An Engine Room with a View. Don’t be fooled by our size: though only 65 people including the staff, we are a powerhouse for architectural ideas. We are relatively young too (the course was RIBA Part 2 accredited in 1983), and are recognised as one of the most energetic and sophisticated architecture departments in the UK.
Our mission is to combine experiment with plausibility; we are both inspired by, and apply our ideas to, the city. Since we operate in London, it is our testing ground. We try to tune in to its urban desire and anticipate its next major architectural moves. We work closely with specific areas and particular groups of people. We prise open real lives to carry personality over into our architectural proposals.
We are not interested in designing spaces that simply evolve the norms of style but work in a dynamic way with what happens in them. Our medium is not so much bricks and mortar but space itself; we consider the work of the architect as spanning between the hard materiality of building and the reprogramming of existing space. The pursuit of these aims in architecture makes particular sense in the broader context of the College, where the proximity of sophisticated practice across the art and design college spectrum underpins a multidisciplinary view of design.
The department was proud to be one of the 12 architectural research institutions from across the world invited to exhibit in the Italian Pavilion at the 10th Architecture Biennale in Venice, September 2006.
Download a PDF version of the Architecture Department Handbook and Architecture Programme Specification.
A copy of the full RCA Handbook and Regulations 2009 is available here.
Open Days for 2011/12 applicants will be held in autumn 2010 and spring 2011. Please check back in early autumn for full details.