Guide to Courses 2009-10

Undergraduate Courses: Architecture

Departmental website: http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/
Information for current students [http://www.arct.cam.ac.uk/tripos.html]

In this subject, there is an undergraduate course followed by candidates for

     The Architecture Tripos.

Architecture is one of the few subjects in the University that combines the intellectual challenge of a Cambridge Tripos with the opportunity for creative design. It provides a wide-ranging education in the principles of architectural design and its theoretical background. The course is intended on the one hand to establish the basis for a body of technical, historical, and theoretical knowledge and, on the other, to apply this knowledge to the study of the principal questions of building and of the built environment. Students are encouraged to discover how the requirements of each project can be elicited, interpreted, and translated into a design proposal by looking at them in their complete cultural context and evolving a form of building appropriate to them. Design is the core discipline in architectural education and studio-work forms the major educational activity throughout the course. This in turn necessarily entails formal exercises in criticism, involving the presentation of studio-work in which specialized studies are brought together in the finished design. In addition to these general design exercises, short projects of a specifically technical nature are set during the course. Studio-work is devised to develop skills in observation, design, and representation and to apply knowledge acquired in the lecture programme. Lecture courses in history, theory, construction, structural, and environmental design, and other studies counterbalance the studio-work.

A student reading architecture will attend courses in the Department of Architecture and will take the appropriate examinations for the Tripos. These examinations are held in three stages: Part IA at the end of the first year, Part IB at the end of the second year, and Part II at the end of the third year. This three-year course leads to an Honours Degree and provides a basic education and training in architecture. The Honours Degree is fully prescribed by the Architects Registration Board (ARB). The award of the Honours Degree gives automatic exemption from ARB/RIBA Part 1. After taking the three-year B.A. course, a student may apply to another institution to take a further two-year course, leading to exemption from ARB/RIBA Part 2. The Department offers a two-year M.Phil. in Environmental Design in Architecture (Option B) which holds exemption from ARB/RIBA Part 2.

Qualification for admission to the Register of Architects can be obtained by the satisfactory completion of the B.A. (Hons) course, the completion of ARB/RIBA Part 2, and the successful completion of the Part 3 Examination which is taken following the two compulsory years of practical training required by the Royal Institute of British Architects, one year of which should be taken after the B.A. (Hons) course. The Department offers a fully prescribed Part 3 course and examination leading to admission to the Register, and eligibility for membership of the RIBA.

Students have the use of the Faculty Library, housed in the Department of Architecture, and in addition have available the library of the Fitzwilliam Museum and the University Library. Most College libraries also possess useful collections of reference works.

The Architecture Tripos

The Architecture Tripos consists of three Parts: Part IA, Part IB, and Part II. The normal programme for an undergraduate who intends to spend three years reading architecture will be as follows:

  • Part IA of the Tripos at the end of the first year;
  • Part IB of the Tripos at the end of the second year;
  • Part II of the Tripos at the end of the third year.

Candidates must pass the studio-work component of the Part IA and Part IB examinations in order to proceed to the next year of study.

Part IA

The examination for Part IA consists of three sections:

Section A. Five written papers as follows:

  1. Introduction to architectural history
    The paper deals with a selective introduction to the architectural history of Western Europe and North America from classical antiquity to the early twentieth century.

  2. Introduction to architectural theory
    The paper deals with an introduction to theoretical writings on architecture and the role of the architect from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, related to the architectural practices of the time.

  3. Fundamental principles of construction
    The paper may include questions on the development of construction methods, the elementary principles of construction of small buildings, and the basic properties of construction materials.

  4. Fundamental principles of structural design
    The paper may include questions on the elementary principles of structural design of buildings, on simple statics, stress analysis, and strength of structural materials.

  5. Fundamental principles of environmental design
    The paper may include questions on the elementary principles of environmental control in buildings and servicing of buildings.

Section B.      Studio-work.

Section C.      Course-work.

A candidate for Part IA must offer all five papers in Section A; and for Section B, must present for the inspection of the Examiners, not later than the Monday before the first day of the written examination, a portfolio of studio-work carried out during the academical year in which he/she presents him/herself for the examination and attested by satisfactory evidence; and for Section C, as described in the relevant edition of the Department's Undergraduate Studies Handbook. An obligatory week-long study visit to Rome usually takes place in the Easter Vacation. Local Education Authority funded Home students are required to contribute 25% of the cost of about £700. Other Home students as well as all EC and Overseas students are required to contribute the full amount. In addition, all students must cover incidental expenses.

Part IB

The examination for Part IB consists of three sections:

Section A. Five papers as follows:

  1. Studies in architectural history
    Topics are specified from time to time. The topics in 2008 - 2009 were:
    1. Liberation to Revolt: Modern Architecture in France 1944-1968
    2. The History of Environment in Architecture
    3. Islamic Architecture
    4. Narratives of the Modern City
  2. Theories of architecture, urbanism, and design
    Topics are specified from time to time. In 2008 - 2009 the topics were:
    1. Cités-Ciné
    2. Architecture and the Practical Imagination
    3. Gardens and Landscape
    4. Studies in Urban Planning
  3. Principles of Construction
    This paper may include questions on the principles governing the use of constructional elements in complex building types, properties of materials, dimensional co-ordination, analysis of simple methods of enveloping space.

  4. Principles of Structural Design
    This paper may include questions on the structural aspects of architectural design, the behaviour of structural elements under load, the use of load-bearing brickwork, steel, and reinforced concrete, systems of roof spanning and their calculation, the mathematical and graphical determination of simple structural systems.

  5. Principles of Environmental Design
    This paper may include questions of the principles of environmental control and functional design, the practical applications of the principles of thermal response, of acoustics, and of lighting in buildings, micro-climate, planning and designing for user needs.

Section B      Studio-work.

Section C      Course-work.

A candidate is required:

  1. to offer all five papers in Section A;
  2. for Section B, to present for the inspection of the Examiners, not later than the Monday before the first day of the written examination, a portfolio of studio-work attested by satisfactory evidence and carried out during the academical year in which he/she presents him/herself for examination;
  3. for Section C, as described in the relevant edition of the Undergraduate Studies Handbook.

Part II

The scheme of the examination for Part II consists of four sections.

Section A

  1. Advanced Studies in the theoretical and historical aspects of architecture and urbanism. Topics are specified from time to time. The topics in 2008 - 2009 were:
    1. Architecture and Continuity: the Western Tradition
    2. Energy and Climate Change
    3. Architecture and Continuity: Fragment and Modernity
    4. Global Architecture
    5. Socio-Economic Aspects of Architecture
    6. Current Topics in Urbanism
    7. Food and the City
    8. Social Intentions in Architecture
  2. Introduction to the Principles of Professional Practice.

  3. Advanced Studies in Construction Technology, Structural Analysis and Environmental Design related to Case Studies.

  4. ArchEng (100% coursework).

Section B      Studio-work.

Section C      Course-work.

Section D      A thesis on an approved subject in the history or theory of architecture and urbanism.

A candidate for Part II is required:

  1. for Section A, to offer Papers 1-4;
  2. for Section B, to present for the inspection of the Examiners, not later than the Monday before the first day of the written examination, a portfolio of studio-work carried out during the academical year in which he/she presents him/herself for examination and attested by satisfactory evidence;
  3. for Section C, as described in the relevant edition of the Student Handbook
  4. for Section D, to submit a thesis or an alternative exercise approved by the Faculty Board on an approved subject in accordance with the details below.

Each candidate must submit the proposed subject of his/her thesis or other exercise through his/her Tutor to the Secretary of the Faculty Board not later than the end of the third quarter of the Michaelmas Term next preceding the examination and must obtain the approval of the Faculty Board for this subject not later than the end of that term.

The proposed subject may fall within a topic selected from a list published by the Faculty Board not later than 1 June in the year before the examination.

Each thesis must be between 7,000 and 9,000 words (inclusive of notes and appendices); an alternative exercise shall be of comparable substance. Theses must be typewritten. Each thesis or alternative exercise must be submitted through the Tutor to the Secretary of the Faculty Board so as to reach her not later than the first day of Full Easter Term in which the examination is to be held.

In both Parts I and II the Examiners may impose such oral and practical tests as they think fit, and in drawing up the class-list they will take into account the candidate's performance in all such tests, and in the studio-work and course-work, as well as in the written papers and theses. A candidate may be required to attend a viva voce examination in the subject of any thesis submitted.

The title of this document is: Courses available 2009-10: Undergraduate degree in Architecture
URL: http://www.cam.ac.uk/guide/ugcourses/arch.html

Last updated: 13/08/2009