Architecture
- UCAS Code: K100 BA/Arch
- Campus Code: 4
- Duration: 3 years
- Places per year: 2-3
Architecture combines the intellectual challenges of both arts and sciences with the opportunity for creative design.
Study history and philosophy of architecture, participatory practice, inclusivity, contemporary culture and urbanism. Alongside this you’ll learn about construction, structural design and environmental design.
The Department of Architecture at Cambridge is an exciting place to study. It is considered to be one of the leading architecture schools in the world.
Architecture
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Course Overview
On the Architecture course, you’ll have the opportunity to push the boundaries of the field and to extend your own abilities in exciting new directions. The course involves:
- design teaching through studio work taught by practising architects
- lecture courses in history and theory of architecture and urbanism
- lecture courses in the technical aspects of construction, environment and structures
Architecture is a small department, with about forty students in each year, so students are thinly spread across the colleges. Within Trinity Hall we usually have two or three architecture students every year, but all the architecture students form a supportive group across the three years of the undergraduate degree. Supervisions are arranged in groups with students from other colleges. The community of studio life in the Department means that you work closely with your peers.
How You Learn
Students from all colleges are taught together in the Architecture Department, and all students have individual desk space in the recently built design studio building at the faculty. In a typical week during Full Term, the undergraduates will have two days devoted solely to working on their studio design projects, including desk-based supervisions with their design tutors and any ‘crits’ or design reviews with faculty staff and external critics. A full programme of lectures and seminars are scheduled for the remaining three week days.
The design teaching is very much at the heart of the course. Students are expected to take full responsibility for their own design project development, and gain technical skills and knowledge via the various courses offered by the faculty in order to inform and enrich their own design work.
In the final year of the undergraduate course, students undertake a dissertation of 7,000-9,000 words in length (including illustrations). The topic for this sustained research is agreed between the student and Director of Studies before embarking on the final year of the course.
Entry Requirements
Minimum Offer Level
A-Level: A*AA
IB Diploma: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other: See the University’s Entry Requirements page
Subject Requirements
While we don’t ask for any specific subjects to apply to Architecture, we’d recommend certain subjects for a strong application:
- Mathematics
- Art & Design
- Physics
The course demands that students are able to draw with precision and to develop ideas in visual ways, so students are likely to have studied Art at school before applying to read Architecture. Similarly, the study of Mathematics or Physics provides crucial grounding for the technical aspects of design.
Admissions Process
Written Work
All Colleges will ask Architecture applicants to submit a PDF (6 A4 pages, and less than 15MB in size) of their own artwork prior to interview. The selection of images should, in part, reflect material you might bring to interview as part of your portfolio. You do not have to send this work before applying, we will write to you after you have applied and let you know exactly what you need to send and when.
Admissions Assessment
If shortlisted for interview, you will be asked to take an admissions assessment. The assessment will be on Thursday 21 November, and you can take it either at school or at home. The College will register you for this – you do not need to register yourself. See also the University website’s page on College Admission Assessments.
Interviews
Two interviews, usually around 25 minutes each.
Portfolio
If invited for interview, candidates are asked to present a portfolio of art work, either from their school studies or work produced independently. This can include a wide range of work, including artwork, photography, theatre set designs, technical studies, posters or school magazines.
