Architecture with Foundation Year

Why study Architecture with Foundation Year at Liverpool John Moores University?

• Undertake a Foundation Year designed to prepare you for study at higher education

• Access to some of the UK's best examples of urban redevelopment and iconic buildings

• Teaching in the RIBA award-winning, purpose-built John Lennon Art and Design Building

• Direct involvement in live artistic projects taking place in the city

• Exemptions from RIBA Part 1 exams on graduation

• Students can access study abroad opportunities and apply for overseas travel awards

• To see what our students are doing, please visit the Architecture Instagram

• 96% of students surveyed said they found the course intellectually stimulating (National Student Survey 2025)

• LJMU ranked 13th university in the UK for Architecture (The Times UK University Rankings 2025)

• LJMU ranked in the top 20 universities in the UK for Architecture (Complete University Guide Subject League Table 2027)

About your course
Taught principally through a studio environment that is seamlessly underpinned and informed by lectures and workshops, the over-arching ambition of the programme is to create graduates with artistic flair, and who are technically skilled and grounded in the demands of the professional role of the architect.

The learning and teaching environment is progressively informed by research in pedagogy in the creative field. While teaching the curriculum, the programme also develops less tangible skills in students, such as communication, presentation and self-motivation; a key ambition is to create independent thinkers, adept at resolving problems with creativity and originality.

A broad educational experience is offered within which students can develop diverse rigorous and creative approaches to design issues that explore and test appropriate resolutions in relation to contemporary and anticipated contextual issues.

Design projects form the backbone of the core teaching strategy. These projects are seen as primers to a divergent creative and critical thought process: they are characterised by individual interpretation and interest of the subjects that encourage imaginative solutions through discursive studio forums.

As you progress through the degree, the design projects gradually become larger in scale, more complex and ambitious in their intentions and integrative in their nature. At degree level, predominantly, the city of Liverpool is used as a contextual laboratory to test concepts that have a local flavour with global implications. The aim is to develop graduate skills and knowledge such that they become analysing, visualising and testing potential solutions to increasingly complex spatial and social issues within an increasingly holistic global scenario.

Foundation Year
The Foundation Year is the first year of a four-year degree programme. It is a preparatory year of study that equips students with the necessary academic and practical skills for success in higher education, with the aim to introduce students to contemporary art and design practices, including those required to undertake studio-based projects at higher education.

Students are taught through a combination of studio-based projects, workshops, lectures, seminars, group and individual tutorials, and have access to a shared studio space and specialist workshops and technical support in the John Lennon Art and Design Building to develop their practical skills.

Once students pass the Foundation Year they will progress directly onto the first year of the BA (Hons) Architecture degree. If you are a full-time UK student, you will qualify for student financial support for the full duration of your course (subject to eligibility criteria).

Course Modules

Please visit the Liverpool John Moores University website for detailed module information.

Assessment varies depending on the modules you choose, but will usually include a combination of exams and coursework.

All students perform differently depending on how they are assessed, which is why we use a combination of assessment methods. Typically, you will be assessed on your design and research presentations (group/individual), written work (essays, reports etc), exams (seen/unseen), practical work (workshop abroad), and your portfolio. At the end of your studies there will be a one-to-one interview with an external examiner.

The type of feedback you will receive varies according to the module. For instance, design modules are reviewed twice with formal feedback given by a panel at the second review, and portfolio reviews are conducted at the end of each semester when you will work with your personal tutor to put together a personal development plan. This will address your strengths and weaknesses and help you develop your academic work as well as your career plans.

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• Royal Institute of British Architects