Architecture and Planning: University of the West of England

Introduction

Walk down any street – and try to draw a line between what is Architecture and what is Planning. You can't, because how they experience and inhabit the built environment is seamless. Yet for nearly 40 years the teaching and practice of designing the built environment in Britain has been split between two professions: Architecture and Planning. The problems this creates can be seen all around us. Problems that become ever more apparent as they begin to understand the environment more holistically and seek to create more 'joined up' and humane sustainable environments.

UWE Bristol wanted to tackle this problem and to educate a new kind of designer: highly creative architect-planners able to work singly and in teams, from the scale of the city to the scale of a door-handle, responding to people, context and sustainability - the three keywords of the course. The result is a course unique in Britain: an Architecture course that extends itself to include the whole of their built environment; or looked at another way, a Planning course that extends to include the making of the environment.

Fieldwork

There are three field trips which are subsidised by the School. You are expected to contribute to the cost. Recent visits have been to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin and Glasgow. The course includes a stream of practical design projects, culminating in a special study which combines a fully integrated design project and a rigorous research component.

Study time

When starting the course at UWE Bristol you register for six years of full-time study, so that you can complete a full architectural education. After four years you will complete the BA(Hons) Architecture and Planning (RIBA Part 1) and then spend a year in an architectural practice. You then proceed to the BArch/MA (RIBA Part 2) course, either at UWE or another institution, which is two years full-time, but may also be taken part-time.