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Architecture BSc (Hons) - Æß²ÊÖ±²¥ Dubai

Experience your designs coming to life by harnessing your creative ideas, imaginative vision, and humanistic and ethical understanding to gain an architectural skillset that can change the world and build the future environments in which we live.

Key details

Award: Undergraduate BSc (Hons)
Duration: Three years full-time
Location: Æß²ÊÖ±²¥ Dubai campus

Course overview

Studying Architecture allows you to pursue a career in an exciting, creative and fast-paced industry that hugely influences the world.

In this course, you’ll discover how to bring your visions and designs to life, with successful graduates progressing into rewarding careers which have the potential to improve and enhance the lives of countless people. With the knowledge gained as part of this degree, you can witness your work become tangible creations serving the communities around you.

You will learn about the history of architecture and design, completing technical, practical and professional exercises relating to ethical architecture in the commercial world. You’ll have opportunities to undertake design projects in various spatial, social and topographical settings, from the smallest of residences and objects to complex megacities and events. Graduates pursue successful careers in non-professional pathways using their skills in creative design, strategic thinking, leadership and organisation.

Key features

Be part of a community working together to change the construction industry from within so that we can be the changemakers the world needs to address the global climate emergency.

The programme has been designed with reference to the RIBA and ARB criteria. The curriculum provides students with the analytical and practical skills and knowledge required to attain the RIBA Part 1 level (the first step towards formal charters as an architect). However, Æß²ÊÖ±²¥’s BA Architecture ​in Dubai does not yet offer Part 1 Exemption because it is working towards Validation by the RIBA. This application to RIBA will take place in the fourth year after the first cohort has completed their degree - for the RIBA to consider then awarding retrospective approval to the course and its students’ degrees (the usual process for new programmes). 

Please note: This Dubai Campus BSc Architecture course has the same curriculum and studio culture as Æß²ÊÖ±²¥’s UK Architecture course - accredited by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Architects Registration Board (ARB). ARB does not accredit courses outside the UK. Applicants should therefore have confidence that the degree will prepare them for the RIBA Part 1 level – and their future careers.

Æß²ÊÖ±²¥ UK’s Leicester School of Architecture (LSA) has a 125-year history of nurturing the next generation of architects with a future-facing curriculum focusing on the ‘craft of making’.Create work with real impact in the community by working on live design projects in the city and the region.

Architecture at Æß²ÊÖ±²¥ UK is in the top 15 for ‘Graduate Prospects in the UK, according to The Complete University Guide 2022. Graduates have gone on to work for some of the best architectural practices in the UK and worldwide, including Heatherwick Studio, Make Architects and Shigeru Ban Architects.

Æß²ÊÖ±²¥ Dubai students can now benefit from the Industry Advisory Board, which comprises leading experts and professionals at the enterprise level. The board provides valuable insights and guidance to ensure the curriculum remains relevant and current with industry trends and demands.

Benefit from Block teaching, where a simplified ‘block learning’ timetable means you will study one subject at a time and have more time to engage with your learning, receive faster feedback and enjoy a better study-life balance.

Entry requirements

Course modules

Teaching and assessments

BSc Architecture at Æß²ÊÖ±²¥ Dubai emphasises learning through modelling and making, both manually and digitally, making it an important feature of the course. We encourage and support you to become a productive student by focusing on the design studio as your key learning environment.

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, studio, and tutorials. Studio culture is a key part of the course and our studio spaces have been developed so that students across all three years of the course work alongside each other. In the design studio you will: 

• Work and collaborate with peers and tutors in drawing, digital drawing and fabrication, model making, discussion and debate. 
• Meet regularly with design tutors for small group learning, individual advice and guidance, assessment, and feedback. 
• Engage in instructional/guidance lectures and workshops to develop key manual and digital techniques. 
• Have design work reviewed by guest architects and critics 

There are a variety of assessments including individual and group project work, individual and group presentations, report writing, essay writing, reflective practice, and portfolio development. You will receive continuous feedback on your work as you progress through the course, culminating in a major design project and dissertation.

The teaching staff are really supportive."

Teaching contact hours

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, group work and self-directed study. Assessment is through coursework (presentations, essays and reports) Your precise timetable will depend on the optional modules you choose to take, however, in your first year you will normally attend around 20 hours of timetabled taught sessions (lectures and tutorials) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 21 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.

Graduate careers

Many of our graduates follow the conventional route to qualification and registration as an Architect. Others may use their degree to launch careers in related fields such as architectural conservation, urban design, research, planning and project management, or go into other fields such as journalism, heritage and history, film, web design, lifestyle design, game design, event design and digital animation, strategic management and political advocacy.