Undergraduate Course: Architecture and Empire in Britain and the British Colonial World 1783 - 1947 (ARHI10027)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines architecture and urban planning in Britain and the British Empire from the late eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. It considers how architectural ideas were developed and then exported to Britain¿s colonies, where they were then adapted in various ways. The course balances formal analysis with a broader contextual approach that considers how architecture was implicated within wider understandings of power, as well as social and economic change. The themes of this course are of considerable contemporary interest. |
| Course description |
During the nineteenth century Britain amassed the largest territorial empire the world had ever seen. With this expansion came the export of architecture and urban planning, the visual and spatial consequences of which were profound. This course will allow students to gain a thorough understanding of this architecture and its relationship to empire and imperialism. It will examine the formal, spatial, social, and political characteristics of buildings in the context of Britain's global expansion. Examples will be drawn from across Britain and the British colonial world - from England, Scotland, and Ireland to Canada, the Caribbean, India, South-east Asia, Africa, and Australasia. Topics to be considered may include the impact of imperial expansion on British architecture; built landscapes of transatlantic slavery; architecture and power in South Asia; colonial settler architecture and urbanism; relationships between race, architecture, and environment. The course welcomes students from Architectural History, History of Art, History, and cognate disciplines. It is a companion to ARHI10033, Victorian Architecture - Themes and Ideas, but may be taken as a standalone course. No detailed knowledge of nineteenth-century architecture is assumed.
There are two sessions per week of 1 hour 50 minutes each, and attendance at both is expected, plus independent study of c. 8 hours per week. The first taught session will usually consist of a lecture or lecturer-led discussion. The second session will engage directly with the topics of the course as well as specific readings, which students will be expected to do in their independent study time. Your study time will also be devoted to an essay, submitted towards the end of the semester, as well as reading and exam revision. Relevant study skills will be discussed in class.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History of Art/Architectural History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
148 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
40 %,
Coursework
60 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course has 2 assessment components.
1) Essay, 3000 words, 60%, weeks 9-10, relating to Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. A list of essay titles will be posted on the course LEARN site at the start of the semester.
2) Written exam, 2 hours, 40%, December exam diet, relating to Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. You will be asked to choose two essay questions from a list of options on the exam paper. A 16 page answer booklet will be provided.
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| Feedback |
Formative Feedback
Assessment Component 1: Essay
You will submit an essay outline, including a working summary of your intended argument and brief bibliography, for formative feedback in week 5 of the semester. A brief written comment on your submission will be provided in week 7, by the Course Organiser. The feedback will address your proposed structure and argument, and may make additional suggestions for further reading, in time for you to incorporate any suggestions in your final essay submission.
Assessment Component 2: Exam
A revision class will be offered in week 11, summing up the course themes through discussion and group work, and engaging with the exam tasks. Feedback will be offered by the Course Organiser and peers verbally during this session.
Summative Feedback
Assessment Component 1: Essay
Summative feedback will be delivered in writing on LEARN. Feedback will be provided by the Course Organiser and will consist of a comment addressing your knowledge (LO1-2), your analysis/argument (LO3-4) and your presentation (LO5). All LOs will be considered in awarding a final mark, weighted 40% for LOs 1 and 2, 40% for LOs 3 and 4, and 20% for LO5. The university¿s common marking scheme will be used in determining your mark.
Assessment Component 2: Exam
Feedback comments are not provided for examinations. You will receive a single mark for the examination, and, on request, can be provided with the mark awarded to each question.
Summative feedback will be provided according to University regulations. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key examples and themes in the history of architecture and urbanism in Britain and its Empire, c. 1783-1947
- Situate the architecture and urbanism of Britain and its Empire, c. 1783-1947, in its wider cultural, social and political contexts
- Engage analytically with academic and other appropriate scholarship relevant to the themes of the course
- Deploy their knowledge to support their analysis of buildings, sites and themes
- Produce coherent and clear pieces of writing which articulate their analyses and ideas
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Reading List
G.A. Bremner (ed.), Architecture and Urbanism in the British Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016)
Nezar AlSayyad (ed.), Forms of Dominance: on the Architecture and Urbanism of the Colonial Enterprise (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1992).
Preeti Chopra, A Joint Enterprise: Indian Elites and the Making of British Bombay (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011).
G.A. Bremner, Building Greater Britain: Architecture, Imperialism and the Edwardian Baroque (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2022)
Thomas Metcalf, An Imperial Vision:
Indian Architecture and the British Raj
(London: Faber, 1989).
Louis Nelson, Architecture and Empire in Jamaica (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2016). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Personal development and personal autonomy: by engaging with required and further reading, by preparing a substantial piece of assessed coursework, and by preparing for the exam, you will learn to organise your time, prioritise your workload, and to work effectively as an active, engaged learner.
Research and Enquiry: engagement with class discussion, independent reading and assessed work will contribute to the development of analytical and critical thinking, as you research topics and start to articulate your own view of these topics based on detailed knowledge and understanding.
Communication: through class discussion and written submissions, you will develop as an engaged, informed communicator able to engage sensitively with topics which may be contentious or disputed.
Enquiry and lifelong learning: by engaging with new research in an area of contemporary debate, students¿ development as innovative, life-long learners who make a difference will be fostered. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
2 x 2-hour lectures per week. |
| Keywords | empire,imperialism,architecture,identity,nationalism,colonial,Britain |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Alex Bremner
Tel: (0131 6)50 2320
Email: alex.bremner@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr John Ethcuit
Tel:
Email: jethcuit@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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