Who is the ‘architect’ and what do they do?

PhD Scholarship Opportunity: Who is the ‘architect’ and what do they do? 
London Metropolitan University invites applications for a Vice Chancellor’s Postgraduate (PGR) Scholarship in the School of Art, Architecture and Design for a project titled: Who is the ‘architect’ and what do they do? The impact of gender, race and identity on the systems, discourse and experience of architectural practice, 1945 to present.
Supervisory team: Dr Jessica Kelly and Dr Claire Jamieson

The profession of architect is historically entangled with structures of cultural and political inequality, controlling who was ‘counted’ as an architect – leading to exclusions and absences in the history of the built environment. The work of decolonising architecture means re-thinking the role of the architect and the history of the profession.

This PhD project will explore the changing relationship between public and private sector practice during the second half of the twentieth century, and how issues of race, gender and identity were related to these dynamics. The paradigm shift from the agency of the state to the dominance of the private sector is the context that frames this study into the changing discourse, practices and experiences of architecture.

This research writes an architectural history beyond the building – examining the impact of gender, sexuality, race, class and physical ability on the invisible systems of practice, offering a lens to understand the changing definition of who an architect is and what architects do.

Deadline for application: 9 June 2023

To apply visit this page.

For informal enquiries about the project, please contact: Jessica Kelly j.kelly@londonmet.ac.uk

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