Overview
The History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art (HTC) program aims to produce leading-edge scholars and intellectuals in the field of art and architectural history. We place a strong emphasis on historiography and analytical methodologies. Courses deal with the social and physical context of the built environment, the significant issues in current disciplinary thinking, as well as with the philosophical, political, and material contexts for works of art and architecture. We are proud of our long-standing relationship to and connection with peer institutions all around the world. Our faculty members explore the history of art and architectural works, the shifting attitudes towards their interpretation, and the geopolitical pressures on their appearance, preservation, and disappearance. We also seek to produce interdisciplinary tools for probing the wider significance of such shifts over time. The HTC Forum Lecture Series, the Aga Khan Lecture Series, and Thresholds (the departmental journal) are just some of the activities that we organize for the enrichment of all.
The goal of the HTC program is to prepare PhD students for an intellectual life in universities, in architecture schools, and in architectural practice. SMArchS graduates pursue a wide variety of fields ranging from historic park management to criticism. Undergraduate Minors and Concentrators develop a strong foundation in architectural and art history, paving the way for a vibrant cultural life, further study, or a career in architecture, the arts, or related fields. Within each degree program, emphasis is placed simultaneously on critical method and historical substance. Students are encouraged to identify research projects that are relevant to their own concerns and allow them to reflect on contemporary issues. At the same time, the program demands rigorous historical scholarship. It is this combination, we believe, that leads to real change in the ways we think about art and architecture and write their histories.
The HTC group teaches subjects that deal with the history of architecture and art, as well as the theoretical and political presuppositions informing that history. Courses offered range in content and method. Some are motivated by questions derived from the problems of contemporary practice. Others work with a body of historical material investigated in ways that develop analytical skills applicable to a wide range of topics. Still others explore themes (e.g., Orientalism, ornament, sustainability) in their historical and theoretical dimensions. Subjects are taught from prehistoric times through the Renaissance to the present, with a strong focus on topics of modern art and architecture. Our curriculum focuses on materials that are both abstract and concrete, with scales that range from the architectural drawing to the art installation to the urban environment, and themes from Color to economic development and concepts of “the natural.” Topics centered in Europe as well as the Americas are balanced with a comparable set of offerings on the Islamic world developed by AKPIA and taught as part of the HTC group.
HTC is a unique program in American education. Its location within the oldest school of architecture in the U.S. focuses attention on interdisciplinary issues in contemporary practice and distinguishes it from the art history departments of universities. A number of the HTC faculty have both professional and academic degrees and this contributes to the interaction of practice and scholarship that is unique to this environment. Faculty also have strong ties to MIT Resources available to art and architectural historians as well as artists. Alone among PhD programs in architecture schools, HTC hosts a substantial curriculum in art history. Its theoretical and critical orientation constitutes an important part of the education of all of the students in the program.
About the Graduate Degrees
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The graduate degree programs have few requirements yielding a great deal of flexibility, encouraging work outside the curricular and disciplinary borders. Students do best when they understand their own direction and are able to assemble for themselves a curriculum and a set of advisors that take advantage of the wealth of resources available in Cambridge. Students come to HTC from design schools, from MA programs, from work, and directly from college. PhD and Master's students (enrolled in the SMArchS program) follow the same curriculum through the first three semesters of their enrollment. Master's students tend to return more frequently than PhD students to architectural practice and design teaching, but a large number also go on to PhD programs.
The History, Theory, and Criticism Program was founded in 1975 as one of the first to grant the PhD degree in a school of architecture. Its mission has been to generate advanced research within MIT's School of Architecture and Planning and to promote critical and theoretical reflection within the disciplines of architectural and art history. Students and faculty work in a variety of fields, covering diverse parts of the globe. Commitment to depth and diversity is an integral part of HTC's identity and one of the reasons for the success of its students, who come to Cambridge from around the world. Between 1975 and 2001 HTC awarded 50 PhDs and 47 Masters degrees, and the recipients of these degrees have gone on to teach in prominent universities and colleges worldwide. Unlike other architectural history departments in schools of architecture, HTC includes art historians on its permanent faculty and offers both a PhD and Master's in art history as well as in architectural history. The core faculty is annually supplemented by distinguished visiting scholars who contribute significantly to the intellectual life of the program.
Arranging a Graduate Admissions Meeting/Visit
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To get a better sense of the academic culture and research within HTC, it is recommended for applicants to meet with at least one or two of the HTC faculty, and if you are visiting in person, we encourage you to sit in on an HTC class. Faculty are generally available to meet with prospective applicants from Sept-Dec and Feb-May, during the weeks of the normal Fall and Spring Academic terms
Visitors should have an appointment, and it is best to contact us at least two weeks prior to your intended visit. It is common for us to schedule phone/Skype meetings with faculty for applicants during the admissions season, prior to the December 31 deadline. You should schedule these meetings via htc@mit.edu and give:
- your research area or field of interest
- the name(s) of the HTC faculty with whom you would like to meet (see people section)
- the date(s) and time that you are available
MIT conducts a general campus tour twice a day. The tours are mostly geared towards undergraduate applicants and their families, however all interested candidates and visitors may participate. For more information and scheduling, please go to the Visiting MIT page.
Other things on campus: the general visitor information pages for MIT, has several tips including a self-guided campus tour. The List Visual Arts Center has a map of its public sculpture on campus. The Information Center has a self-guided architecture tour map. The information Center is located just inside 77 Mass Avenue entrance (to the right once inside).
To understand a campus address, look at the numbers on either side of the hyphen or dash individually. The first digit of the numbers is the building number, and the number on the right right gives you the floor and room number. This means that 7-238 is in building 7 on the second floor. [7-238 is the address of the architecture and planning library] To use the campus map; put in the building number. It will not show a specific room location.
Directions
There are several ways to get to campus. Our offices are closest to the main 77 Massachusetts Avenue entrance. The following directions are from the subway and/or on foot to traverse the campus.
by SUBWAY exiting at Central Square Station (red line)
to 77 Massachusetts Avenue: If you are traveling from Boston, exit at the back end of the train. If from Alewife or Harvard stations, exit at the front end of the train. In other words, you'll want the set of stairs that is closest to Boston.
Once you are up on Mass Ave, go straight (South toward the river). You will pass a firehouse with big red doors. If you are on the same side of the street as the firehouse, you will eventually cross the street, but it is easiest to do that when closer to campus.
After Vasser Street, 77 Mass Ave will be the 3rd building --although the buildings are all connected. So it's the one with 3-story Greek columns that you can walk around (not the kind of columns that are a relief in the stone).
Once at 77 Massachusetts Avenue, go up the steps and enter; you are in building 7. Take the elevator in the back left-hand corner to the third floor and exit to the right (alternatively take the stairs located near the elevator behind a set of double doors, exit to the left). Take the first left-hand corridor, go passed the 1st set of stairs and as you near the second stairway you will see a water bubbler/fountain. 3-305 is the 2nd door before the cooler. The Aga Khan Program office is just a bit further down the hall in 10-390 on the left-hand side.
===== Alternate Route by Subway =====
by SUBWAY exiting at Kendall Square Station (red line):
If the train is coming from Boston, exit at the front of the train, and once topside cross the street (Main) and walk past the other T-station entrance. If the train is coming from Alewife-Harvard direction, exit at the back end of the train, go up the stairs going straight up to the top. Walk up Main Street Street, take a left on Ames Street and walk down until you come to the cross walk between the Media Lab Plaza and McDermott Court. Walk west through McDermott court and enter the MIT buildings via Building 8 continuing on the main corridor and making your way through the Infinite Corridor
After that, make sure you make your way to the Third Floor (3-305).
If you are coming to a Dept lecture in The Long Lounge from our offices: Take the staircase nearest to 3-305, go up one flight and turn left. Walk until you must turn, and turn right. Walk passed the elevator and then straight ahead to The Long Lounge on the left.
to the The Long Lounge directly: use option a above and instead of taking the elevator near Lobby 10 continue straight until you come into a large three story domed space. This is Lobby 7 and 77 Massachussetts Avenue. As soon as you leave the corridor, turn right and you are walking towards the elevator. Take that to the fourth floor and turn left after exiting. Go straight. The room is on the left-hand side.