Example case study dissertation topic 3:

From Bradford Town Hall to Foster’s Reichstag and the Edinburgh Parliament building: Changing civic architecture.

Designed in the Venetian style, Bradford Town Hall is also richly decorated, on the outside, with 35 statues of past monarchs in chronological order on the façade. Like Manchester Town Hall before it, these buildings were built in commanding positions and in styles designed to show the civic grandeur and aspirations of the towns they blessed. In contrasting such monuments of late Victorian-Edwardian style with the redesigned Reichstag and the ‘thinking pods’ of the Edinburgh Parliament, this dissertation comments on what the changing architectural styles employed tell us about the place of civic pride in modern architectural design and seeks to assess which, if either, is more appropriate from a public perception viewpoint.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Koepnik, L. (2001). ‘Redeeming history? Foster’s dome and the political aesthetic of the Berlin Republic’, German Studies Review, Vol. 24(2), pp. 303-323.
• Morley, I. (2009). ‘Revelations, predicaments and civic design: The Americanizationof the British urban environment, c.1900-14’, Cercles, Vol. 19, pp. 124-140.
• Rogers, B. (2004). Reinventing the town hall: A handbook. London: Institute for Public Policy Research.