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

Postgraduate Course: Architecture and Landscape in Scotland 1650-1815 (ARHI11012)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course delivers a systematic survey and analysis of the development of Scottish architecture from the seventeenth century to 1815 - a particularly fruitful period of development from the earlier castellated tradition to domestic and civic forms. We will examine buildings, styles and designing, vernacular buildings and designed landscapes. There will be a strong emphasis on archival skills and interpretation and the way that different historiographies impact on our understanding. Part of the course will look at films, such as Outlander, and consider how and why Scotland's landscape and architectural heritage are represented in particular ways and how they might be improved?
Course description Scotland's architecture is both romantic and practical, and this course takes full advantage of our tangible heritage for students to better know and understand its complexities. Students will be encouraged in seminars and site visits to participate in consultation and discussion. Site visits will offer a uniquely immediate experience of buildings, cityscapes and landscapes and their visual and physical impact on the reading of places.

The historiographical aspect will develop an authentic spirit of enquiry that transcends biases and received opinions, and the course offers a model for students to examine their own national heritages. The methodologies and analytical skills taught are transferable to other contexts and so the course will appeal to a diverse and inclusive community of oversees and home students - an aim compatible with ECA's desire to attract and disseminate knowledge to international students and researchers.

Students will give around 5 tutorial presentations throughout the semester, and a typical course structure would be likely to include:

1. Introduction, course programme and Castellated tradition
2. Vernacular materials and built forms
3. Site visit to Stirling - building analysis
4. Seventeenth century - developing domestic forms
5. Scottish Historical Landscape - local and international
6. Cities from 1650 to 1750. The archival record
7. Site visit to Haddington - urban analysis
8. Enlightenment and urbanism 1750-1815. Glasgow and Edinburgh
9. Historiographies in architecture and landscape
10. Interpreting Scottish architecture in the 21st century - new media
11. Revivalism and Romanticism
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
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. Demonstrate a critical understanding of Scottish architecture and landscape design, and place this within the European context of the period 1650-1715.
  2. Demonstrate an ability to locate and record archival sources including maps, plans, correspondence, etc.
  3. Demonstrate autonomy in analysing design and structures and applying this to synthesised history.
  4. Demonstrate advanced knowledge and critical skills in analysing historiographical contexts in traditional academic sources and non-academic interpretations such as visual media and popular press.
  5. Demonstrate the contribution of wider social, political and economic factors in illuminating historical discourse.
Reading List
Brown, Marilyn Scotland's Lost Gardens: from the Garden of Eden to the Stewart Palaces, RCAHMS, 2012
Dunbar, J.G, Scottish royal palaces: the architecture of the royal residences during the late medieval and early Renaissance periods, East Linton, 1999
Glendinning, M., MacKechnie, A., MacInnnes, R., History of Scottish Architecture from the Renaissance to the present day, Edinburgh University Press, 1996
Howard, D., Scottish Architecture: Reformation to Restoration 1560-1660, Series, Architectural History of Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, 1995
McKean, Charles, The Scottish Chateau: the country house of renaissance Scotland, Stroud, 2001
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills 1. A critical understanding of the principal theories, concepts and principles.
2. A critical review and consolidation of knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in a subject area
3. Demonstration of presentations skills that convey, formally and informally, information about specialised topics to informed audiences.
4. An exercise of autonomy and initiation in professional/equivalent activities.
Keywordsarchitecture,landscape,scotland,history
Contacts
Course organiserMs Margaret Stewart
Tel: (0131 6)51 5788
Email: m.c.h.stewart@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Ellie Wallace
Tel: (0131 6)50 2309
Email: Ellie.Wallace@ed.ac.uk
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