Architecture PgDip

We designed this course to provide the Part 2 qualification of your professional architecture education, while working in architectural practice. Your study is typically three years but our flexible delivery allows you to extend this to six years to suit your professional and personal circumstances.

A range of study patterns are possible. Full-time student status and funding is available to students who complete the course over three years.

If you have a job in architectural practice you may move directly onto the course after completing Part 1. Students working in architectual practice for a minimum of 20 hours per week will be eligible to register for one year of recorded work experience on the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Professional Education and Development Resource (PEDR) system during the duration of the course.

Working in architectural practice is not a condition for entry to the course. If your prefer not to work in practice alongside your studies, you need a period of six to twelve months architectural experience before enrolling on the course.

You can achieve your postgraduate diploma and Part 2 after completing the third year. You may then choose to study for a masters level degree by taking the research methods and dissertation modules.

The course supports the development of specialist knowledge and skills, and allows you to set and follow personal goals. Your study is flexible with a choice of optional modules.

In the autumn semester you concentrate on lectures, seminars, study and project research. The spring semester focuses on the design studio projects. If you are in architectural employment, we can base some areas of your learning and assessment on the projects you are working on in practice.

In your second year you take an overseas design project. This currently takes place in Hong Kong, where we have built links with a number of international archtectural practices.

In your final year, you prepare a design thesis where you devise your own project to demonstrate your interests and emerging areas of expertise.

The course provides a weekly forum for group interaction where you share and debate ideas and proposals. The group sessions are student-led with tutor support and directed reading on theories in o culture o ethics o urban design o conservation o technology o the environment o professional practice. Group study continues beyond the classroom in web-based discussion forums and assessment sites.

The course provides a continuation and extension of the environmental focus of the existing Part 1 architecture course at Sheffield Hallam. You are supported in this area in seminars and in the studio by expert academics and practitioners in this field.