MArch Architecture
Belfast, United Kingdom
Master degree
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
30 Jun 2026
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 27,600 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* International fee
Key Summary
An exciting, creative Master’s degree with accreditation from the ARB and RIBA, for students with a first degree in architecture who wish to progress their studies to final qualification as a practising architect.
Course Content
Your focus will be to investigate the relationships between critical practice, design and research in the making of architectural proposals. The work produced throughout this two year Master’s is a collaborative effort between you, award winning practicing architects and our academic staff.
Our studio is divided up into a number of thematic studio groups, each led by a pair of tutors. Each of the groups also feature an expert external ‘consultant’ who will contribute to teaching throughout the year.
This course encourages lateral thinking, problem solving, creativity and engagement with issues in a self-critical design led process. It is broad in its engagement as is architecture addressing societal issues as diverse as our survival on the planet and local engagement with culture and craft - from the making of an entire city to the design of a door handle.
Through exposing you to many ways of seeing the world as a designer, ultimately the master’s programme challenges you to define your own voice as an architect enabling you to be critically self-aware of your future practice.
What will excite you?
You’ll be engaging with real projects, real clients, local communities, international collaborators and conversing with renowned architects in the development of your own projects alongside embarking on worldwide field trips . Our students have gone to places such as Munich, Genoa, Barcelona, Istanbul and Oslo to look at how other cultures shape their built environment.
The Environment
You will be based in Belfast, a textbook and laboratory for architecture. It is a city the size of a town, full of compelling history and steeped in traditions of craft and making.
You’ll enjoy a healthy staff to student ratio, good studios, where you’ll each have your own space with excellent workshops and technicians to support you in developing your work.
Academic Literacy Module
An optional, complementary module for non-native speakers of English. Designed to support English language and academic skills development with a focus on specific academic skills related to the students' area of study.
Please Note:
Applications for this course received after 30th June may not be accepted. In addition, a deposit will be required to secure a place.
Architecture Highlights
Student Experience
MArch I includes a compulsory, self-funded field-trip, usually to a mainland European city.
Professional Accreditations
- Architects’ Registration Board (ARB) recognised Part 2 degree
- Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) recognised Part 2 degree
Course Structure
The focus of the MArch is to investigate and develop the relationships between critical practise, design and research through the making of unique and challenging architectural propositions.
The studio is divided up into thematic groups which collectively encompass a broad range of approaches to architectural design. The groups reflect the expertise and preoccupations of the tutors and consultants involved. Accordingly, the briefs developed and the work produced to become a collaborative investigation between practitioners, students and academics into some of the spatial issues affecting the production of the built environment, both on this island and elsewhere.
Students are offered a choice of group at the beginning of MArch I and then again at the beginning of MArch II, their thesis year. It is imagined that they will choose a different group each year to make the most of the breadth and depth offered by the studio system. Choices are also offered for humanities and technologies dissertations.
The four semesters of the Master's programme are thought of as a single entity, within which diverse challenges allow the student to identify core strengths and to develop these through open discussion with a strong emphasis on self-directed study and ambitious agendas.
Modules
Year 1
- M.Arch Studio 1 (30 CATS)
- M.Arch Studio 2 (30 CATS)
- Architectural Research: Humanities
- Dissertation (30 CATS) (project work)
- Architectural Research: Technology
- Dissertation (30 CATS) (project work)
Year 2
- M.Arch Studio 3 (30 CATS)
- M.Arch Studio 4 (30 CATS)
- Thesis Research (30 CATS)
- Professional Skills (30 CATS)
How do I fund my study?
The Department for the Economy will provide a tuition fee loan of up to £6,500 per NI / EU student for postgraduate study. Tuition fee loan information.
A postgraduate loans system in the UK offers government-backed student loans of up to £11,836 for taught and research Masters courses in all subject areas (excluding Initial Teacher Education/PGCE, where undergraduate student finance is available). Criteria, eligibility, repayment and application information are available on the UK government website.
Completion of the MArch constitutes Part II of the RIBA/ARB criteria leading to eligibility to sit Part III, the Professional Examination, and registration as an architect in the UK.
Where you might be in five years?
Anywhere in the world, in one of many different disciplines.
Our graduates have ended up designing skyscrapers in Hong Kong and the Middle East, emergency housing for refugees in Africa, film sets for Hollywood productions and computer games, as well as working as urban planners worldwide, teaching in universities or becoming artists and photographers.
Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award for extra-curricular skills
In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognized from a world-leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.