Architectural History 1 (ARHI08005) OR Architectural History 1A: From Antiquity to Enlightenment (ARHI08001) AND Architectural History 1B: Revivalism to Modernism (ARHI08004) OR Architectural History: Introduction to World Architecture (ARCH08003) AND Architectural History: Revivalism to Modernism (ARCH08005) OR Architectural History 1A: Introduction to World Architecture (ARHI08009) AND Architectural History 1B: Revivalism to Modernism (ARHI08004)) AND ( Architectural History 2a: Order & the City (ARHI08006) OR Architectural History 2b: Culture & the City (ARHI08007))
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements Students should normally have passed at least 60 credits of Architectural History or History of Art/History courses at Level 8. If the pre-requisites cannot be met, entry to this course can be negotiated in consultation with either the Course Organiser or Programme Director (Architectural History).
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Develop an understanding of the impact of socialist systems on the global built environment.
  2. Develop an understanding of current scholarship on the architectures of socialism.
  3. Develop a critical understanding of the relationship between modernization and architectural paradigms in both advanced capitalist and socialist worlds.
Reading List
Åman, Anders. Architecture and Ideology in Eastern Europe during the Stalin Era: An Aspect of Cold War history. New York, 1992.

Anderson, Richard. Russia: Modern Architectures in History. London, 2015.

Bocharov, Iu. P., L. V. Baldin, and N. F. Gulianitskii, eds. Arkhitektura SSSR, 1917-1987. Moscow, 1987.

Kulic, Vladimir, Maroje Mrduljaés, and Wolfgang Thaler. Modernism in-between: the mediatory architectures of Socialist Yugoslavia. Berlin, 2012.

Ritter, Katharina, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermeir, Dietmar Steiner, and Alexandra Wachter. "Soviet Modernism 1955-1991: Unknown History." In Architektur Zentrum Wien, 358 p. Zurich: Park Books, 2012.

Zhu, Jianfei. Architecture of Modern China: A Historical Critique. London, 2009.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Develops skills in personal and intellectual autonomy. Enhances skills in knowledge and understanding of the history of architecture.
Keywordsarchitecture,socialism
Contacts
Course organiserDr Richard Anderson
Tel: (131 6)50 8204
Email: Richard.P.Anderson@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Ellie Wallace
Tel: (0131 6)50 2309
Email: Ellie.Wallace@ed.ac.uk
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