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| Annual Tuition Fee: | ≈ € 4,660 - ≈ € 12,280 (non-EEA) | ||
| Location: | London / United Kingdom / View location on map ▾ Hide location on map ▴ | ||
| Duration: | 12 months | Start Date: | September |
| Educational Form: |
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| Languages: | English | ||
Location of Kingston University
Design is the core skill of the architect. This course provides students the opportunity to develop their design skills, through thoughtful engagement with site, precedent and materials. It also introduces internationally-educated students to UK professional registration criteria and projects which encompass the range of issues against which those criteria are measured.
If you are a practitioner looking to reinvigorate your design ability and design thinking, this course is ideal.
What will you study?
Drawing on the particular strengths of Kingston in teaching and learning design through making, you will focus on the relationship between architecture and its physical, cultural and temporal context. You will study theoretical studies which are embedded as integral elements of the design projects.
You will be given the space and time to explore current architectural theories, inform yourself on the key issues and trends impacting upon your work, reground your design skills and research, and explore and test design strategies.
Contents
Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.
.module-description { display: none; }.module-title-link { display: block; } Core modules
* Research Contexts for Architecture
* Design Research: Context
* Design Research: Process
* MArch (Design) Thesis: Design Resolution
* Material Research
* MArch (Design) Thesis: Environmental Integration
* MArch (Design) Thesis Project
Option modules (choose three)
* Computing for Design
* Computing for Design
This is a self-led research and project-based module. It allows you to develop your skills in, and further your understanding of, digital technologies. Part of this process is to raise awareness about:
* the impact of the use digital media in architecture; and
* how it is changing and informing the design and production process.
* History and Theory
* History and Theory
Architecture is a creative act dependent upon deep, culturally embedded continuities. It is part of a cultural discourse that evolves through history and from which it draws meaning. History however is not simply a collection of facts but an ongoing process of interpretation and understanding. This process forms the necessary basis for a practice that hopes to fulfil its potential and make a meaningful contribution to culture.
The main aim of this module is to:
* introduce the history of ideas and its relevance to architecture; and
* provide a critical mapping of the development of architecture from antiquity to modernity, through the investigation of major turning points.
* Philosophy and Critique
* Philosophy and Critique
This module introduces the relevance of philosophical and theoretical discourses for architecture. It provides a basic understanding of the key processes and phenomena which have contributed to the idea of modernity.
Assessment consists of a verbal presentation of approximately 20 minutes, with visual aids if appropriate.
* Context of Sustainability
* Context of Sustainability
This module offers the opportunity to understand the wider historic and cultural context for the contemporary debate on sustainability. Drawing from a wide range of sources, you are required to demonstrate a critical understanding of the contemporary debate.
Delivery is through lectures, seminars and group and individual action learning. Assessment is by seminar papers, presentations, and the collation and critique of a portfolio of current reviews.
* Conservation and Heritage
* Conservation and Heritage
The module investigates the culture, legislation and technologies associated with working with the historic environment. Delivery includes visits to a range of listed buildings and sites in the local area, and lectures and seminars by expert practitioners.
Assessment is through a case study and a project proposal for the future use of an existing building of historic significance.
* Material Resolution
* Material Resolution
This module aims to introduce the relevance of making things to the process of architectural investigation, development and resolution.
The module structure allows for a number of different types of making to be investigated each year. Some creative outcomes relate directly to the projects that are being undertaken in studio (such as model-making) and others engage with completely different types of making (such as concrete casting, stone carving or bronze casting).
The primary function of the module is to allow you to reflect upon the nature of making and its relation to creativity.
* Design Control and Management
* Design Control and Management
This module explores the issues which impact on design from the perspective of the managerial and operational processes within architectural practice. It uses case-studies to help evaluate the effectiveness of different organisational structures. You then apply this learning to proposals for a current project.
* Sustainable Cities
* Sustainable Cities
This module is a critical appreciation of urban society and its future – as it becomes the norm for the majority of the world's population, it is an essential requirement for the built environment professional.
The module provides an opportunity to debate the theoretical concepts of sustainable cities, allowing critical analysis of the drivers, legislation and processes governing sustainable urban environments. The ability to consider issues from a variety of perspectives and evaluate strategies for spatial planning is engendered.
The module intends to encourage a commitment to social, economic and environmental issues, which influence the creation, delivery and maintenance of sustainable cities.
* Landscape and Urbanism Theory
* Landscape and Urbanism Theory
The module seeks to develop a theoretical grounding and literacy in landscape design and urbanism. The subject area overlaps with others such as architecture, urban design and planning, landscape architecture – texts are drawn from each of these disciplines.
Much of the synthesis of the material will rely on seminar discussion and independent study. The module focus is the bringing together of different disciplines with the 'landscape' (rather than the 'built form') as forum for discussion.
You participate in seminar presentations and reviews of critical texts, and prepare an individual manifesto or essay for presentation.
We also aim to develop this module as a short course/public lecture programme.
* Applying Technology
* Applying Technology
The role of the contemporary architect is increasingly that of the specifier, needing to:
* solve specific problems relating to particular conditions through the application of systems and standardised components; and
* use the products of universalised, mass production in response to the increasingly stringent parameters of regulation and economics.
Technically resolving a building therefore involves a series of iterative and developing levels of detail, where complex and often overlapping systems and components are integrated across a range of scales.
This module develops your ability to think strategically about the relationship between building elements and systems encompassing:
* structure;
* mechanical and electrical services;
* environmental controls;
* materials and components;
* the building envelope; and
* interior finish.
You develop a given building and, in doing so, the selection of systems, moments of junction, issues of tolerance and dimensional coordination become the subject of design.
The module goes on to develop your ability to measure the effectiveness of the result, through the application of techniques for testing building performance and with regard to issues of human comfort and sustainability.
* Live Project
IELTS
You are normally required to take an English Proficiency Test.
Most European Universities recognise the IELTS test.
Take testRequirements
* A good honours degree and evidence of a range of experience in either architectural practice or an allied design or construction environment;
* ARB/RIBA Part 2 or equivalent.
International students
We welcome applications from practitioners from overseas who wish to seek registration in the UK and to build their portfolio for submission. A range of pre-sessional courses, including English language, are available within the University.
* Minimum IELTS score of 6.5
* minimum TOEFL score of 570/TOEFLCBT 230 plus a minimum grade 5 in the separate TOEFL Test of Written English/IBTOEFL 90 with 23/30 in Reading and Writing
Interviews
We normally invite applicants for an interview prior to selection. We can make alternative arrangements for international students based overseas.
If we select you for interview, we will expect you to demonstrate through portfolio submission:
- a high level of basic design skill;
- an ability to engage in a rigorous postgraduate programme of study;
- an understanding of architecture as both an academic subject and an ongoing practice; and
- a commitment and motivation to the practice of architecture.
Prior learning - AP(E)L
Applicants with prior qualifications and learning may be exempt from appropriate parts of a course in accordance with the University's policy for the assessment of prior learning and prior experiential learning.
Additional Requirements
| Minimal degree required: | Bachelor's degree |
| Minimal amount of work experience | Not specified |
Language Proficiency
| Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE): | Grade B (Score: 75) |
Accreditation
Many of the courses that we run are accredited and recognised by relevant professional bodies within their respective fields. As part of our commitment to providing quality, relevant courses we seek accreditation and recognition wherever possible. In fact the Higher Education Funding Council of England awarded us a quality rating for 'Excellence in teaching'.
Kingston Business School is also one of an elite number of UK business schools with Association of MBA accreditation of our MBA courses. Plus we have received EPAS accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development for several of our postgraduate and undergraduate business programmes; only the second UK business school to receive this accreditation.
To view a full list of our accreditations, please visit our website.
Ask a Question
You can contact Postgraduate Admissions Administrator - FADA to ask a question about Architecture (Design) MArch at Kingston University.
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