Architectural History and Theory Group

About AHTG

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The work of the Architectural History and Theory Group (AHTG), reflected in its research projects and publications, embraces a wide range of interests, linked by a common concern for the practice of architecture. These interests are grouped under four general themes, as outlined below. Membership of the group comprises staff and postgraduate students. AHTG members edit leading refereed journals, produce the school's own research journal made, participate in exhibitions, and organise interdisciplinary international conferences. The group holds fortnightly seminars which provide a lively and intimate forum for the discussion of ideas among staff and students. Research by the group was hailed as being of 'international quality' in the last Research Assessment Exercise.

Theory and Practice

Relationships between theory and practice are an important concern of the AHTG. Adam Sharr's work addresses aspects of shifting relations between architectural theories and the work of architects' offices. The thinking and building of individual architects is explored in the work of Stephen Kite on Colin St John Wilson and of Judi Loach on Le Corbusier, as well as in Richard Weston's critically acclaimed monographs on Aalto and Utzon. Research of this kind aims not only to fill historical lacunae, but also to inform practice. Members of the group edit the journal arq, which aims to link research and design. Mhairi McVicar's research examines built details to reveal attitudes to precision and care in contemporary practice

Critical Practice

The AHTG is committed to research through the medium of design. Most of the group have practised or are practising as architects and teach in the design studios. Peter Salter's work is characterised by a series of connected projects focusing on the specifics of site, material and additive form. Among his current projects is an inner-city housing cluster. Adam Sharr has explored the articulation of theoretical ideas through building in his design for a house at Llethr. Adam Hardy has developed his understanding of Indian temple architecture through his designs for temples in the UK. Mhairi McVicar's self build adaptation of an Orkney flagstone longhouse explores the gap between theoretical intent and built reality

Mechanisms of Practice

This theme is reflected in Christopher Powell's work on the evolution of architectural practice within the building industry, complemented by his editorship of Construction History, and Sarah Lupton's work on legal aspects of architecture, including her widely disseminated research into standard forms of building contract.

Cultural Practice

World Architecture' is an important theme in the School as a whole, and the AHTG has a strong reputation in the architectural history and theory of non-western cultures. The architecture of South Asia is the focus of Adam Hardy's research with PRASADA, complemented by his editorship of South Asian Studies, and Stephen Kite is interested in architecture as part of a wider visual culture and in the context of other art practices, for example in his research into Adrian Stokes and John Ruskin. He also works on Middle-Eastern settlement patterns.. Design and practice in relation to their cultural contexts are also studied by Judi Loach (17th-century France), and Juliet Odgers (18th-century Britain).

Research on religious architecture is an important aspect of this theme, exploring the relationships between sacred space and ritual, and how religious or metaphysical meanings may be embodied in architecture. Judi Loach is an authority on the Counter Reformation and 17th-century Jesuit culture, and on the 20th-century Art Sacré movement. Adam Hardy works on Indian temples and Kathryn Wilkinson on Welsh Non-Conformism.

To see a timetable of current research seminars at the wsa click here