Vehicle Design at the RCA is the world’s leading centre for vehicle design education and research. The programme seeks to pioneer new design, innovation and approaches for our mobile futures and creates an environment where the future can be discovered.
Vehicle Design is a complex subject, concerned with aerodynamics, environmental impact, ergonomics, legislation, materials, production, safety and technology. Three Pathways help to define and focus the work through Urban Flow, Automark and Inside-out.
The programme aims to harness, encourage and extend students’ skills and processes. It seeks innovation with practicality, marrying experience and practice to creative thinking, blending teaching and learning seamlessly in a climate of informed opinion, supported by in-depth research, creative cross-disciplinary experience, teamwork and academic excellence. We offer unexpected challenges and unusual viewpoints, sparking creativity and supplying critical analysis, and we provide an environment where students can pursue, debate and
prioritise these issues as individual designers within the boundaries of
creative vehicle design and the need to create original and outstanding
products. Above all, we empower individual expression, seek innovative solutions and demand aesthetic excellence through design for a better world.
This Master of Arts two-year programme remains the only established and dedicated postgraduate course in Vehicle Design in the world and has an enviable graduate employment record. Our research activities at PhD level, and in collaborations with other industry and academic organisations, now also form a significant part of programme activities.
Download Vehicle Design Programme Information Pack (PDF)
The programme offers:
- a strong tutor team with diverse and high level practitioner experience
- varied creative and cultural backgrounds within small student MA year groups
- extensive industrial relationships through sponsored projects, internships, portfolio reviews, trips and bursaries / awards. Recent collaborations have been with organisations including: Ford, Honda Motorcycles, EXA (aerodynamic software), Toyota, Citroen, Umbro and Bentley
- close relationships with other RCA programmes, including Fashion, Textiles, Sculpture, Innovation Design Engineering and Design Interactions
- a west-London location at the heart of a uniquely diverse vehicle, design and cultural environment
- alumni in numerous top design positions globally.
+44 (0)20 7590 4352
vehicle@rca.ac.uk
Open Days are held at the Royal College of Art between November and February of each academic year, to enable applicants to visit teaching programmes, and to meet staff and students.