Architecture MPhil

Royal College of Art

The Architecture research programme focuses on practice-led and interdisciplinary research with tangible public and social impact. Working at the intersection of theory, research, media and critical-spatial-practices, the MPhil/ PhD programme in Architecture supports experimental practice-led and interdisciplinary theses aiming at tangible public and social impact. The programme fosters architectural research at the intersection of history and theory, critical ecologies, new materialism, and digital culture. The candidates will be investigating the diverse ways in which architects, artists, filmmakers, curators and other cultural producers have negotiated crises associated with globalization, migration and statelessness, the hauntings of empire and the colonial present, new digital technologies, and the growing biopolitical conflicts around ecology and climate change. We strongly encourage candidates to think about the performativity of space, or architectural forms and practices in their interrelation to the climate crisis, social movements and institutional change. We support written academic research in the history and theory of architecture and new media of exploration and documentation. We are especially interested in practice-led research, which could involve an architectural project, a work of heritage preservation, community work, an artistic practice, an exhibition, or a film production. Our programme is relevant to diverse research careers in academia, spatial practice, curation, publishing and critical conservation. We encourage establishing real world collaborations with industry-based research groups, leading design practices, policymakers, social and environmental justice groups, human rights organisations and cultural institutions.