MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (Projective Cities)

Bursaries and scholarships available. More information about how to apply here.

The MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (Projective Cities) is an 18-month, interdisciplinary research and design programme that examines multi-scalar questions arising at the intersection of architecture, urban design and planning. 

Projective Cities is a critical forum to engage with questions of governance and development in the context of global challenges of urbanisation. Its objective is to respond to current urban, environmental and social crises by rethinking the agency of spatial design and development within specific political, economic, social and cultural contexts. 

Each cohort of Projective Cities examines a common theme as the starting point for individual research agendas. The current theme is the Architecture of Collective Living. The ambition is to investigate, by comparative analysis, the different organizational, formal, programmatic, and material particularities that define the Architecture of Collective Living in series of historic and contemporary case studies. 

Projective Cities prepares its candidates for independent research through a framework of rigorous design and research methodologies. The first year of the programme is taught, introducing students to research methods, academic writing, architectural and urban histories and theories, advanced analytical techniques and computational design in preparation for a substantial dissertation project. At the end of the first year, students submit a research proposal. This is developed in the second year, leading to an integrated design and written dissertation. 

Projective Cities seeks candidates with a desire to develop substantial and original research. It seeks exceptional thinkers, gifted designers and critical writers with an interest in the future of our cities. 

This past year, students have presented and are developing dissertations situated in London, Harbin, Rural Spain, Coastal Italy, Quebec, Beijing, Iran, Tao Bao Villages and Rural India. Thesis projects investigated a variety of sites and problematics, with a particular focus on community-led initiatives and programmes, as well as models of cooperative housing.  The programme continued working with stakeholders, municipal authorities, and local universities in Athens and Barcelona, concluding a three-year research cycle on ‘Forms of Collective Living’. 

This past academic year, the programme continued their collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the University of Cyprus, working on a research and design project on the Municipality of Kessariani, in Athens. Focusing on the development of collective equipments, new housing typologies, and landscape interventions, the projects, together with extensive archival material has been presented in Kessariani City Hall in November 2022. The exhibition, designed in collaboration with Kostas Avramidis, Olga Balaoura, and Post-Spectacular Office, will last until January 2023, while a publication was presented in December 2022, together with a one-day conference.  

In 2020–21, the programme organised numerous public events and lectures, while the ‘Practices and Peadagogies’ lecture series was hosted by AA Public Programme. Guests among others, included Lacol, Alejandra Celedon, Nora Akawi, Eduardo Rega Calvo, Christopher Lee, Plan Comun, Felippe de Ferrari, Maio Architects, and DPR Barcelona. Senior Programme staff and Design Studio Lead, Hamed Khosravi, co-curated the exhibition ‘Zoe Zenghelis: Fields, Fragments, Fictions’ ant the Carnegie Museum of Art. 

Programme Head: Platon Issaias. / Design Studio Lead: Hamed Khosravi. / Seminar and Academic Writing Lead: Doreen Bernath. / Programme staff: Cristina Gamboa, Daryan Knoblauch, Roozbeh Elias-Azar, George Jepson. / Student assistant: Amy Brar.