The MA in History and Critical Thinking (HCT) is a twelve-month postgraduate and transdisciplinary research-intensive programme that interrogates architecture through history, theory and criticism. It examines how buildings, cities, spatial practices and their histories intersect with politics, environment, technologies and disciplinary and social structures. Its objective is to produce and disseminate critical voices and knowledge that connects contemporary issues with systematic historical enquiry, redefining what architecture is and what means to write and teach history today.
At stake in the writing of history is a political engagement with the exigencies of the present. Architectural histories are sites of critical examination—for the ways they negotiate sources, construct evidence and perspectives; appropriate, augment and exclude voices; and shape our ways of thinking and making. Within the HCT programme, students are encouraged to identify and explore missing and marginalised voices and topics, as well as engage with recent scholarship, timely questions, and emerging forms of knowledge production.
A diversity of voices and expertise are brought into the programme through HCT public events and open seminars. In previous academic years, the programme has organised sessions with international architects, scholars and educators including Mateja Kurir, Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi, Olga Touloumi, Elke Krasny, Gabu Heindl, Hilde Heynen, Esra Ackan, Dubravka Sekulic, Mark Dorian, Leopold Lambert, and Sven-Olov Wallenstein. This year’s HCT and PhD debates series “Writing-With: Architecture and Land” will gather voices in architectural theory, criticism and environmental history to interrogate ecological and political realities and architectural history as transversal forms of collaboration.
The HCT programme of study is organised around intensive seminars with AA tutors and visiting critics, public debates with guest speakers, collaborations with major archives (including the AA Archives, Drawing Matter, RIBA, the British Library and the Warburg Institute in London, the Le Corbusier Foundation in Paris, and the O.M. Ungers Archive in Cologne), and critical writing and publishing workshops, which allow students to expand their disciplinary knowledge, and develop new competencies in communication through exploring modalities of writing and publishing.
At HCT, writing is a practice of thinking: a tool which transforms, articulates, and demonstrates. Different genres of writing – thesis, academic essays, short experimental pieces, critical reviews, commentaries, book proposals, interviews are explored through the year alongside drawings, photographs, films and literature. The relationships between the textual, the visual and the graphic are constantly negotiated.
In parallel with ongoing HCT research investigations, we are developing the History and Critical Thinking Journal to support the scholarship and knowledge production of the programme and mobilise a critical ground for exchanges seeking to challenge and reimagine collective intelligence.
PhD pathway
HCT provides research facilities and supervision to research degree candidates (MPhil and PhD) registered under the AA’s PhD programme, a cross-disciplinary initiative supported by all the Taught Postgraduate programmes.
Career outcomes
HCT graduates pursue PhD programmes at leading institutions, contribute to architectural criticism and publishing, engage in university teaching and research as well as architectural practice, and collaborate with museums and galleries.
Who should apply
Candidates with a strong interest in architecture and spatial practices, history and politics of historiography, political ecology and feminism, colonial practices and spatial justice; who have background in humanities and practice seeking rigorous training in historical research and critical writing; and those preparing for doctoral work, curatorial roles, or careers in teaching, writing and developing a critically informed practice.
Programme Head: Marina Lathouri / Programme staff: William Hutchins Orr, John Palmesino, Guillermo S Arsuaga / Visiting tutors: Tim Benton, Doreen Bernath, Fabrizio Gallanti.
Apply by January 23, 2026 to be eligible to apply for a bursary; the final application deadline is March 6, 2026. Applications received after this date may be accepted at the discretion of the school.
For any queries regarding the admissions process, visit the website or email: postgraduateadmissions@aaschool.ac.uk.
