MArch ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN + ARCHITECTURAL THESIS CAROLINE RABOURDIN + MIKE ALING
Thesis Supervisors: Mike Aling, John Bell, Nicholas Boyarsky, Simon Herron, Rahesh Ram, Emmanuel Vercruysse, Simon Withers. With thanks to our Thesis critics: Murray Fraser, Anne Hultzsch, Stephen Kennedy, Maria Korolkova, Caroline Rabourdin, Ed Wall, Tim Waterman.
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN Theories of Architectural Design is a module that offers Year 1 students the opportunity to independently define and critically appraise ideas in relation to their own design projects and to the work of others. The module supports a deeper understanding of the design projects undertaken in the studio through critical reflection and argumentation. Students focus on topical themes from architectural discourse and produce an essay on an individually agreed topic that is developed through an intensive series of lectures and seminars running from the start of the academic year to the end of the first term. The module encourages students to make critical reflections on their own practice in relation to the wider context of contemporary architectural design, theory, the fine arts, technology and the human sciences. Students enhance their skills in research and writing, whilst further refining their critical awareness of the role of architectural theory in the field of architecture. ARCHITECTURAL THESIS The Architectural Thesis module allows every Year 2 full-time, and Year 3 part-time, student in MArch Architecture to develop a highly tailored piece of research to support the intellectual and/or technical ambitions of their final design project. The thesis can take many forms, be it an individually written historical, theoretical, technological or futurological essay, evidence based experimental and/or
empirical technical research, work developed through specialist programming and scripting, experimental writing practices, interactive media, full size installations and constructions, and performance-based research, amongst other forms of research practice relevant to the particular interests of the individual student. Each student works with an individual Thesis supervisor to develop the exact content and structure of the final output. Concurrent to the Thesis, students also develop a Research Methods Statement (RMS), a 1000-word submission that demonstrates a systematic understanding of different relevant research methods and knowledge of the correct implementation of different research methodologies in the production of the Thesis. The RMS is initiated through an intensive series of lectures that run at the start of the academic year. Students identify, investigate and communicate in detail a specific topic of architectural research, demonstrating skills in evidence-based research and writing. The Thesis offers students the opportunity to develop a rigorous intellectual position that informs, and symbiotically synthesizes with, the major Design Project undertaken in the studio. The Thesis supports design practice with a highly informed knowledge base and critical engagement with the relevant technical, historical and/or theoretical issues at the forefront of the architectural discipline. The Thesis encourages highly creative, critical, inventive and innovative forms of research. Abstracts from a range of our highest achieving theses in 2019-20 can be found on the following pages.
→ Qiuyu Jiang How to Design a Home that Loves you Back? A Study of Relationships Between Objects, Homes, Technologies and Humans Supervisor: Rahesh Ram
180
