Architecture and Environmental Design with Foundation

University of Westminster, London

Our degree courses with Foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you're looking to expand your knowledge and skills towards degree-level study, or want to change your subject specialism, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our Foundation year to progress onto full honours degree with us. Our Foundation year in Architecture and Design offers an introduction to the creative professions that shape the design of interiors, buildings and urban spaces. Through design projects you'll learn about the spatial, technical and cultural issues, and develop the grounding skills and creative practices necessary for further study. The first semester begins with an exploration of the design and inhabitation of urban space, followed by a materials and making project based in the Fabrication Laboratory, our outstanding Marylebone campus workshop facility. Running alongside these will be studio and field-based exercises to develop your drawing and creative skills. In the second semester, a project on the design of existing spaces will be followed by the development of a creative work driven by your own interests. Students from the Foundation will have the opportunity to exhibit in the School of Architecture and Cities summer exhibition. Your practical development will be accompanied by modules in both semesters on academic skills in writing and critical thinking. On successful completion of the Foundation year, you'll be able to move on to study for the Architecture and Environmental Design BSc Honours degree over a further three years of study. Our Architecture and Environmental Design BSc encompasses the ‘artistic’ and the ‘scientific’ to create a new generation of architects who are not only architecturally competent and environmentally aware, but also able to explore the spatial poetics with an evidence-informed approach, selectively evaluate design options, and quantify the building performance and environmental benefits and impact of their designs.
You will develop your creative space- and form-making, environmental design, technical and analytical skills, as well as your critical thinking and awareness of the wider architectural context.
Professional accreditation: The course is validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), providing exemption from RIBA Part 1. The validation came with a number of commendations. These include: the creativity and resilience of staff; the implementation of cross-disciplinary working and the complementary nature of the course ethos and identity within the school; the attitude and proactive approach of the students evident in their work.
Graduates of this course will no longer be accredited by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) at Part 1 level.
Careers: With a growing global network of 3,000 employers, our Careers and Employability Service is here to support you to achieve your full potential.
Graduate employers: Professional architects with a specialisation in environmental design, sustainability or low-carbon design are highly sought after in the
UK and internationally. There's a particular demand from consulting engineering employers for architects/environmental design consultants who have a good understand.
Job roles
Graduates have a wide range of career choices, with previous graduates securing positions inside high-profile architectural practices, in design consultancies, or in environmental engineering.
Architecture and Environmental Design BSc graduates can become fully qualified architects after the successful completion of RIBA Part 2 studies and Part 3 training.
The course will prepare you for roles such as:
fully qualified architect with environmental design expertise (RIBA)
environmental design consultant
a combined career as an architect (RIBA) and environmental design consultant.