Architectural Association - School of Architecture

Taught MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (Projective Cities)

Phase 1

Term 1

Studio 1: Parts, Units and Groups: Analysis of Architectural Precedents / Atlas of Welfare

Tutors: Roozbeh Elias-Azar, Cristina Gamboa, Georgia Hablützel, Platon Issaias, Hamed Khosravi, Dor Schindler

Consultant: Gianna Bottema

External Advisors: The Autonomy Institute, Julian Siravo.

This module builds students’ understanding of the case study method, as well as introducing concepts of fundamental types and descriptive, formative and analytical diagrams. Students are given a series of historic and contemporary case studies as a starting point; they then define their preliminary research interest and study other examples of collective living through comparative analyses of architectural precedents.

Seminar 1: Architectural Theories, Design and Design Methods

Tutors: Georgia Hablützel, Platon Issaias, Hamed Khosravi, Dor Schindler and guest lecturers

This module introduces students to architectural theories and design methods. Seminars focus on the architectural scale and introduce several research and design methodologies, as well as theories or themes critical to the programme such as type, typology, drawing, diagram and welfare. This provides students with a systematic understanding of disciplinary knowledge and methodical design in architecture, as well as a critical survey of the historiography and history of ideas framed by typological reasoning.

Academic Writing 1

Tutor: Amelia Stevens

This course introduces students to academic writing and complements the content in Seminar 1. Sessions take place once a week, and individual tutorials are given to discuss any writing-in-progress on days when no seminars or group sessions take place. These sessions are also available to Phase 2 students. The aim of the course is to familiarise students with the conventions of academic writing, the role writing plays in formulating a research argument and how writing differs when examining a case study or text source.

Term 2

Studio 2: Scales: From Room to The City / City Of Welfare

Tutors: Roozbeh Elias-Azar, Cristina Gamboa, Georgia Hablützel, Platon Issaias, Hamed Khosravi, Dor Schindler

Consultant: Gianna Bottema

External Advisors: The Autonomy Institute, Julian Siravo

This module focuses on multi-scalar investigation of the interdisciplinary relationship between architecture, urban design and urban planning with welfare provision. Studio 2 builds on the concept of formative diagrams in relation to fundamental types, using this as the basis from which to analyse models of collective living, forms of sharing and welfare. Here, the idea of type and typology is expanded to the study of the city. Studio 2 also introduces students to the conventions, parameters, processes and limits of urban planning. The aim is to familiarise students with concepts of typological conflict and transformation, and to introduce them to the methodologies used in urban design and planning. Through this they understand the sociopolitical, economic, ecological, spatial and physical parameters and processes that inform the development of an urban plan.

Seminar 2: Projects of the City / Case Studies

Tutors: Georgia Hablützel, Platon Issaias, Hamed Khosravi, Dor Schindler and guest lecturers

Seminar 2 discusses theories of the city in relationship to critical architectural practice and is divided into two parts. The first explores the development of disciplinary knowledge about architecture and urbanism from the 19th century to the present day. The second presents scholarly research in a series of significant contemporary case studies. This allows students to formulate their individual research propositions for the Thesis Studio in Term 3. The aim of the module is to provide students with a survey of theories that conceptualise the city – with a particular focus on the contemporary city – through its architecture and architectural projects.

Academic Writing 2

Tutor: Amelia Stevens

This course complements the content in Seminar 2. Sessions take place once a week, and individual tutorials are given to discuss any writing-in-progress on days when no seminars or group sessions take place. These sessions are also available to Phase 2 students. The aim of the course is to enable students to write literature reviews, to assess current knowledge and to position their own writing within the field.

Term 3

Thesis Studio: Representations, Investigations and Diagrams

Tutors: Georgia Hablützel, Platon Issaias, Hamed Khosravi, Dor Schindler

Consultant: Gianna Bottema

The Thesis Studio is a combined design studio and seminar course in which students develop their dissertation proposal and start their dissertation. The Thesis Studio builds on the hypothesis that critical and speculative projects on the city – whether practice- and/or theory-oriented – manifest an ‘idea of the city’ that can be understood through corresponding typological and social diagrams. Seminars discuss these ideas and different historical, theoretical and epistemological perspectives of the city, and will examine critical projects from the recent past, including exemplary proposals, representations, theories and reflections. The Studio examines how diverse readings of the city can define its formative and fundamental aspects; it introduces students to the ‘idea of the city’ and the relationships between and within spatial and social diagrams. Students develop a clear focus for enquiry and define the theoretical or physical context of their dissertation proposal.

Academic Writing 3

Tutor: Amelia Stevens
The writing workshop is scheduled once a week during the term and complements the Thesis Studio. On days when no seminars or group sessions take place, individual tutorials are available to discuss any writing-in-progress; these are also offered to Phase 2 students. The aim is to enable students to write an academic abstract for a research thesis.

Phase 2

Terms 4 and 5

Dissertation

Tutors: Platon Issaias, Hamed Khosravi and guest advisors
The dissertation is the final and most substantial piece of work in the programme; it begins at the end of Phase 1 and is developed throughout Phase 2. Dissertations consist of a critical theoretical argument and a series of comprehensive design proposals, and must demonstrate proficiency and rigour in research, design methods and techniques as well as knowledge of the subject context, literature and precedents. Students conduct independent research under the close guidance of their supervisors, with the support of other programme staff and specialist consultants as required. The supervisor’s role is to aid the development of ideas and to encourage critical and independent thinking.

Since its establishment in 1847, the Architectural Association (AA) has revolutionised architectural education and nurtured an international community of prize-winning thinkers, architects and innovators – among them, recipients of 15 Stirling Prizes, 4 Pritzker Prizes and 22 RIBA Gold Medals. 

The AA is a school like no other. It provides its students with a dizzying breadth of choice and opportunity, lending the school both energy and extraordinary resilience.We are a community that extends beyond the confines of our campuses in London and Dorset to compose an international network of intrepid students, alumni and professionals at the forefront of industries from architecture to the sciences and arts.

Five terms of study are divided into two phases. Phase 1, a three-term academic year beginning each autumn, introduces key design and research methodologies through studios, seminars and academic writing modules. Workshops and guest seminars supplement the core teaching within this phase, and Term 3 is dedicated to the development of individual dissertation proposals. Phase 2 begins the following autumn and concludes in March of the second academic year; during this phase, candidates conduct an independent research project that forms their final dissertation.