Royal College of Art Launches New Environmental Architecture MA Programme

The Environmental Architecture programme recognises that design is a crucial tool in both the imagination and negotiation of alternative futures. The intensity of our carbon economy has left the planet with a design problem. No matter where we live or work, the environments we move through are constructed. There is nothing on the planet that human beings haven’t touched.

The intensity of this environmental change calls for new forms of knowledge production based in propositional thinking, especially design-based methods. The programme will encourage students to consider what the terms ‘design’ or ‘architecture’ might mean when applied to phenomena as varied as oceans, atmospheres, farmland or deserts and what their role as designers might be in finding solutions for environmental problem areas.

Dean of Architecture Dr Adrian Lahoud explained: ‘The idea of Environmental Architecture has become a fundamental area of enquiry within the School of Architecture and now demands its own specialist teaching. Recent projects in taught programmes and staff research radicalise approaches to ecological thinking, architecture and design practices in the context of contemporary debates on climate change and the Anthropocene.’ 

Lahoud underlines that ‘this programme aims to re-define the relation between architectural practice and environmental science in higher education. The programme wants to re-configure the way we think, manage, build and protect the planet and its resources’.

Students joining Environmental Architecture may come with an interest in a range of topics, from biodiversity to carbon trading, desertification and its effect on migration and settlement patterns, and the impacts of resource extraction on ecosystems. Other areas of enquiry might include developments of new technologies, such as the role of automation in agriculture and the potential of renewable energy sources, or social factors such as new forms of tourism and their relation to local economies, indigenous struggles and land rights.

Based within the School of Architecture, Environmental Architecture offers students the opportunity to engage with live projects in sites of rapid and complex environmental change. Project-based studio work will form the core of activity for the first three terms, with complementary technical studies seminars and workshops occurring in parallel. Group work is encouraged and considered an important introduction to the inherently collaborative process of architecture and environmental design.

During the fourth term students will complete an Independent Research Project as an individual submission, which will offer the opportunity to get feedback on a detailed design proposal from landscape design professionals, environmental scientists, lawyers, consultants and activists.

The RCA offers a unique experimental and interdisciplinary environment to study architecture. Here students can pursue a degree alongside designers and fine artists in a world-leading, postgraduate-only environment. Shared modules at programme, School and College level encourage different scales of collaboration with related disciplines and across the College and students have the opportunity to establish a strong network of colleagues and mentors.

The Environmental Architecture timetable has been designed to encourage participation from candidates who are currently working in practice, which means students do not have to choose between study and career as the two can be  concurrent and be mutually beneficial. For 2017/18 entry the School of Architecture offers financial assistance through full-fee scholarships and partial bursaries based on merit and financial need for applicants in MA Environmental Architecture. 

Environmental Architecture welcomes applications from candidates with backgrounds in landscape architecture, architecture, urban design or other related design disciplines. Those with a prior degree in a discipline with no design component, such as the social sciences, geography, urban studies, planning or economics, will also be considered if prior work is of exceptional merit and students are able to demonstrate their ability to work alongside and contribute to multidisciplinary teams.