MA Design (Built Environment)*
MA Design (Built Environment) prepares you to develop a unique practice using methods of co-design and practice-led research to transform the spaces people inhabit for increased well-being, social agency and sense of place.You will learn how to approach space as a dynamic infrastructure that expresses the material, physical and digital forces that inform it, expanding the ways in which it can be meaningfully and sustainably occupied.
<p dir="ltr">The course builds on previous study of or professional experience in interior design, styling, lighting design, textile design, interior architecture, film or theatre production design, scenography and immersive or interactive media to imagine innovations and creative opportunities across these disciplines.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Spaces designed for our homes, places of business, public parks, cultural spaces and commercial venues are increasingly hybrid, serving as 24/7 centres of work and play, requiring new forms of flexibility and responsiveness in designs to adapt to changes in use, purpose and organisation. Activities that separate work and leisure are also increasingly blended, with fewer clear boundaries between the demands of work and time spent with families, communities or being with the natural world. Designing these kinds of multi-purpose, dynamic and responsive experiences of the built environment are critical not just for individual well being, but also for the social good, where communities of mixed cultural backgrounds, generations and roles in society can meet and co-exist harmoniously and productively.</p>
<p>In order to design more sustainably, you will learn the principles of circular production, systems-thinking and decarbonised material resourcing, including and examination of supply chains and guided by a research-based methodology that fosters a process of discovery, iteration and reflective self evaluation in the context of working directly with external clients and partners. Through ongoing contact with professional specialists and through local and national site visits, you will engage with contemporary problems in design and the production of spaces that require a balance of critical, economic and environmental awareness toward innovative solutions.</p>
<p>Your study will benefit from being within a truly interdisciplinary community of practitioners, where you have access to expertise in interior design, CAD modelling, 3D photogrammetry, spatial acoustics, material innovations and biomaterials, immersive media and digital visualisation and concept rendering.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Your MA study of the built environment will benefit from the opportunity to participate in the university’s Making Futures Research Group (MFRG), which examines how traditional cultures of making might exist in future contexts through the use of emerging practices, materials and technologies. The MFRG is a coalition of postgraduate students and academic staff linked to Making Futures®, our international research platform which seeks to situate material cultures and material knowledge at the centre of the many critical issues facing global consumer society, including how we might move beyond mass consumption towards an inclusive, regenerative economy capable of supporting social well-being and enabling more resilient communities.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We are committed to developing ethical, sustainable design practices as outlined in our <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/strategic-plan">Strategic Vision</a> and this ethos is embedded in all MA courses.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>We place you at the crossroad of material traditions and futures</strong>. Design for the built environment is an expanding area of practice that encompasses both time-honoured heritage processes and an exciting exploration of new material applications across a range of diverse disciplines and industries. Our MA Design (Built Environment) places you at the overlap of these creative forces to consider where you can imagine new, unrealised forms and practices. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>A pro-active, Interdisciplinary community</strong>. New ideas and material practices do not develop in isolation. You come to university to be challenged, supported and to take risks in a context that will inspire you to innovate and understand craft as an active process of inquiry into material behaviours, possibilities and interdisciplinary forms. The course encourages conceptual exploration and transformation whether you are a jeweller, woodworker, biomaterial designer or ceramicist. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Accelerated personal development through guided, practice-led research</strong>. We believe craft is a starting point rather than a destination. As a practice steeped in tacit knowledge that is often transmitted through hands-on skills and customs, the power of the direct creativity that it offers is aligned to your personal transformation. You will be trained to carry out material-led research processes in clay, glass, wood, biomaterials, metals, fibre and other materials that leads to personal discovery and future-oriented, contemporary professional options. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>World-class workshops and facilities</strong>: During your time on the course, you will have access to one of the most diverse and spacious ecosystems of workshops, studios and labs known in a contemporary art and design school. Based primarily in our Materials Lab, you are immersed in facilities that allow you to hone your existing skills and be introduced to novel processes. Our approach is to support the full range of analogue and digital processes where you can play and experiment with where the material meets the technological in your practice. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Sustainable ethos and specialist knowledge</strong>: Part of the value of design-led creative practice is the fact that many traditional methods and techniques take into account the cycles, ecology and biodiversity of nature. Built into our craft course is an emphasis on the sustainable, non-extractive and regenerative approaches to working with materials, which not only provides a meaningful link between the past and the future, but puts you at the forefront of knowing the alternative ways of making that support new, more sustainable industries and give rise to material innovations that better serve the environment and planet.<br /></p>
<p>Arts University Plymouth graduates are offered a <strong>discount of 15% on Masters programme fees</strong>, regardless of when they studied with us previously. The discount applies if you studied on one of our pre-degree, foundation or undergraduate programmes.</p>
<p>MA applicants are normally expected to have an undergraduate degree at 2:2 or above. However, the strength of your creative practice and other forms of experience will be taken into account at the interview stage and we encourage you to start a conversation with us.</p>
<p>Your portfolio should give us an indication of the work that you have made, organised or been involved in. For our postgraduate arts, craft and design courses, we expect to see examples of work you have created. <br /></p>
<p>The best deadline to submit your MA application by is <strong>1 July</strong>, however please be reassured that we can take late applications until the start of the course if places are still available.</p>
<ul><li><strong>Email: </strong><a href="mailto:admissions@aup.ac.uk">admissions@aup.ac.uk</a></li><li><strong>Tel:</strong> +44 (0)1752 203434</li></ul>
<p>Click the button below to book an informal online chat with Postgraduate Course Leader, <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/people/tom-milnes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Tom Milnes</a>.</p>
