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Architecture degree?

Hi I've been thinking about doing an architecture degree at university but want to know more in depth about the course a single a whole.

For example: what are the hardest parts in your opinion?
What type of essays do you need to write about If there is any?
How much maths is involved?
Ext..

Chantelle Walker
It depends course to course, school to school. For example Bath is a notoriously mathsy architecture course and you'll have more emphasis on the engineering side of things in the form of lectures, which will translate into your studio projects. This means you'll be learning how to do calculations related to structures or to do with lighting and heating (which will start off easy and become more complex year by year). Conversely, you'll likely have less in the way of essays at schools that have a focus on the mathsy side or are all about the creative/conceptual side, whereas some of the more 'academic' architecture schools like Cambridge and Edinburgh will set you more essays. These will be based on whatever you learn in the history and theory lectures, and may ask you to compare and contrast buildings, discuss the influences of certain architectural styles, etc. You may also get extended-essay-style pieces of coursework that might involve (basic) calculations and analysis of structural aspects of a building (I know that Edinburgh does this in first year, for example).

All that being said, the vast majority of architecture courses are almost exclusively coursework-based, meaning most if not all of the focus is on the design work (drawings, models, CAD, etc.) you produce in studio. Even for the more mathsy or academic courses, the majority of your marks come from your studio work (the minimum being Cambridge with 60% studio coursework, 40% written coursework and exams).

As for the hardest parts, I can't speak from experience as I haven't started the course yet (in Year 13 currently). But from what I gather it seems like the 'hardest' part is completing the design projects you get set in studio, not so much in terms of difficulty, but just the sheer amount of time and effort it takes to get everything done in time.

Have you started thinking about which unis you'd like to apply to and/or what sort of architecture course appeals to you?
Reply 2
Thinking of joining bath university or Loughborough. More keen on the maths or engineer sector than essays. Do you recommend any universities for me.
Reply 3
Original post by Amanzhol
It depends course to course, school to school. For example Bath is a notoriously mathsy architecture course and you'll have more emphasis on the engineering side of things in the form of lectures, which will translate into your studio projects. This means you'll be learning how to do calculations related to structures or to do with lighting and heating (which will start off easy and become more complex year by year). Conversely, you'll likely have less in the way of essays at schools that have a focus on the mathsy side or are all about the creative/conceptual side, whereas some of the more 'academic' architecture schools like Cambridge and Edinburgh will set you more essays. These will be based on whatever you learn in the history and theory lectures, and may ask you to compare and contrast buildings, discuss the influences of certain architectural styles, etc. You may also get extended-essay-style pieces of coursework that might involve (basic) calculations and analysis of structural aspects of a building (I know that Edinburgh does this in first year, for example).

All that being said, the vast majority of architecture courses are almost exclusively coursework-based, meaning most if not all of the focus is on the design work (drawings, models, CAD, etc.) you produce in studio. Even for the more mathsy or academic courses, the majority of your marks come from your studio work (the minimum being Cambridge with 60% studio coursework, 40% written coursework and exams).

As for the hardest parts, I can't speak from experience as I haven't started the course yet (in Year 13 currently). But from what I gather it seems like the 'hardest' part is completing the design projects you get set in studio, not so much in terms of difficulty, but just the sheer amount of time and effort it takes to get everything done in time.

Have you started thinking about which unis you'd like to apply to and/or what sort of architecture course appeals to you?


Forgot to quote you - Thinking of joining bath university or Loughborough. More keen on the maths or engineer sector than essays. Do you recommend any universities for me.
Original post by Walker16
Forgot to quote you - Thinking of joining bath university or Loughborough. More keen on the maths or engineer sector than essays. Do you recommend any universities for me.


Bath is a great choice, consistently tops league tables and extremely well regarded by employers. Loughborough as far as I know is a very new course, but the uni is known for its engineering so I'm sure that'll reflect on their architecture course. (As a sidenote, I think the newness of the course means that it hasn't got it's RIBA/ARB accreditation yet for Part 1 exemption, but it should be getting it in time for the first cohort of graduates. Might be an idea to get in contact with them though just to confirm that they will be getting accreditation). Other maths/engineering focused courses include Strathclyde, Newcastle, and UWE, all of which are strong choices for architecture. As far as I know, Nottingham also has some pretty maths-heavy optional modules in its course, which could be of interest to you. There aren't really any others that are especially mathsy that I can think of, but the majority of courses aren't very essay-based at all (they all teach architectural history to some extent, but many are very lenient on assessment of that module).

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