Introductory description

This module is designed to introduce students to the study of architecture and to the issues involved in its interpretation.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Building and architecture
Terms and terminology of architecture
Coventry's first two cathedrals
Major civic churches, Coventry Holy Trinity and Warwick St Mary
Lichfield cathedral
The 19th-century cathedral: St Chad’s Birmingham and Liverpool Anglican
The 20th-century response: Coventry Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan
The impact of new materials.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate basic knowledge of the history and materials of ecclesiastical and secular architecture from the Middle Ages up to contemporary times.
• Examine the relationships between architectural form and function in a variety of contexts and in relation to different types of building..
• Compare and contrast architectural styles and building techniques.
• Describe and discuss architectural plans of standing buildings.

Indicative reading list

C.Cunningham, Stones of witness: church architecture and function (Alan Sutton, 1999)
W. Curtis, Modern architecture since 1900 (Phaidon, rev.ed. 2000)
N.Pevsner, An Outline of European architecture (Penguin, 1980)
N.Pevsner, A history of building types (Princeton UP, 1979)
R. Dixon and S. Muthesius, Victorian Architecture, (London 1985)
J. Curl, Book of Victorian Churches, (London 1995)
A.W.N Pugin, Contrasts, and The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture, new edn (Reading 2004), other edns available
R. Hill, God’s Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain, (Harmondsworth 2007)
Nicola Coldstream, Medieval Architecture (Oxford 2002)
Alec Clifton Taylor, The Cathedrals of England (London 1989)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

Demonstrate knowledge and an understanding of the layout and uses of sacred buildings and their changing design over periods from the medieval to the current era.
Demonstrate an understanding of the role of patrons and architects in accommodating changes in forms of worship.
Demonstrate an understanding of the uses of materials and their impact on the design of religious buildings.
Employ visual analytic skills in assessing of function and role of art within sacred contexts.
Display an understanding of architectural vocabulary.

Transferable skills

Develop an ability to undertake research, including the selection and use of relevant bibliography, and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument based on well-selected and clearly organised evidence.

Produce an original piece of work reflecting their interaction with the themes discussed in class.