Architecture MA

Critical thinking, imaginative solutions and the rigorous justification of design decisions are at the heart of this course. Students develop the tools to respond flexibly to authentic situations to deal with contingency and complexity. Within our vertical studios, students from both year groups develop skills in autonomous learning, analytical inquiry, critical curiosity, social responsibility and design.

This year we are pleased to exhibit graduate work as part of Northumbria University’s Architecture, Arts, Design and Fashion collective degree show REVEAL 2022.

Projects 2020

Studio 01

This Enduring Landscape: Debatable Edges studio’s work is situated around the ancient Market Town of Morpeth in the county town of Northumberland, with the consequences of its human occupation informing project investigations. Amalgamating the traditional notions of context with readings of place and circumstance, narratives emerge across future chronologies, collapsing time and reveal new resilient methods of occupancy that remain deeply rooted in region, custom and condition. History tells us our landscapes endure; in this new age of the Anthropocene, this regional landscape still contains a latent energy; one if harnessed knowingly and equitably, could sustain a meaningful future.

Studio 02

Performing Architecture studio explores the problem of the High Street with work situated around Coatsworth Road, Gateshead and its hinterland. “Reimagining the High Street as the Lobby of the City”, examines space which is misunderstood as trivial and for moving-through; yet the lobby is a deceivingly important space for ‘staying’. Thesis projects address social issues including; ‘community trauma’ in cycles of ‘slum clearance’ and incomplete ‘utopias’; the lack of non-denominational and intergenerational gathering spaces; the importance of labour and personal and community identity. Projects consider time as a fundamental aspect of the process for reimaging social and economic relationships through the built environment.

Studio 03

Urban Stitching: Reinventing the Industrial Landscape studio investigates the physical and temporal layering of the abandoned Elswick Lead works site, by unpicking its industrial past and understanding its natural and manufactured topography, whilst re-evaluating the absence of past landmarks. The work serves as a catalyst for future development and reconnects Elswick community to the quayside and the city. It explores architectural and urban typologies as a means to question variation of forms as well as their permanence across a vast urban landscape. It researches how environmental remediation and local economies can shape, change and enhance programme and architectural expression over time.