Architecture with Foundation - BA (Hons)

University of Westminster, London

Our degree courses with Foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster.Whether you're looking to expand your knowledge and skills towards degree-level study, or want to change your subject specialism, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our Foundation year to progress onto full honours degree with us.Our Foundation year in Architecture and Design offers an introduction to the creative professions that shape the design of interiors, buildings and urban spaces. Through design projects you'll learn about the spatial, technical and cultural issues, and develop the grounding skills and creative practices necessary for further study. The first semester begins with an exploration of the design and inhabitation of urban space, followed by a materials and making project based in the Fabrication Laboratory, our outstanding Marylebone campus workshop facility. Running alongside these will be studio and field-based exercises to develop your drawing and creative skills. In the second semester, a project on the design of existing spaces will be followed by the development of a creative work driven by your own interests. Students from the Foundation will have the opportunity to exhibit in the School of Architecture and Cities summer exhibition. Your practical development will be accompanied by modules in both semesters on academic skills in writing and critical thinking.On successful completion of the Foundation year, you'll be able to move on to study for the Architecture BA Honours degree over a further three years of study.Architecture is a fascinating subject involving wide-ranging academic, practical and vocational activities. It requires creativity and imagination, as well as the inventive employment of environmental and technical knowledge.Architecture is normally studied with a view to becoming a professional architect, but as it embraces the fields of art, history and science, it also opens doors to a range of postgraduate study options and other forms of career development.At the heart of our course is a rich choice of design studios, in which students are taught in small groups by current practitioners, reflecting London’s dynamic architecture scene. There are also lecture courses in environmental and technical studies, history and theory of architecture, as well as numerous opportunities to engage with the architecture profession through construction site visits, mentoring and a work placement.Field trips are offered in the second year and there are opportunities to study abroad, with the most recent destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China.Professional accreditationThe course is validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), providing exemption from RIBA Part 1.The usual pattern of academic and professional development involves full-time study at undergraduate level for three years (Part 1), followed by a year of practical training. Two further years of full-time postgraduate study (Part 2) are then undertaken, followed by another year of practical training and a period of part-time study, culminating in a final examination (Part 3) to qualify for registration as an architect with the Architects Registration Board (ARB).Career pathOur graduates find employment with established world-class architects such as Make, Squire and Partners, Foster + Partners, BDP, Sheppard Robson, and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Others seek out dynamic, design-led practices including David Kohn Architects, SODA Studio, and Shigeru Ban.Alternative career paths can take graduates to multi-disciplinary practices in interior and urban design and planning, or to the client side of architecture for contractors, developers or housing providers.