Architecture MArch
2 Years Full-Time | September Start
Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Applicants should normally have:
A minimum of a 2.2 honours degree in architecture from an RIBA validated / ARB accredited school of architecture, or equivalent.
A minimum of three months post-Part 1 experience in an architecture practice is preferred, but applications are considered on an individual basis, particularly where transferrable skills and applicable knowledge can be demonstrated.
Applicants are required to submit a digital portfolio with their application.
International Qualifications:
If you have studied a non UK qualification, you can see how your qualifications compare to the standard entry criteria, by selecting the country that you received the qualification in, from our country pages. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry
English Language Requirements:
International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).
*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you will need in our English Language section. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications
UK Fee in Year 1: £9,250
* The maximum tuition fee that we are permitted to charge for UK students is set by government. Tuition fees may increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, these are subject to government regulations and in line with inflation.
International Fee in Year 1:
ADDITIONAL COSTS
Specialist equipment/materials - drafting and modelling equipment - approximate cost £200:Optional specialist equipment/materials - modelling materials - approximate cost £200:Print costs - reports, A0 posters, A3 weekly outputs - approximate cost £150:Final projects - models - £50.
* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here
Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.
KA5041 -
Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)
Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.
The topics you will cover on the module include:
• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
KA6044 -
Design Project 1: Experimentation (30 Credits)
In this module you will develop and demonstrate the ability critically to appraise, understand the nature of, and develop design briefs. You will develop your creativity and criticality in assessment of the complexities of the project’s cultural and social context; and propose and justify a design strategy. This module is designed to create spaces for meaningful ‘play’, to help you to embrace the ‘mess’ and ‘risk’ of practising as a fundamental part of the creative process, and to recognise, analyse and learn from the heuristic and happenstance as much as the preconceived. You will be facilitated to and engage with self-reflection in developing your approach to architectural design.
More informationKA6045 -
Design Project 2: Speculation (30 Credits)
You will explore the discipline as a practical and theoretical subject, be exposed to the social function of architecture, and the constraints architects operate within. Creativity in this module is expressed as a social phenomenon as well as an artistic one. You will also develop your skills in being able to: critically appraise and develop design briefs; make assessments of and respond to the project’s contingencies and complexities; to communicate your work to an audience other than your peers and your tutor; and develop design strategies that result in sophisticated and appropriate design solutions.
More informationKA6046 -
Architectural Research Methods (30 Credits)
Lectures will discuss research principles and concepts; academic theory and skills will be contextualised to an architectural idiom through case study examples of recent and current research projects.
Working in research seminar groups, will help frame the subject of your own, self-selected research proposal. You will identify the key researchers and seminal research, current ‘state of the art’, and any ‘gap in the knowledge’ in your chosen field or subject; and produce your research project’s methodology which you will then undertake in year 2.
KA6047 -
Practice Management and Law (30 Credits)
Architecture as an agent of change means cultivating self-reflective, critical practitioners equipped with the skills and knowledge to make strategic and informed choices. You will consider both the value and the limits of your experience, valuing the contributions of different forms of knowledge, and when and how to engage with and motivate others.
This module frames the strategic professional and cultural contexts in which we operate and how these might align with your own emerging philosophy and practice of architecture. You will consider your own professional aspirations and responsibilities, and develop academic and professional skills including, effective communication in different settings and to different audiences; intrinsic motivation; self-reflection and critical thinking; ethics and social responsibility.
KA7011 -
Design Project 3: Analysis and Proposal (40 Credits)
You will improve your skills and creativity in design; the ability critically to appraise, understand the nature of, and develop design briefs; to analyse and make an assessment of the complexities of the project’s context; and propose and justify a design strategy. You will learn to engage with critical reflection on the cultural and social context of your area of study. Through independent and supported inquiry you will develop the design proposal up to sketch scheme (equivalent of RIBA Workstage 2) in response to your exploration. This learning will be evidenced in a portfolio that demonstrates your theoretical position, programme context, brief development and the early stages of your design proposal.
This module will be supported by workshops and tutorials, and regular reviews, where you are expected to be critical engaged in the process.
Verbal, written and drawn feedback is provided formatively at tutorials and strategic reviews throughout the semester, to provide ongoing guidance and to establish opportunities for reflection and independent learning. Summative assessment will be provided at the end of the semester providing guidance to be taken into DP4.
KA7012 -
Design Project 4 - Realisation (50 Credits)
This module is the realisation of the design thesis project, which will engage you as an independent learner in the development of a complex and integrated design proposal, based on the inquiry undertaken in dp3. During this phase of the year-long thesis project you will engage in a rigorous design process, developing your concept (established in dp3) into a coherent and complex design solution. With support from your design tutors you will utilise the skills and knowledge learnt during your education to date, and you will be expected to engage with an increased level of complexity and criticality that involves, amongst other exploration: an engagement with context (physical, poetic, theoretical); research into precedents and building typologies (spatial, and organisational); development of building programme, building form, spatial sophistication, materiality and appropriate detail, working together in an integrated and holistic way; consideration of regulatory and legal constraints; technological choices and comparisons and coherently communicated through verbal, written and graphical (both 2 and 3D formats)- all commensurate with level 7 scholarship.
More informationKA7013 -
Student Selected Investigation (30 Credits)
You will learn skills that enable independent learning through research and advanced scholarship, applied to the discipline of architecture. More specifically you will acquire the knowledge and skills to identify an area of research interest and to be able to use appropriate methodologies to collect data addressing the research imperative. You will learn how to employ analytical skills to systematically evaluate data and to draw conclusions from this data and ultimately be able to communicate the findings through appropriate means.
More informationKA7056 -
Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)
Academic skills when studying away from your home institution can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject area in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.
The topics you will cover on the module include:
• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’.
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
To start your application, simply select the month you would like to start your course.
Our Applicant Services team will be happy to help. They can be contacted on 0191 406 0901 or by using our Contact Form.
Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.
Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.
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