BA (Hons) Architecture Year 1 – Manchester School of Architecture

Year 1 Units

Design 1: Thinking by Making 30 credits
Design 2: Shaping Concepts 30 credits
Architectural Context 30 credits
Architectural Production 30 credits

Design 1: Thinking by Making

This module introduces architectural design through a series of practically applied, theoretically grounded projects. Within each project, an iterative design approach intends to focus on communicating an architectural proposal. The emphasis of this module will be on drawing, model-making, and other means of production (collage, video, photography, etc) to foster processes that are new to you at this stage, and to build confidence and architectural aptitude within small peer groups. Formative study skills activities provide a sandpit to test and experiment before exploring their use in a summative design project.

Architectural Context

Architectural Context

This module addresses the core knowledge of the history of architecture and offers a global perspective on the most pressing issues for the built environment, understanding that there are multiple histories and narratives, placed within socio-political contexts, attached to global histories, technological developments, and the current climate emergency.

Design 2: Shaping Concepts

Design 2: Shaping Concepts

The advancement of critical, inventive, and active thinking is one of the central approaches in this design studio. Each project begins with direct experience to ground concepts of architectural space, programme and material intervention in the city and incrementally builds a knowledge base, with an increasing scope for independent learning and individual response to various architecture briefs, which extend your
architectural vocabulary and introduces new architectural considerations to explore, resolve and communicate.

Architectural Production

Architectural Production

This module introduces the ways architecture is produced from a technological, environmental and social perspective. Through a series of workshops, it introduces the technological contexts for architectural design and develops your skills in analysis, technical design methodologies and visual representation. It will also introduce you to concepts of participatory action research and design and collaborative working practices. You will take part in MSA Live projects to identify, develop and demonstrate the application of participatory design methods and collaborative practice, using real-world situations.