Университет Бата, BSc (Hons), Architectural Studies (General)

Year 1: The 1st semester is a joint foundation studio with engineering students, in which students acquire basic skills in drawing and basic instruction in construction, structures and environmental engineering; in the 2nd semester the architectural students work focuses on architectural history, composition, representation and a coherent architectural design for a small building. Year 2: this year gives the students a wide range of new skills to prepare them for their 1st placement; it expands the student’s range of architectural drawing and model making and the student’s experience of buildings in context. Year 3: some students choose the Erasmus exchange option in year 3, and their places are filled by an equivalent number of visiting students; as a consequence of the exchange there is a break in the progression of taught units during 3rd year and the opportunity is taken in the design studio to engage in work that supports the wider learning of architecture-related skills. Year 4: this year includes major design project (the Basil Spence project) involving collaboration in multi-disciplinary teams with engineering students; this project includes each team addressing the technological issues which underpin architectural design; the 2nd semester project allows each student to develop their own project brief; this final project draws together the learning outcomes from the previous years and allows the students to demonstrate their knowledge, awareness, understanding and ability of a broad range of Part 1 criteria and to integrate these criteria within a coherent architectural design; the year is also regarded as preparation for the Master of Architecture course.

This course embeds the placement year within a 4 year programme; in years 2 and 3 the 1st semester is spent in full-time education at the University, with the 2nd semester in both years spent on placement; students can acquire work place skills prior to graduation and to apply the knowledge and ability acquired at the University in architectural practice throughout their education; it also allows students to continue their placements over the summer vacations in both 2nd and 3rd years, which fully exploits the full calendar year in developing their architectural experience; the course structure also allows the core syllabus to be taught in years 2 and 4 of the programme; the 3rd year of the programme includes a European exchange option, known as Erasmus; this gives students the opportunity to study at several of Europe’s leading Schools of Architecture; this course leads to the Royal Institute of British Architechs (RIBA) Part 1; students wishing to continue their studies should register for the Masters of Architecture course leading to the Royal Institue of Bristish Architechs (RIBA) Part 2.