This course considers the relationships between architecture, culture and society. It aims to present social and cultural processes and modes of engagement as vital in the shaping urban space and a sense of place. Building on interpretative techniques and visual methodologies of sociology, cultural studies and/or anthropology, students will develop their own understandings of the interconnections between built fabric and the individuals and communities for whom cities are created.

The course will provide students with the skills to interpret relationships between urban spaces and specific cultural practices and patterns of habitation. Sydney provides the primary site for student projects; its multicultural character offers a rich context for interrogating the relationship between architecture and culture. The course considers a number of distinct types of spaces, such as migrant and minority groups’ religious and community spaces, for their spatial representation of beliefs and practices. Diverse community and public spaces as well as places of consumption will be studied for their capacity to engage with popular and daily aspects of culture as well as for their ability to negotiate the representation of dominant and marginal groups.