The taught MPhil in Architecture is dedicated to the study of the contemporary city as a projective site for new architectural knowledge, speculation and research. Its aim is to reclaim and declare architecture as essential to theorise, conceptualise, describe, form, organise and ultimately project new ideas of and for the city.
The programme is structured in two phases of 30 weeks each. Phase I represents the taught part and Phase II, beginning in the following academic year, the core research portion of the course when students develop their dissertation proposal into an original design-and-written dissertation. The first two terms of Phase I consist of a design studio with complementary seminars and workshops, formulated to introduce students to the pedagogy of the programme and provide the necessary analytical and technical skills. In Term 1 students analyse a dominant type and study theories of type and typology, and in Term 2 investigate an urban plan related to the dominant type by looking at concepts of typological conflict and change while also studying theories of the contemporary city. In the final term of Phase I students then formulate their individual dissertation proposal as part of the integrated Super Studio, which explores the concepts and representations of the idea of the city.