Master of Architecture

Learn to develop your own design methods with our Master of Architecture (MArch).

Our approach to teaching is based on a set of values that redefine the function of architecture in terms of the human relationships that underlie society. And how people really live, relate to each other and use the physical context of their environment.

You will develop basic skills which relate to the expanded world of architecture. In particular photography, film-making and devising narratives.

You will build on your imagination, individuality, and inspiration. And develop an experiential understanding of the world.

In looking for new approaches to problems you will gain qualities such as:

• independence
• originality
• verbal fluency
• breadth of interest
• impulsiveness
• expansiveness.

Our students are regularly recognised in national and international prizes and awards. They go on to work for many of the best-known practices in the country.

Learning and assessment

Your learning is based on a programme of individual discussions and workshops with your tutors. Studio research will be complemented by a series of challenging talks from visiting academics and practitioners.

Study modules

Compulsory modules

Advanced Architectural Design Research (30 credits)

Project-based learning is used in a studio environment to individually and collectively explore architectural design problems.

The first semester is always a rigid organised fabric of reviews, workshops, tutorials and deadlines with students working both individually and in groups. Within this framework students engage in two strands of investigation:

• an in-depth research into the tectonic possibilities of a new material/s; and
• the analysis of a real site with the aim of generating a series of questions that demand an architectural response.

By the end of the semester, each student is expected to present to a jury of invited critics a catalogue both conceptual and material, from which they will make a project, in a coherent manner using appropriate media. This jury provides formative feedback for students on their learning.

Advanced Architectural Design Representation and Realisation (50 credits)

Urban Cultures (20 credits)

Architecture and the City (20 credits)

Research Methods

This module prepares students for their dissertation project. A set of generic postgraduate school-wide lectures on research paradigms, methodology and research tools is followed by seminars in which students develop a synopsis for their dissertation. The module is assessed by means of a review of a relevant past Masters dissertation and a synopsis proposal.

Dissertation (50 credits)

Workshops and lectures

The first-semester design studio is complimented by a series of challenging, group and individual-based workshops, Urban Cultures, on drawing, model making and movie making, run by the tutors. Students are expected to engage in questioning and debate with the lecturers and are required to produce a series of responses in drawn and written forms, which contribute to their design portfolio, around a theme related to the lecture series.

In the second semester, there is a further series of lectures on Architecture and the City given by external academics and practitioners. Students are expected to engage in questioning and debate with the lecturers and are required to produce a series of responses in drawn and written forms to exercises set by the visiting lecturer. The results are bound into a book, which contributes to and supports their design portfolio, around a theme related to the lecture series.

Dissertation

Individual students will work with a supervisor on projects that have developed from the work of the design studio. Students are expected to produce original, relevant and valid projects. The dissertation can take a written or design-based form. In the latter case, a written commentary is expected as part of the dissertation submission. Students submit their dissertation projects at the end of the summer vacation and are expected to hold an exhibition of their work in the Department or elsewhere as agreed.

Learning and teaching

You will work individually and in groups, exploring a new kind of architecture. Methods of exploration include techniques associated with the film industry, such as:

• collage making
• optical composites
• physical models
• drawings, both by hand and computer.

Your tutor will help you to find areas of interest and you will develop an individual approach to the:

• brief
• programme
• and the realisation of a project.

Teaching is mostly design-studio based, with project-based learning in a studio environment. You will also take part in a series of lectures, reviews, tutorials and site visits.

Research

The Oxford Brookes School of Architecture is a major player in international research in the fields of architecture and the built environment. The school includes the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (OISD) as its primary research vehicle.

On gaining the MA, if you are interested in continuing to the PhD programme, we will encourage you to do so.