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The MArch is designed to equip you with the skills you need to succeed in your chosen career. 

The architecture programmes at Northumbria are all framed in relation to a common ethos and approach.

Our Ethos

Contextual Awareness: The exploration and importance of place, reading the context and being responsive to site as a precursor to change and adaptation.

Environmental Literacy: In response to the climate emergency, environmental literacy will be embedded in every module assignment and assessment.

Our Approach

Design Led: Creativity is central to architectural practice and is developed through studio practice as a research method.

Authentic Learning: Projects will engage with real-world issues, learning through doing, and working beyond the confines of the institution.

Constructive Alignment: Connecting strands of knowledge to form an integrated approach to the subject and developing holistic architectural propositions.

 

Why choose Northumbria to study Architecture (MArch)? 

  • Within this framework, the full time Master of Architecture (RIBA Part 2) and the part-time Degree Apprenticeship (RIBA Parts 2 & 3), offer distinctive, complementary pathways for students.
  • Top University - Architecture at Northumbria is ranked Top 25 in the UK by the Complete University Guide for 2024.
  • A Research Powerhouse - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning is ranked 11th in the UK for research power out of 38 submissions (REF, 2021). This is a rise of 13 places compared to 2014 – the joint highest rise in the sector.
  • Student Rated - Over 94% of students studying Architecture at Northumbria thought staff were good at explaining things and that their assessment feedback was often on time (NSS, 2023).

     

 

Course Information

Credits
30

Level of Study
Undergraduate

Mode of Study
2 years full-time

Department
Architecture and Built Environment

Location
City Campus, Northumbria University

City
Newcastle

Start
September 2024

Fee Information

Module Information

Architecture MArch / Portfolio Guide

We are interested in what inspires you, who inspires you and how you communicate that enthusiasm through your work.

Department / Architecture and Built Environment

Architecture and Built Environment encompasses all of our teaching, research and enterprise in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Quantity and Building Surveying, Real Estate and Housing.

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Department

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Portfolio Guidelines
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Festival fever gripped Northumbria at Design for Planet Festival 2022. 

Read the news story.
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Double Book Publication: Architecture Past, Present & Future by Northumbria academics. 

Read the news story.
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Success for Architecture students at RIBA Awards.

Read the news story.
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NU Architecture department develop life-like 3D model of Newcastle.

Read the news story.

Graduate Showcase / REVEAL

The end of year showcase for our Creative Programmes.

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Watch as Northumbria students showcase there work in 2022 Reveal show

Discover NU World / A virtual journey through everything Northumbria has to offer.

Explore our immersive 360 tours, informative subject videos, inspirational student profiles, ground-breaking research, and a range of life at university blogs videos and articles.

Delve Deeper / Discover more about life at Northumbria

Discover more / Explore Northumbria University

Take a look at what Northumbria has to offer and discover what studying with us can do for you.

Entry Requirements Modules Overview Fees, Funding  and Scholarships Apply Now

Entry Requirements 2024/25

Standard Entry

Applicants should normally have:

A minimum of a 2.2 honours degree in architecture from an RIBA validated / ARB accredited school of architecture, or equivalent.

A minimum of three months post-Part 1 experience in an architecture practice is preferred, but applications are considered on an individual basis, particularly where transferrable skills and applicable knowledge can be demonstrated.

Applicants are required to submit a digital portfolio with their application.

International Qualifications:

If you have studied a non UK qualification, you can see how your qualifications compare to the standard entry criteria, by selecting the country that you received the qualification in, from our country pages. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry  

English Language Requirements:

International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).

*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS.  You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you will need in our English Language section. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications

Fees and Funding 2024/25 Entry

UK Fee in Year 1: £9,250

* The maximum tuition fee that we are permitted to charge for UK students is set by government. Tuition fees may increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, these are subject to government regulations and in line with inflation.


EU Fee in Year 1: £18,250

International Fee in Year 1: £18,250


Please see the main Funding Pages for 24/25 scholarship information.

 


ADDITIONAL COSTS

Specialist equipment/materials - drafting and modelling equipment - approximate cost £200:Optional specialist equipment/materials - modelling materials - approximate cost £200:Print costs - reports, A0 posters, A3 weekly outputs - approximate cost £150:Final projects - models - £50.

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

Modules Overview 2024/25

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

Year one Year two

Year one

KA5041 -

Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

KA6044 -

Design Project 1: Experimentation (30 Credits)

In this module you will develop and demonstrate the ability critically to appraise, understand the nature of, and develop design briefs. You will develop your creativity and criticality in assessment of the complexities of the project’s cultural and social context; and propose and justify a design strategy. This module is designed to create spaces for meaningful ‘play’, to help you to embrace the ‘mess’ and ‘risk’ of practising as a fundamental part of the creative process, and to recognise, analyse and learn from the heuristic and happenstance as much as the preconceived. You will be facilitated to and engage with self-reflection in developing your approach to architectural design.

More information

KA6045 -

Design Project 2: Speculation (30 Credits)

You will explore the discipline as a practical and theoretical subject, be exposed to the social function of architecture, and the constraints architects operate within. Creativity in this module is expressed as a social phenomenon as well as an artistic one. You will also develop your skills in being able to: critically appraise and develop design briefs; make assessments of and respond to the project’s contingencies and complexities; to communicate your work to an audience other than your peers and your tutor; and develop design strategies that result in sophisticated and appropriate design solutions.

More information

KA6046 -

Architectural Research Methods (30 Credits)

Lectures will discuss research principles and concepts; academic theory and skills will be contextualised to an architectural idiom through case study examples of recent and current research projects.
Working in research seminar groups, will help frame the subject of your own, self-selected research proposal. You will identify the key researchers and seminal research, current ‘state of the art’, and any ‘gap in the knowledge’ in your chosen field or subject; and produce your research project’s methodology which you will then undertake in year 2.

More information

KA6047 -

Practice Management and Law (30 Credits)

Architecture as an agent of change means cultivating self-reflective, critical practitioners equipped with the skills and knowledge to make strategic and informed choices. You will consider both the value and the limits of your experience, valuing the contributions of different forms of knowledge, and when and how to engage with and motivate others.
This module frames the strategic professional and cultural contexts in which we operate and how these might align with your own emerging philosophy and practice of architecture. You will consider your own professional aspirations and responsibilities, and develop academic and professional skills including, effective communication in different settings and to different audiences; intrinsic motivation; self-reflection and critical thinking; ethics and social responsibility.

More information

Year two

KA7011 -

Design Project 3: Analysis and Proposal (40 Credits)

You will improve your skills and creativity in design; the ability critically to appraise, understand the nature of, and develop design briefs; to analyse and make an assessment of the complexities of the project’s context; and propose and justify a design strategy. You will learn to engage with critical reflection on the cultural and social context of your area of study. Through independent and supported inquiry you will develop the design proposal up to sketch scheme (equivalent of RIBA Workstage 2) in response to your exploration. This learning will be evidenced in a portfolio that demonstrates your theoretical position, programme context, brief development and the early stages of your design proposal.
This module will be supported by workshops and tutorials, and regular reviews, where you are expected to be critical engaged in the process.
Verbal, written and drawn feedback is provided formatively at tutorials and strategic reviews throughout the semester, to provide ongoing guidance and to establish opportunities for reflection and independent learning. Summative assessment will be provided at the end of the semester providing guidance to be taken into DP4.

More information

KA7012 -

Design Project 4 - Realisation (50 Credits)

This module is the realisation of the design thesis project, which will engage you as an independent learner in the development of a complex and integrated design proposal, based on the inquiry undertaken in dp3. During this phase of the year-long thesis project you will engage in a rigorous design process, developing your concept (established in dp3) into a coherent and complex design solution. With support from your design tutors you will utilise the skills and knowledge learnt during your education to date, and you will be expected to engage with an increased level of complexity and criticality that involves, amongst other exploration: an engagement with context (physical, poetic, theoretical); research into precedents and building typologies (spatial, and organisational); development of building programme, building form, spatial sophistication, materiality and appropriate detail, working together in an integrated and holistic way; consideration of regulatory and legal constraints; technological choices and comparisons and coherently communicated through verbal, written and graphical (both 2 and 3D formats)- all commensurate with level 7 scholarship.

More information

KA7013 -

Student Selected Investigation (30 Credits)

You will learn skills that enable independent learning through research and advanced scholarship, applied to the discipline of architecture. More specifically you will acquire the knowledge and skills to identify an area of research interest and to be able to use appropriate methodologies to collect data addressing the research imperative. You will learn how to employ analytical skills to systematically evaluate data and to draw conclusions from this data and ultimately be able to communicate the findings through appropriate means.

More information

KA7056 -

Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home institution can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject area in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’.
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

Modules Overview 2025/26

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

Year one Year two

Year one

KA5041 -

Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

KA6044 -

Design Project 1: Experimentation (30 Credits)

In this module you will develop and demonstrate the ability critically to appraise, understand the nature of, and develop design briefs. You will develop your creativity and criticality in assessment of the complexities of the project’s cultural and social context; and propose and justify a design strategy. This module is designed to create spaces for meaningful ‘play’, to help you to embrace the ‘mess’ and ‘risk’ of practising as a fundamental part of the creative process, and to recognise, analyse and learn from the heuristic and happenstance as much as the preconceived. You will be facilitated to and engage with self-reflection in developing your approach to architectural design.

More information

KA6045 -

Design Project 2: Speculation (30 Credits)

You will explore the discipline as a practical and theoretical subject, be exposed to the social function of architecture, and the constraints architects operate within. Creativity in this module is expressed as a social phenomenon as well as an artistic one. You will also develop your skills in being able to: critically appraise and develop design briefs; make assessments of and respond to the project’s contingencies and complexities; to communicate your work to an audience other than your peers and your tutor; and develop design strategies that result in sophisticated and appropriate design solutions.

More information

KA6046 -

Architectural Research Methods (30 Credits)

Lectures will discuss research principles and concepts; academic theory and skills will be contextualised to an architectural idiom through case study examples of recent and current research projects.
Working in research seminar groups, will help frame the subject of your own, self-selected research proposal. You will identify the key researchers and seminal research, current ‘state of the art’, and any ‘gap in the knowledge’ in your chosen field or subject; and produce your research project’s methodology which you will then undertake in year 2.

More information

KA6047 -

Practice Management and Law (30 Credits)

Architecture as an agent of change means cultivating self-reflective, critical practitioners equipped with the skills and knowledge to make strategic and informed choices. You will consider both the value and the limits of your experience, valuing the contributions of different forms of knowledge, and when and how to engage with and motivate others.
This module frames the strategic professional and cultural contexts in which we operate and how these might align with your own emerging philosophy and practice of architecture. You will consider your own professional aspirations and responsibilities, and develop academic and professional skills including, effective communication in different settings and to different audiences; intrinsic motivation; self-reflection and critical thinking; ethics and social responsibility.

More information

Year two

KA7011 -

Design Project 3: Analysis and Proposal (40 Credits)

You will improve your skills and creativity in design; the ability critically to appraise, understand the nature of, and develop design briefs; to analyse and make an assessment of the complexities of the project’s context; and propose and justify a design strategy. You will learn to engage with critical reflection on the cultural and social context of your area of study. Through independent and supported inquiry you will develop the design proposal up to sketch scheme (equivalent of RIBA Workstage 2) in response to your exploration. This learning will be evidenced in a portfolio that demonstrates your theoretical position, programme context, brief development and the early stages of your design proposal.
This module will be supported by workshops and tutorials, and regular reviews, where you are expected to be critical engaged in the process.
Verbal, written and drawn feedback is provided formatively at tutorials and strategic reviews throughout the semester, to provide ongoing guidance and to establish opportunities for reflection and independent learning. Summative assessment will be provided at the end of the semester providing guidance to be taken into DP4.

More information

KA7012 -

Design Project 4 - Realisation (50 Credits)

This module is the realisation of the design thesis project, which will engage you as an independent learner in the development of a complex and integrated design proposal, based on the inquiry undertaken in dp3. During this phase of the year-long thesis project you will engage in a rigorous design process, developing your concept (established in dp3) into a coherent and complex design solution. With support from your design tutors you will utilise the skills and knowledge learnt during your education to date, and you will be expected to engage with an increased level of complexity and criticality that involves, amongst other exploration: an engagement with context (physical, poetic, theoretical); research into precedents and building typologies (spatial, and organisational); development of building programme, building form, spatial sophistication, materiality and appropriate detail, working together in an integrated and holistic way; consideration of regulatory and legal constraints; technological choices and comparisons and coherently communicated through verbal, written and graphical (both 2 and 3D formats)- all commensurate with level 7 scholarship.

More information

KA7013 -

Student Selected Investigation (30 Credits)

You will learn skills that enable independent learning through research and advanced scholarship, applied to the discipline of architecture. More specifically you will acquire the knowledge and skills to identify an area of research interest and to be able to use appropriate methodologies to collect data addressing the research imperative. You will learn how to employ analytical skills to systematically evaluate data and to draw conclusions from this data and ultimately be able to communicate the findings through appropriate means.

More information

KA7056 -

Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home institution can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject area in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’.
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

To start your application, simply select the month you would like to start your course.

Architecture MArch

START MONTH
YEAR

SEPTEMBER

2024

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Any Questions?

Our Applicant Services team will be happy to help.  They can be contacted on 0191 406 0901 or by using our Contact Form.



Accessibility and Student Inclusion

Northumbria University is committed to developing an inclusive, diverse and accessible campus and wider University community and are determined to ensure that opportunities we provide are open to all.

We are proud to work in partnership with AccessAble to provide Detailed Access Guides to our buildings and facilities across our City, Coach Lane and London Campuses. A Detailed Access Guide lets you know what access will be like when you visit somewhere. It looks at the route you will use getting in and what is available inside. All guides have Accessibility Symbols that give you a quick overview of what is available, and photographs to show you what to expect. The guides are produced by trained surveyors who visit our campuses annually to ensure you have trusted and accurate information.

You can use Northumbria’s AccessAble Guides anytime to check the accessibility of a building or facility and to plan your routes and journeys. Search by location, building or accessibility feature to find the information you need. 

We are dedicated to helping students who may require additional support during their student journey and offer 1-1 advice and guidance appropriate to individual requirements. If you feel you may need additional support you can find out more about what we offer here where you can also contact us with any questions you may have:

Accessibility support

Student Inclusion support




All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

Your Learning Experience

Find out about our distinctive approach at 
www.northumbria.ac.uk/exp

Admissions Terms and Conditions
northumbria.ac.uk/terms
Fees and Funding
northumbria.ac.uk/fees
Admissions Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/adpolicy

Admissions Complaints Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/complaints


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Graduates of the University are entitled to a 20% alumni discount on Masters study at Northumbria (T&C’s apply).

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If you want to give your career an extra edge, change direction or simply want to love what you do, have a look at our full range of Masters Programmes

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