Architecture and Environmental Design with Foundation BSc Honours

Course summary

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 and Environmental Design BSc Honours degree over a further three years of study.

Our Architecture and Environmental Design BSc encompasses the ‘artistic’ and the ‘scientific’ to create a new generation of architects who are not only architecturally competent and environmentally aware, but also able to explore the spatial poetics with an evidence-informed approach, selectively evaluate design options, and quantify the building performance and environmental benefits and impact of their designs.

You will develop your creative space- and form-making, environmental design, technical and analytical skills, as well as your critical thinking and awareness of the wider architectural context.

Half of your time on the course will be spent on studio-based design activities and half on bioclimatic, historical, cultural, socio-economic and professional studies. All modules have a strong interdisciplinary approach that highlights the added value that environmental architects bring to the building industry and to society.

This course will give you professional skills that can be used both in architectural practice and environmental design consultancy. Professional architects with a specialisation in environmental design, sustainability and low-carbon design are particularly sought after at the moment, both in the UK and internationally.

Top reasons to study with us

• Solve today’s biggest challenges – Our environmental impact will have repercussions for the future of the planet and the built environment. This pioneering course prepares you to tackle those challenges head on, with solid architectural and environmental design skills.
• Enjoy outstanding facilities – Our facilities are world class and include a fabrication laboratory, open-plan studios and an extensive library.
• Taught by an experienced team – You'll be taught by a dedicated group of experienced architectural practitioners, world-renowned scholars, and engineers.
• Stimulating learning environment  You'll benefit from a rich, varied culture that broadens architectural horizons, develops professional creativity and fosters entrepreneurial spirit .
• Access wider career paths – Graduates of this course can practise as architectural and environmental designers after gaining the RIBA Part 1 qualification.
• Satisfied students – 100% of students thought the course was “intellectually stimulating". (Source: Discover Uni, accessed in November 2020)
• Central London location – London and all its architectural riches will be your extended classroom, right on your doorstep.

Course climate action statement

This course rethinks the role and methods of design practice within the reality of the climate emergency. Physical ecologies of building, numeracy, and computation, as well as the wider principles of social and economic sustainability, are at the core of its pedagogy.

Course structure

The Foundation year offers an introduction to the creative professional field of architecture that shapes our built environment. Year 1 of this course focuses on the principles of environmental and architectural design, and Year 2 allows students to apply those skills in a wider context. In the final year, students will complete a year-long thesis project.

The following subjects are indicative of what you will study on this course.

• Foundation
• Year 1
• Year 2
• Placement Year
• Year 3

Professional accreditation

The Architecture and Environmental design BSc is prescribed by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), providing exemption from RIBA Part 1. The validation came with a number of commendations. These include: the creativity and resilience of staff; the implementation of cross-disciplinary working and the complementary nature of the course ethos and identity within the school; the attitude and proactive approach of the students evident in their work.