PhD Courses in Denmark

This PhD seminar is co-organized by the graduate schools in architecture and art history at the Architectural School, Aarhus and the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with The Royal Academy – Architecture, Copenhagen.

Dates and time
29 September 2026, 1 day workshop, Department for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen,
2 November 2026, ½ day seminar at the Royal Academy - Architecture
7-13 December 2026, field work w/ Danish Academy in Rome

Our built environment is perhaps the most concrete representation of history in our contemporary world. It transposes the past into the present, relying on the practices of architects and builders commonly appropriating existing structures and building materials for new constructions. Throughout history buildings have served as a kind of historical archive to be mined. In so doing, they have functioned as reinterpretations of aesthetic, stylistic, symbolical, and allegorical content into new formats.

The current emphasis on re-use and circularity in architecture demands new readings of architectural history, where such practices where once completely normalized. Appropriation – the reuse of materials, elements and motifs for new meanings and uses – is a critical concept in understanding the motivations and logics behind how architects and builders reshape the built environment based on historical context and material conditions.

Using the case of the city of Rome – the city par excellence for studying appropriation, from antiquity to today – this course explores the ways in which history and temporality are manifest in our built environment, discussing the meanings inherent in material and immaterial appropriations, their potential as archives, and their impact on our notions of history. More generally, we see history in architecture as both produced and encountered at material and conceptual levels, linking past, present and future.

Topics addressed by the course include (but are not limited to):
 - Material conditions and appropriations determining the form and purpose of buildings
 - The use of spolia
 - Stylistic appropriations and (re-)interpretations of formal elements
 - Concepts of history and time as manifest in architecture
 - Appropriations in architecture from a resource perspective 

Rome will be approached as an archive of cases and practices of material appropriation, covering more than 2000 years of architectural productions, from the Roman Empire to the present day. Building visits and site registrations are thus key to our inquiry. The course consists in a one-day preparatory workshop in Copenhagen (29 September, 2026, where theories, key texts, and cases are introduced. Once in Rome (7-13 December, 2026) the course will consist of group and individual field work, two half-day seminars at the Danish Academy, keynote lectures, and participant presentations. Preparation for the one-day workshop in Copenhagen involves readings (c. 200 pages).

The course is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Jonathan Foote, Associate Professor, Aarhus School of Architecture, Maria Fabricius Hansen, Professor in Art History at the University of Copenhagen, and Peter Thule Kristensen, Professor of History of Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy.

Target group
The course welcomes PhD-students of art and architecture as well as other disciplines within historical, technological, and cultural studies, both from Denmark and other countries.

Course lecturer and organiser
Maria Fabricius Hansen, Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen
Jonathan Foote, Associate Professor, Aarhus School of Architecture
Peter Thule Kristensen, Professor, Royal Danish Academy

Included in the course
Workshop in Copenhagen (Dept. of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen), incl. lunch and coffee and light dinner
½ day seminar at the Royal Academy - Architecture, Copenhagen, incl. coffee

Workshop in Rome
 - Two seminars at the Danish Academy, incl. lunch and coffee
 - Keynote lectures
 - Travel expenses (rented bus): One-day trip to Tivoli

Expenses paid by each participant
Travelling in DK and to Rome, accommodation, food (ca. 15.000 DKK) + museum entries.

Language: English

ECTS: ​5 ECTS for participation including preparation

Max. numbers of participants: Course is limited to 16 students with a minimum of 10. 

Registration: Please submit a max 1-page motivation for participation and a 1-2 page CV to mfhansen@hum.ku.dk by 3 August 2026.

Further information: For more information about the PhD course, please contact the organiser.