Course: MA Architectural Design

This MA in Architectural Design is a rich, advanced, and engaging post-graduate programme which focuses on the multiple facets and relationships between design and research. By pursuing the MA in Architectural Design, the students gain the necessary skills for becoming sophisticated design-research thinkers and practitioners.

The programme focuses on design-led research techniques and methods to inform learning process and research explorations. Students develop their existing design skills by focussing on how design thinking might address current global challenges. This approach offers an intense and lively forum for the exploration and discussion of design issues. This is why we place particular emphasis on using design as a means to conduct research. Researching through design is a creative activity that closely integrates the process of designing with the act of researching, so that they can mutually inform each other. Problems can be explored by making and testing design propositions, introducing and developing established knowledge as and when required.

Students have the option to develop their design thinking in a range of topics related to the School’s diverse topics of research and scholarship.

The work is done in small groups called ‘Design Units’ under the guidance of a Unit Leader, an experienced tutor in research and architectural design. Independent work is also completed in order to develop a design-research approach to the studies. This requires the questioning and evaluation of evidence and to think creatively, experimentally, and iteratively. Emphasis is placed on individual discovery and personal reflection as a learning process.