Architecture (with Integrated Foundation Year)

Our Architecture BA(Hons) degree, validated by the Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA), provides the first step in qualifying as a professional architect in the UK and overseas and prepares you for many different roles within the architectural and design field.

At Brighton you’ll be part of a community that helps you grow, no matter what your background. Our integrated foundation year course offers an extra year to prepare you for study at degree level.

This degree gives you the design, technical and critical-thinking skills to turn your ideas into spaces that respond to real-world challenges. You’ll also take part in field trips, public exhibitions and our end-of-year show, graduating with the confidence and experience for Part 2 study. Our inclusive approach to learning will help you go further; we’ll make sure you play to your strengths and learn in ways that suit you best.

Brighton graduates have gone into both local and internationally renowned practices. These include Norman Foster/Foster + Partners – one of the world’s most influential practices and designer of the Millenium Bridge and the iconic 30 St Mary Axe (Gherkin) building – as well as Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (Richard Rogers) and David Chipperfield Architects.

Top reasons to choose this course

• Foundation year that offers a route into architecture if you don’t have the required qualifications, are changing career or returning to study.

• Explore architectural thinking across design, history, theory, technology and sustainability.

• Study a degree validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) so when you graduate you’ll have completed the first stage to becoming a qualified architect both in the UK and internationally.

• Prepare for practice through mentoring and mock interviews with professionals from RIBA South East and a degree that’s aligned to the Architects Registration Board (ARB).

• Work on live briefs and community projects and build a portfolio to impress future employers.

• Collaborate in our studio space with students from all years of the course and develop your creative voice.

• Showcase your work throughout the course and in the end-of-year show.

• Design with sustainability, wellbeing and community impact in mind with real-world projects focused on the climate crisis, housing shortage and forced displacement.

• Get hands-on experience from day one in the workshop and studio to develop your physical modelling skills, supported by our brilliant technicians.

• Develop your digital design skills using industry-standard software including Revit, Rhino and Grasshopper.

• Access our specialist facilities which include model-making and construction workshops, photographic studios, laser cutting and 3D printing and rapid prototyping.

Why Brighton is a great place to study Architecture
Brighton & Hove is a creative city with a progressive design culture that values sustainability and community. It’s where historic architecture meets contemporary design – perfect for testing ideas in real contexts.

Named one of the best cities on the planet and the third best city in the UK by Time Out, Brighton is just under an hour from central London and the capital’s global architecture practices.

Foundation year
Term 1 will focus on analogue skills, introducing you to observational and hand-drawing skills as well as physical/3D modelling techniques, enabling you to understand different scales.

In term 2, you’ll build on the skills you’ve learned and combine these with digital practice. You’ll be introduced to digital drawing, modelling and fabrication, and representation and communication techniques. Projects will develop your knowledge of the design process and your technical ability.

Term 3 focuses on a final project within your chosen discipline and course. You’ll produce a portfolio where you’ll document your development and your final design project. The project will be specific to your discipline and draw together all the skills learnt over the year, preparing you for your degree. It will include physical hand drawings, photography, models, digital work and discipline-specific outputs.

Year 1
You’ll build the core skills of architecture – from drawing and model-making to spatial thinking and digital design. Through design projects and critical study, you will learn how culture, technology and sustainability shape meaningful places.

Core modules
Introducing Architecture
Architecture Criticism 1
Technology: Principles
Architectural Design

Year 2
You’ll deepen your design thinking by responding to real contexts – from retrofit and reuse to user needs and locality. Through studio projects, technology strategies and critical research, you will learn to shape sustainable architecture that engages with global social and environmental challenges.

Core modules
Design Studio: Context
Technology: Strategies
Vertical Design Studio 1
Architecture Criticism 2

Final year
You will work on a design project incorporating technological strategies and detailed drawings of your proposal. You’ll integrate technological strategies with the design project, addressing environmental performance, material selection, construction methods, structure and sustainable design. Through a self-directed research project, you’ll be able to focus on a specific subject, theme or issue within the field of architecture which is of particular interest to you so you can identify areas you want to specialise in. Your studies will culminate in your final project which you will showcase at the graduate show.

Core modules
Design and Technology
Architecture Criticism 3
Professional Practices
Vertical Design Studio 2