Architectural Design MPhil/PhD

UCL (University College London)

This MPhil/PhD course encourages the development of architectural research through the combination of a creative project and a written text. We understand drawing and building as key parts of the process of developing theory, and consider writing to be as much a part of the design process as drawing. This MPhil/PhD course encourages the development of architectural research through the creative combination of designing and writing. A research-by-architectural-design thesis has two inter-related elements of equal importance - a project and a text, that share a theme and a productive relationship. Integrating varied research methods, the thesis emphasises the creative interdependence of drawing, writing, and building in the development of innovative practices and theories of architecture. There is an option of auditing modules from Architectural History MA as well as from the Situated Practice MA. Candidates are also encouraged to take advantage of the variety of skills development courses run by the UCL Doctoral School and the UCL Centre for Languages & International Education. (Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. Students are expected to be independent thinkers, to make an original contribution to knowledge and expand the disciplinary discourse in the field of inquiry. While most students come from an architectural background, we have welcomed artists, a medical practitioner, a site-specific poet, geographers, a theatre practitioner, and urbanists to the course. Students should be reflective within the shifting boundaries of their discipline and the rapidly changing nature of the architectural profession, and aware of how these are affected by societal and institutional challenges. The research proposal is crucial to our decision about the application since it demonstrates the student’s ability to identify and articulate an independent line of research inquiry.