Humanities in year one is about establishing skills in research and developing the critical thinking necessary for students as they move through the programme at MSA.

Humanities 1

Thinking Through Drawing

Thinking Through Drawing

Architectural Humanities opens in semester 1 with Thinking Through Drawing, where the tools of architectural thinking and practice are taken seriously. The students learn about influential and important drawings from architecture’s history alongside a series of practical exercises inviting them to understand through drawing. Each convention of drawing embodies a theory or concept of the world, and understanding this allows them to select the right tool for the job in their design work. The histories of architecture are plural, and rather than presenting a singular narrative, we aim to show the diversity of approaches to this topic. No history of architecture can be completely comprehensive, so we aim to equip the students with the skills and questions to conduct their own research.

Histories of Architecture

Histories of Architecture

We develop Humanities 1 with the discussion of architectural history, which runs in parallel to Thinking Through Drawing. The study of architectural history is, of course, valuable entirely on its own merits, but it is important to also see where architectural history can inform student work in the design studio. One aspect of this is to consider this as training for precedent studies. The use of precedent in architecture is important; on a basic level allowing us to draw on successful projects from the past and adapt these to contemporary needs. More interestingly, the discussion of precedent allows us to understand how wider social, economic, and political factors have shaped architecture and how they continue to do so today. Every piece of architecture represents a moment in time and consolidates much of the thinking of that time into a structure.