MArch in Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part 2)

Why choose this course?

Architecture is a profession; this course is an integral part of a sequence of steps – RIBA parts 1, 2 and 3 - that lead to entry into it. Criteria for entry to the UK Register of Architects are prescribed by the Architects Registration Board (ARB). The ARB and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have agreed to hold the criteria in the common and successful completion of the MArch degree gives Part 2 exemption.

In addition to this, the RIBA has introduced new Themes and Values for Architectural Education. This includes a further focus on climate literacy, health and life safety, ethical practice, and research literacy. The modules in the programme work within this framework to provide a coherent balance of intellectual and practical skills, as well as working to develop students' transferable skills.

The course sits in the Department of Landscape and Architecture, part of the Faculty of Kingston School of Art (KSA). It is located in the compact Knights Park campus, alongside the range of other creative disciplines within KSA. It has immediate access to excellent and wide-ranging resources for physical making. This opportunity sits at the heart of the pedagogy at KSA and forms a key component of the MArch Architecture programme. Knights Park is a place in which to converse, debate, work and learn from each other.

We are at the forefront of practice-led European architectural discourse. The Architecture MArch qualification is prescribed by the ARB. This course covers both ARB and RIBA criteria Part 2.

This course centres on the practice and theory, techniques and contexts of architectural design. It includes live-making projects and engagement with practice and research.

You will deepen and consolidate the knowledge, understanding and skills acquired during your first degree and a recommended period of work-based learning. A dissertation will give you the chance to investigate an area of interest in depth.

Reasons to choose Kingston University

• Kingston's exciting new course design employs a ground-breaking narrative structure and was commended on a series of counts by the Revalidation Panel in 2022. The previous curriculum was commended by RIBA in 2017.
• You will be taught by a wide range of distinguished practitioners and academics. Design is taught in a unified system with all design units taught by notable architecture practitioners.
• While occupying a common ground that is firmly rooted within the discipline, our units offer an exciting range of diverse and distinctive approaches. Notably, Unit 5 engages with live community projects, building and making at full scale, and Unit 6 offers the only Contemporary Classical Unit in Europe.
• Themes such as story-telling, anthropology, identity, memory, place, care and repair, adaptive reuse, urban and ecological regeneration, plus urgent societal concerns such as housing provision and exploration of new materials, all form part of the Unit research agendas and conversations that underpin the emergent design proposals.
• Our students and staff have won prestigious industry awards, including regular successes in the RIBA Regional Awards and President's Medals.

The Art School Experience

As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged.

Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.

Accreditation

Architects Registration Board (ARB)

This course is a prescribed qualification by the Architects Registration Board (ARB).

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

This course covers the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) criteria Part 2.

What you will study

During this two-year degree, you'll develop as an architectural designer and thinker and progress to engaging in architectural practice as an independent and reflective practitioner.

You'll be expected to build on the knowledge, understanding and skill acquired during your first degree and a recommended initial period of work-based learning.

The emphasis of this course is therefore to deepen and consolidate existing learning and skill from Years 1 to 3, rather than to introduce a wide range of new subject material.

The design studio aspect of the course is taught through studio units. Students have the opportunity to enter a ballot for the unit of their choice at the beginning of each academic year. The subject focus of the units varies from year to year.

Year 4

The central focus of the course is design practice along with the theoretical, technical and contextual studies which underpin and inform design. You'll enjoy a practice-led teaching curriculum, commended by the RIBA visiting panel. Throughout the degree, you'll gain a comprehensive knowledge of the areas of study required to enter and contribute to architectural practice and architectural design.

You'll also be supported in identifying and developing your particular strengths and interests, alongside your studies in core subjects.

Core modules

• Reading: Architecture Holds Knowledge
• Professional Practice: Architecture is a Built Negotiation
• Studio: Architecture Frames Life
• Making & Representing: Architecture Dreams of the Future

Final year

Core modules

• Reading: Architecture can be Read
• Professional Practice: Architecture is a Profession
• Studio: Architecture Is...
• Making: Architecture is the Art of the Possible

Please note

Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.

After you graduate

Graduates from this degree succeed in architectural careers in professional practice, architecture teaching and associated construction and creative industries; they are actively sought by prominent architectural practices in London, the UK and abroad.

Our department nurtures an active and supportive alumni network which is growing year after year.

Links with business

The Department of Architecture and Landscape is invested in acting in continuity with architectural culture, and in cultivating practitioners who make work in a thoughtful manner, attuned to the social and physical contexts where they work.

The REGISTER podcast series features some of the best emerging architectural talents in the UK and Europe. Some will be practitioners engaged in making work, others may be researchers, planners or developers – people involved in enabling a space for architecture. We are interested in making a space to talk discursively about the culture of practice.

In addition, the majority of teaching staff are practising professional architects and/or active researchers, including Stirling Prize shortlisted Simon Henley and AOC's Tom Coward; all design studios are taught by practising architects.