MA Architecture

The MA Architecture Program (ARB/RIBA Part II) at the Royal College of Art is a research-driven, studio-based post-graduate education that critically tests the making of architecture and spatial practice. The program supports the development of each student’s position and practices relative to the field. The program fosters an inclusive, critical, and responsive, context in which architecture is explored as a medium, rather than a goal in itself. We are attentive to urgent political, social, and ecological questions, which allows us to interrogate the contexts and processes of architectural production and support our students to redefine practice.

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) part II and Architects Registration Board (ARB) validated since 1983.

• Previous RIBA validation: 2019
• Previous ARB validation: 2016

This research-driven, studio-based post-graduate program offers a unique opportunity to critically test architecture and spatial practice.

As part of our curriculum, we tackle pressing political, social, and ecological questions, empowering you to redefine your practice and contribute to positive change in the world. Together, we'll explore global imbalances, inequalities, and environmental challenges, allowing you to shape a future where architecture is pivotal in creating sustainable and meaningful spaces.

We offer a vibrant platform to discuss contemporary architectural issues, strongly focusing on real-world dynamics. Engage in inspiring tutorials, thought-provoking lectures, and hands-on workshops. Embrace reflective research to deepen your understanding and transform your approach to architecture. A teaching team of diverse practitioners will guide your studies, each offering unique perspectives and valuable industry connections.

Meet the RCA

We host a range of online and on-campus open days as well as recruitment events in cities around the world. These events can include 1-to-1 meetings and portfolio advice, informal chats, presentations, and sessions with staff, students, and alumni. Check the Check the RCA event webpage for details of upcoming events.

Next on-campus open day: Saturday 27 January 2024.

The MA Architecture course, spanning 240 credits, offers an in-depth exploration of architectural theory, design principles, and practical skills, preparing students for a successful career in the dynamic and evolving field of architecture.

What you'll cover

Year 1

Studio I, Studio II & Studio III

In your first year, you'll work on a live project and a studio project within a pedagogical framework established by the Architectural Design Studio (ADS) tutors. Once briefed on the nature of each ADS, each student is invited to nominate their order of preference. Places are allocated based on a synoptic portfolio and entrance interview.

The ‘Live’ project introduces you to forms of external engagement, industry practice, and the role of fieldwork in a design process. The ‘Live’ project brief is set by the ADS tutors and is integrated into the overarching studio brief.

Studio I forms the basis for the briefing and strategy for the Studio II & Studio III projects. Studio II develops the project of Studio I. Studio III is the final development of the individual design project initiated in Studio I and developed over terms 2 and 3. The final project should be developed and communicated through the production of drawings, models, digital models, moving images, and processes of making.

Technical Studies I & Technical Studies II

This unit provides first-year students with a comprehensive understanding and working knowledge of the technologies and innovations in construction, engineering, and environment and energy associated with the built environment. Technical Studies is an integral part of the studio design project and essential in the advanced development of the design. As such it complements ADS project work.

The Technical Studies unit equips you with an understanding of contemporary challenges around the engineering and construction industries. In doing so, it challenges you to engage with larger global questions inherent in contemporary practice. You will explore broader ideas of sustainability that extend beyond the detailed design of the building envelope and services, and that acknowledge larger environmental and contextual developments alongside an important focus on human comfort, whole life carbon impact, and integrate fire and life safety strategies. You will engage in a physical exploration of a technical aspect of their building through a physical (and or digital) one-to-one scale test. This one-to-one material or detail test of the project tests a portion of your design through actual fabrication. As part of any design development, it is essential to research, test, and design through physical prototypes. This unit emphasizes the importance of the integration of technical knowledge and effective partnerships between architects and related engineering disciplines in fostering design excellence.

Elective unit

All Architecture students will be offered an Elective unit.

Year 2

Professional Practice Studies

Professional Practice Studies gives you an understanding of the professional duties and responsibilities of the Architect and the pathway to registration for UK architectural practice. It introduces the planning, policy, procurement processes, and legal frameworks relevant to the profession, and principles of business management. You are encouraged to understand the agency afforded by these frameworks to shape their chosen forms of practice and career path, and your ethical responsibility in practice in relation to questions of social and environmental sustainability, health, and life safety.

Design Strategy

The unit provides the intellectual, technical, and professional foundation for the Independent Research Project. You will define a research area and research question, then outline a clear design strategy and a working methodology that translates these questions into a design response.

History & Theory Studies

The History Theory Studies (HTS) unit enables you to identify a personal position through engagement with a broader cultural framework in support of the independent research project. The unit helps you build a systematic understanding of the history of modern architecture, constructing a shared knowledge, methodology, and vocabulary so that you can define your own position and lines of research inquiry.

Media Studies

The unit is subdivided into multiple sections led by tutors with a diverse range of media experience. Lectures are delivered by staff and invited guests and introduce a range of media and spatial practice methodologies. In the tutorials, you will learn specific skills related to your section, and deploy your research through the execution of new media-based projects. The unit’s mission is twofold: first to encourage the incoming MA students from disparate programs to increase their cross-disciplinary communication and second to challenge you to expand your media practice beyond architecture’s reliance on media as purely representational.

Studio IV & Independent Research Project

In this unit, you will independently develop a design response to the research question identified in the Design Strategy unit.

The thesis project builds on your skills, knowledge, and experience, developed over the course of the program, to develop a mature and sophisticated design project that clearly identifies your personal practice within the field.

Successful projects will develop a spatial proposition in response to a clear research question identified by you, that is developed and tested against a context and set of parameters identified by you.

Projects are to be presented and represented in the most effective means to communicate project intent and agency within the field, capitalizing on the diverse resources of the College.

The Royal College of Art has been ranked the number 1 university for art & design internationally for the 9th consecutive year, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 – the largest world-wide survey of academic and industry opinion.

To provide prospective students with opportunities to find out about the RCA experience and programmes, we run a number of on-campus and online open days as well as events in various countries around the world.