AUB, MA, Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part 2)

The two-year masters-level course builds through a series of design based projects with integrated theoretical and professional elements. In the first year there is an underlining of the principle of making and collaboration as a necessary and constructive part of architectural practice. In the second year one main design project, the thesis runs through the year from briefing, programme and budget analysis to the theoretical, detail and reflective thoughts on a major complex project.

Course Content

Body: Architectural Interventions is the first unit of the MArch, the key course concepts of collaboration and making are put in to practice with a real performance-based project that questions and engages with social, political, creative and professional issues, What does it mean to be an architect?

Landscape: Making in Context examines the larger scale; urban, rural and coastal areas, their peoples, buildings and their potential. A theory and history paper and design proposal are developed.

Research: Experimental Fabrications, A fragmentary building proposal, is anticipated through speculative models, theory and history paper and a documented performance-based presentation. This unit prepares the ground for your Thesis Design Project.

Design Thesis 1: Ecological & Professional Strategies: In a real and professional way, you will consider your thesis proposal and its ecological context: people, materials, land, and climate. The practice set up, project programme and legal relationships will be investigated. Your proposal will understand how technologies of passive and active environmental modification, and the climate, affect us. 

Design Thesis 2: Design Detail & Reflection: The detail, both design and legislative will be embedded in your final design project. Final thesis portfolio will be produced and your practice future considered. You will reflect on the creative path you have been on with this project and the programme as a whole.