Apply for our Part 2
Part 2 MArch – Year 2
We view Year 2 of the programme as the first year of your career in practice. Students are supported to develop their own direction and to set the terms of their own enquiry. You will develop an individual thesis design project through three core design modules – Speculation, Thesis and Synthesis – supported by methodological exploration of precedent, typology and morphology in History, as well as Tectonic studies to achieve a high degree of technical resolution in the thesis project.
Design Speculation
Nobody Wants To Live in a Care Home, Ellie Harding 2023
Are you ready to bring your architectural vision to life through an intensive, competition-style design challenge? How would you like to develop a comprehensive architectural proposal grounded in real-world conditions?
This module sets the stage for an intense period of design experimentation, culminating in the first iteration of a comprehensive design proposal in a form akin to a competition submission.
You will bring a design brief developed from your work in First Year, as well as a critical position explored in your Critical Practice Manual and Manifesto. The design brief will set the context (the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘when’) for your design thesis to be developed in detail throughout Year 2.
You will develop an architectural proposition – in the form of a building – of an appropriate scale, complexity and type, in the context of an identified London borough.. You will state the purpose and project’s higher goal; test a range of architectural strategies and plan out a relevant programme; research a range of appropriate formal and material strategies; conduct detailed contextual surveys as well as research and identify a client body.
Through a series of workshops, you will establish a common vocabulary of drawing standards with which to test iterative design and tectonic solutions, and historical precedent. A critical reflection on the result of this module informs the direction of design and project development in the subsequent modules, Design Thesis and Design Synthesis.
Design Thesis
Ethan Page, Design Thesis 2024
How would you like to refine your architectural vision through real-world design decisions and interactions with key stakeholders? Are you ready to test your design ideas ethically and professionally, taking into account the needs of future users?
In the Design Thesis module, you will advance your design development, refining all aspects of your brief and your design response. This design phase empowers you to embrace your role as an architect and look at ways in which you can take control of your agency as an architect. You will further understand the role in relation to all other consultants and stakeholders,.where fundamental choices about methods of procurement, specification and design intent are tested from ethical and professional perspectives.
You will engage in a reflective process, considering critically how design intent aligns with the realisations that emerge. Within this, you will be considering what has and has not worked; what can be rejected or reconsidered as unexpected design opportunities; what new information is required to meet the aims of the brief; where that information should be sought; how methodology can be refined.This iterative approach will guide you in making informed design decisions at a variety of scales from detail to building to public realm with the end users always in mind.
Your work will culminate in a revised set of design documents including general arrangement drawings and models of site and building proposal, scale plans/ sections/elevations/axos and details, material/structural/environmental options, visualisations of modes of inhabitation and compile/edit supporting research and contextual materials to consolidate the thesis position.
An exciting feature of this module is the creation of an artefact at 1:1/1:5 scale, demonstrating your hands-on commitment to the practical and conceptual depth of your Thesis.
Design Tectonics
Nicholas Ivanov, Design Tectonics 2023
Are you interested in deepening your understanding of how sustainable, ethical, and technically sound design decisions are made in architecture? Would you like to gain hands-on experience working with specialists to refine a design from concept through to construction?
Design Tectonics is a comprehensive module that enhances your design thesis project by focusing on how the architectural scheme could be constructed. The module supports you in advancing your level of design skill, awareness and ability to deploy appropriate sustainable, environmental, structural, and material strategies, whilst ensuring that your design decisions are ethical and safe.
Through lectures, workshops and tutorials with a range of consultants and specialists from complementary disciplines, you will receive expert advice on the technical and professional aspects of your project.
Running concurrently with your studio work, you will be encouraged to carry out advanced investigation, analysis, speculation and testing of appropriate strategies for the use of materials, structures and processes in the development of resolved form, enclosure, safe inhabitation and sustainability.
The iterative design process in this module will prepare you to produce a proposal that meets technical and aesthetic standards and compliance with regulatory and professional frameworks.
Design History
Ali Hopkins, Design History 2024
Do you want to explore how historical architectural paradigms can inform your contemporary design approach? Are you interested in using architectural research to enhance your design thesis and technical skills?
Through a series of talks and workshops, you will examine the influences and forces that have shaped architectural paradigms across different eras, examining se ‘How have architects approached the task of design?’
In this module, you will conduct a personal study of a building or a series of buildings appropriate to your critical interests.. Instead of a traditional essay, you will create a visually-driven portfolio that captures your research through imagery, captions and reflections.The aim is to deploy the tools of an architect in the act of historical research as well as focus on refining specific methods of writing that are directly applicable to practice.
Design Synthesis
Connie Pidsley, Design Thesis and Design Synthesis 2024
Are you ready to bring your architectural vision to life, with a fully resolved thesis that stands up to real-world standards? Do you want to refine your skills in both visual and verbal communication to present a sophisticated and ethically sound design proposal?
Design Synthesis is the last stage of development of the comprehensive design project, represented in a final portfolio and viva voce or verbal presentation. At this point in the year, you will be producing a resolved architectural thesis and design proposal and demonstrating a mature handling of spatial complexity; high resolution of their design ambitions; clear articulation of a critical position; evidence of appropriate ethical and professional judgement; sophistication in visual and verbal communication.
You will be able to demonstrate a high level of rigour and precision of method that parallels real-world conditions and constraints. The aim of the module is to support you in developing the tools and methodologies to hold on to the integrity of your architectural intent, balancing speculation with plausibility.
Student Placement
A core part of our unique Part 2 programme: spend three days a week on paid work placement to supplement and support your first year of studies.
Year 1
Spend three days a week working in practice, while studying three Design, and two Critical Practice, modules to prepare you for your Thesis in year 2.