The Bartlett School of Architecture Undergraduate Guide 2024-25

We’re a world-renowned architecture school with a long tradition of innovation and creativity.

Our name stands for provocative ideas, boundary-pushing research and leading graduates.

The Bartlett is part of UCL, a topranking university for both teaching and research, where architecture has been taught since 1841.

The Bartlett is ranked #1 in the world for architecture and the built environment, and remains #1 in the UK for the ninth year in a row, in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2023. It also boasts more RIBA medal winners amongst its graduates than any other institution.

We teach over 400 undergraduate students across three state-of-theart spaces – 22 Gordon Street in Bloomsbury, Central London and our two sites based in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – Here East and UCL’s brand new UCL East campus.

Our undergraduate degrees attract students from all over the world, who have the creativity, skills and drive to design, shape and engineer the built environment of the future.

Life at The Bartlett

World-class facilities

With London sites at 22 Gordon Street in Bloomsbury, and at UCL East and Here East in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – we work with students in environments that encourage and facilitate innovation. B-made, The Bartlett Manufacturing and Design Exchange, offers students a combination of workshop facilities and expertise unrivalled in London, whilst at Here East and UCL East there’s the space, technology and expertise to test ideas and learn in an interdisciplinary environment.

Boundary-pushing lectures

Each year, leaders in architecture and related industries share their practice and expertise as part of The Bartlett’s International Lecture Series.

Other regular events include Prospectives, a History and Theory lecture series. We also host many one-off lectures, conferences and open design reviews throughout the year.

Big exhibitions

Our annual exhibitions of student work are famous around the world. Undergraduate students have the opportunity to exhibit in London as part of The Bartlett Summer Show and also online, with their work available to a global audience via the school’s award-winning digital exhibition platform.

In London

The school is part of The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at UCL, a world-leading university based in the heart of London. Our students enjoy The Bartlett’s specialist environment alongside libraries, sports facilities, bars and cafés befitting a university of UCL’s size and prestige.

Across all four degrees, we encourage our students to engage with London as an environment and a cultural melting pot. The school is within walking distance of some of the UK’s flagship cultural institutions, including the British Museum and the British Library.

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“The Bartlett School of Architecture is a global leader in the teaching of architectural design, theory and practice. Our students engage in an inclusive and participatory education, giving them the tools to design for a more socially and environmentally just future for the built environment.”

Professor

Director of The Bartlett School of Architecture

Amy Kulper,

Take a unique approach to the built environment and design with Architecture BSc at The Bartlett – a degree world-renowed for both creativity and rigour

Programme Directors

Ana Monrabal-Cook

Duration

Taught over three years, full time. Entry requirements

AAB with no specific subjects. Contextual offers are also made for this programme. Comprehensive portfolio of creative work required at interview stage.

Highlights

→ Learn the skills to practise architecture, exchanging ideas with world-leading practitioners and academics

→ Work in state-of-the-art bespoke facilities – our studios and workshops are designed for creative flexibility and idea generation

→ Take part in the UK’s biggest student architecture exhibition, The Bartlett Summer Show.

About the programme

This programme teaches students the skills to practise architecture and an understanding of how to use those skills imaginatively in different contexts.

As an architecture student at The Bartlett School of Architecture, your time will be spent in both the studio and the workshop, with approximately 70% of the programme taught and assessed through your design portfolio.

Design teaching is delivered by leading practitioners, specialists and academics in small groups or on a one-to-one tutorial basis with weekly review sessions.

Architecture at The Bartlett introduces you to the wider societal forces that affect architectural production, stressing the indivisibility of the architectural, cultural, professional and technological realms. Alongside design teaching, our students take core modules in technology, history and theory, and professional studies.

Architecture BSc (ARB/RIBA Part 1)

Accreditation

This programme is accredited by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Architects Registration Board (ARB). Students who successfully complete the programme are exempt from Part 1 of the ARB/RIBA examinations.

Careers

Our graduates benefit from excellent employment opportunities. Destinations vary from internationally renowned offices to small-scale specialist practices.

Many of our graduates continue with their training to become registered architects by taking a year out in an architect’s office in the UK or overseas, before applying for their Architecture MArch (ARB/RIBA Part 2). Some architecture graduates also use their highly transferable skills in other designrelated fields, such as film-making, web design, game development, illustration and visualisation.

Contact

For admissions enquiries visit: ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/ undergraduate/admissions-enquiries

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“Studying at The Bartlett is rigorous and rewarding for students with confidence, grit and curiosity.”

Annabelle Tan Kai Lin, Architecture Graduate

‘Save the Ice’ by Ernest Chin. Top right: ‘Urban Resurrection’ by Yushen (Harry) Jia. Botttom right: ‘Florida Peak’ by Heba Mohsen.

Architecture MSci (ARB Part 1 & 2)

Develop real-world knowledge and practice alongside sophisticated design research and skills with our five-year integrated degree

Programme Director

Sara Shafiei

Duration

Taught over five years full time, with a final year on placement. Entry requirements

AAB with no specific subjects. Contextual offers are also made for this programme. Comprehensive portfolio of creative work required at interview stage.

Highlights

→ Work closely with world-class academic tutors and practitioners to explore and research design and construction issues that shape today’s built environment

→ Integrate the development of architectural design skills with an understanding of social and technical environments

→ Learn about architectural practice firsthand during an architectural placement.

About the programme

Architecture MSci integrates the development of architectural design skills with an understanding of the complex social and technical environments in which buildings are produced. The programme guides students to become architects who are expert researchers and are both the initiators of building designs and effective members of the building team.

This design-based degree combines undergraduate and postgraduate architecture and is structured around four years of consecutive study and a final year on placement. In the first four years, students explore the most pressing design and construction challenges facing the built environment, learning how to incorporate specialist disciplinary information with creative sophisticated designs, in response to an annual theme.

The final year of the programme is spent on placement or, if unavailable, students have the option to join the final year of the school’s Architecture MArch programme. Students choosing to exit the programme at the end of Year 3 can obtain Architecture and Practice BSc (ARB Part 1).

Accreditation

Architecture MSci is accredited by the Architects Registration Board (ARB). Students who successfully complete the programme are exempt from Part 1 and Part 2 of the ARB examinations.

Careers

The structure of Architecture MSci encourages close ties with practice from day one, whilst the final-year placement gives students the opportunity to develop real-world experience, build their professional network and knowledge of the industry, and potentially accelerate their earning power.

Contact

For admissions enquiries visit: ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/ undergraduate/admissions-enquiries

Previous: ‘Light Formulating My Halls of Residence’ by Salyme Gunsaya. Top right: ‘Choreography of Environmental Occupation’ by Toby Prest. Bottom right: ‘Sexual Health Centre for the Queer Community’ by Xan Goetzee-Barral.

“We’re proud to be taking a fresh, innovative and groundbreaking approach to training tomorrow’s architects and responding to the need for alternative routes to registration.”

Sara Shafiei, Programme Director

Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies BSc

Combine the study of architecture with complementary modules from across UCL to create a bespoke degree

Programme Director

Elizabeth Dow

Duration

Taught over three years, full time, with a four-year option offering a study abroad year.

Entry requirements

AAB with no specific subjects. Contextual offers are also made for this programme. Comprehensive portfolio of creative work required at interview stage.

Highlights

→ Learn key architectural ideas and spatial strategies at a world-leading architecture school, working in  state-of-the-art, bespoke facilities

→ Tailor your degree to your own fields of interest and take modules from across UCL, nurturing an individually focused skillset

→ Take part in the UK’s biggest student architecture exhibition, The Bartlett Summer Show.

About the programme

This programme is unique in the UK, allowing you to tailor your own degree by taking modules at The Bartlett School of Architecture alongside modules from across UCL, including Anthropology, Art History, Archaeology, Economics, Geography, Languages, Psychology, Philosophy, and Mathematics, to name just a few recent choices.

The greatest strength of the programme is its interdisciplinary nature. As such, Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies is ideal for highly motivated, independent students who are interested in architecture, design, and urban studies, but who also wish to take advantage of electives on offer elsewhere in UCL.

Our students enjoy being part of a select and close-knit community, led by dedicated staff, many of whom are working practitioners in their fields.

Careers

Graduates enjoy excellent employment opportunities and pursue careers in the fields of art, journalism, set and theatre design, film, media, and curatorship, as well as related fields such as environmental and urban planning or project management.

Many of our students go on to study a range of subjects related to the built environment at some of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Recent graduates have studied: Environment and Sustainable Development, Landscape Architecture, Urban and Housing Design, Real Estate, Architectural History, and Public Health.

Please note, this programme is not professionally accredited nor seeking professional accreditation.

Contact

For admissions enquiries visit: ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/ undergraduate/admissions-enquiries

Previous: ‘Turning Inwards’ by Eleanora Levis. Top right: ‘Auditory Strata’ by Tyler Ebanja & Rosy Todd. Bottom right: ‘Drawing a Landscape of Conjecture’ by Henri Khoo.

“This pr ogramme gives students unique freedom. I really enjoyed how intellectually demanding The Bartlett was from day one.”

Alexia Koch, Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate

Engineering & Architectural Design MEng (ARB/RIBA Part 1, JBM, CIBSE)

Fuse architectural knowledge and vision with a robust understanding of engineering for the built environment

Programme Director

Luke Olsen

Duration

Taught over four years, full time Entry requirements

AAA with no specific subjects. Contextual offers are also made for this programme. Comprehensive portfolio of creative work required at interview stage.

Highlights

→ Develop the skills to discover and grow your unique architectural and engineering vision

→ Imagine, evolve, simulate and test your designs, both in the design studio and the lab

→ Learn how to apply advanced virtual tools and physical 3D printing to produce and test prototype designs that transform your ideas into reality

→ Master leading software tools used across the global engineering and architectural industry.

About the programme

Designed in close collaboration with industry leaders, this programme combines the major disciplines of the built environment, architecture and engineering, to prepare future industry leaders.

Placing creativity and design at the centre of engineering education, this multidisciplinary programme gives you the chance to understand and develop advanced architectural design methodologies whilst becoming an expert in how they are augmented and resolved through engineering.

As a student on this programme, you’ll enjoy unrivalled spaces to work in, including new facilities at Here East and UCL East in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as well as centrally located departments in Bloomsbury.

Accreditation

Graduates of this programme gain accreditation with the Architects Registration Board (ARB – Part1), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), and the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM), as well as full validation by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA Part 1).

It is one of the first programmes of its kind in the world to hold accreditation from all three major industry bodies responsible for the design of the built environment.

Careers

The programme equips graduates with the creative engineering and architectural design skills and critical faculties that are key to solving the complex challenges of the built environment.

Contact

For admissions enquiries visit: ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/ undergraduate/admissions-enquiries

Previous: ‘The Baron in the Trees’ by Leo Kauntz Moderini. Top right: ‘Amplexum’ by Lama Ahmed, Sadie Amini, Estelle Beninger, Istvan Herczeg, Hagi Sivithasan, Ruen Zhou. Bottom right: ‘Grip and Control’ by Blanca Mercadal Sola, Tianyu He, Eve Freeston-Chang, Roy Ile, Ana Alonso Banez, Aohua (Daniel) Yang, Celia Wu

“ The pr ogramme reaches into subjects far beyond my first impressions of architecture. There is a space for everyone’s interests to be nurtured - you just need to find your own balance within it.”

Kaia Wells, Engineering & Architectural Design Graduate

H o w t o Apply

How to Apply

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Decide which programme you would like to study

This booklet is just the start. Visit our website, join us for an open day or take a look at our schedule of public events online.

Make sure you understand the entry requirements and are likely to meet them

You’ll find the typical entry requirements detailed in this booklet, but you can find more details online.

Complete your UCAS application before the deadline

Places on our programmes are in high demand, so make sure you get your UCAS application in on time.

→ The deadline for 2024 entry is 31 January 2024.

Get ready to share your work with us

If you meet the UCAS deadline and are judged to meet the entry requirements, our admissions team will invite you to share your work with us by uploading a small portfolio of of your creative work to the UCL Applicant Portal page.

Your submission will be assessed and if you’re successful you’ll be invited for an interview.

Your interview

Interviews at The Bartlett are our opportunity to get to know you, your work and why you want to study with us, but also your chance to get to know the school.

If you’re invited for interview, you’ll be asked to provide a short personal statement, which summarises why you’d like to study architecture with us. You will also be asked to prepare your portfolio of creative and original work.

Await a decision

Decisions will be made as soon as possible after your interview, however at certain points in the year the decision may take longer due to the high volume of applications we receive.

Your Portfolio

What is a portfolio?

A portfolio is a collection of work that showcases your skills, personality and creative potential. It should illustrate your passions and obsessions, as well as your ability to research and develop ideas using different materials, themes and techniques.

What makes a good portfolio?

Whether you are preparing ten items to upload or a physical portfolio to present to us, we are interested in seeing your ability to think creatively, intellectually and three-dimensionally, and to draw and utilise a range of different media. Your work should allow us to see how you start with an idea and develop it.

What should I include?

You might want to include sketchbooks, drawings, collages, photography, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, models, films, soundscapes, graphic design, product design, fashion design or even creative writing. We particularly like to see work completed outside of A-level, IB or GCSE coursework, which might include work from summer schools, internships or your hobbies.

If you’re attending an interview in person, try to bring original work. For digital portfolios it’s important to scan or photograph your work at a high resolution, so the qualities of the pieces are not lost.

How many pieces should my portfolio include?

Unlike other schools, we don’t prescribe how many items to include in your portfolio, nor the medium of the work. Instead we ask you to present a selection of no more than 20 pieces of original work that show the very best of your creative ability, at least some of which demonstrate your ability to draw and make.

Can I present process work?

We don’t want to only see finished pieces. Show us how you work through ideas and include the process, from your initial inspiration and sketches, failed attempts and where your ideas have most recently progressed to.

Please do not send or upload a portfolio to the school when you first apply. Our admissions team will contact you with an invitation to share your work.

We run a dynamic programme of events, lectures and exhibitions throughout the year, many of which are open to the public and of interest to prospective students.

Open Days

This year, the school will be running open days for prospective students in the summer and autumn terms as part of UCL-wide Open Days.

Lectures

All of our lectures are free to attend, and many take place on digital platforms, including Zoom and YouTube. Check our website to find out the latest events we have planned.

Exhibitions

Each summer, autumn and winter we host major exhibitions of architectural student work, which attract thousands of visitors a year. The Bartlett also displays its exhibitions in an innovative online space, including our Summer Show which displays undergraduate student projects. Visitors can experience our student work in a new way by visiting www.bartlettarchucl.com. Our shows are an excellent way to discover more about the school’s unique philosophy and ethos.

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The Bartlett School of Architecture Cultivating radical and innovative ideas in architecture since 1841

Disclaimer

The information in this booklet is intended as a general guide to the programmes offered at The Bartlett School of Architecture. Although the information provided is believed to be correct at the time of publication, the school reserves the right to make changes to the content or delivery of programmes or the facilities and resources which support them. For the most up-to-date information, please visit UCL’s online undergraduate prospectus –www.ucl.ac.uk/undergraduate

Photography by Graham Whitby Boot, Kirsten Holst and Richard Stonehouse.

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