BE: History and Culture (11016.1)

This unit explores selected major building types across various civilizations with particular focus on typological transformation in reference to issues that concern the cultural, technical, material and territorial. The unit provides both general and particular knowledge essential for the realization of architecture across the history of diverse geographies. Among other issues, this unit will attempt to communicate cultural identity through the ways that spaces are formed and surfaces are decorated; how a particular technical innovation and socio-cultural transformation initiated a division between design and construction, but also contributed to the emergence of concepts such as national identity and heritage.

Reading selected literature relevant to each weekly topic, and examining building types through drawings and models, students will enhance their knowledge of how cultural appropriation of space, form and surface attains built-form.

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Explain the interconnectivity between culture, form, space, in various building types, from small to large scale projects;
2. Distinguish and categorise architecture across various periods of history;
3. Analyse and explain the organization of a particular building type in reference to function, structure, and cultural nuances; and
4. Make recommendations for modifications to certain building types drawing on a range of established theoretical positions and ideas.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - take pride in their professional and personal integrity
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
2. UC graduates are global citizens - adopt an informed and balanced approach across professional and international boundaries
2. UC graduates are global citizens - understand issues in their profession from the perspective of other cultures
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and sustainably in their professional and personal lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - be self-aware
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - evaluate and adopt new technology

Prerequisites

None.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

9483 Design History, 9774 History & Theory 1: Introduction to Architecture History, 11331 Design History, Culture and Society

Assumed knowledge

None.