Master of Architecture

The MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design, unique to other RIBA Part II courses in the United Kingdom, is one that I would thoroughly recommend to anyone who is interested in exploring architecture as a multi-faceted field. The MAUD Course, primarily suited for independent thinkers and dedicated students, has taught and allowed me to fully-understand the importance of interconnecting socio-political research, technical analysis with a fully developed design response. Although, each student in the MAUD course develops his/her own project, there is a strong sense of community, support and the desire to succeed together. Throughout my time at Cambridge, I was constantly encouraged to express and challenge my ideas in pushing the boundaries of architecture. After having recently completed the course, I can certainly say that the teaching and support that I have received during my time as a MAUD student has made me a well-rounded individual in the architecture profession and has given me the tools to develop my own career. If I could, I would do it all over again!

Martha Carini (student on the previous MAUD course which the new MArch replaces) (May 2018)

The MAUD course is one that I would thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in understanding the built environment's role in political, social and economic issues. It is a course that does not simply present the world from an architect or urban designer's perspective but instead pushes you to consider how design has to work with other disciplines. There is a genuine desire for interdisciplinary learning between members of different departments which helped my research immeasurably. I also found that even though each member of the course choose his or her own topic (another important aspect that makes studying MAUD so interesting) we were all keen to help and encourage each other to create the best work that we could. 

After leaving I went not into architecture but instead urban development and city advisory work. Many architecture students would think this a strange departure after a Part 2 course but the beauty of the course was it prepares you for more than just working in an architect's office.

Thomas Lindsay (student on the previous MAUD course which the new MArch replaces) (April 2016)

I was attracted to the MAUD course as it offers a set of opportunities like no other Part 2. Like many architecture students, by diploma stage I had a fairly strong sense of what I was interested in and in the ways I enjoyed working. The MAUD course, with its opportunity to do a single unified two-year design and research project, within the intellectual lineage that you prefer, and including an extended fieldwork period, is a unique opportunity in the Part 2 landscape.

The MAUD course has a relatively small intake (of around 20 people per year) which gives MAUD a really great studio culture. Everyone has widely different projects – I am looking at housing co-operatives in the UK, but in my peer intake there were projects on informality in Cairo, flooding and the garment industry in Bangladesh, or food waste in Almeria. You get to know everyone’s projects and subject matters intimately – peer-to-peer learning that has undoubtedly made me more knowledgeable not only about architecture but the world in general.

The course leader, Ingrid Schroder, is excellent – inspiring, a brilliant teacher, and kind. My personal supervisor (chosen for her expertise in my area of research – housing) is also excellent. We have a huge amount of contact time, which is both formal and informal, as a result of the fact that the studio space is located so close to the tutor’s offices.

I like the fact that design projects on the MAUD course have to be grounded in research and theory, rather than the theoretical elements being bolt-ons to a design project or superficial justifications. I like the methodology practised on the course, research through design, which gives the work a highly experimental bent. Many of the set briefs are multimedia design exercises at a range of varying scales to explore ideas as you are beginning to form them rather than fetishising the end product. I like the fact that projects take place over two years – I have learned about housing policy and co-operatives intimately in this time, and so I have felt in a valid position to make meaningful and serious design interventions.

I like the seriousness of MAUD projects and their breadth, cultivated by a course where the site is local, national and global and the scope not only architecture but politics, economics, history and culture too. It is an excellent balance of pedagogy and freedom, befitting of the Part 2 stage – I have learned immense amounts and have been guided well, but have also been given the chance to roam widely (intellectually and architecturally).

Perhaps the biggest testimony of all is that I will leave the course and be able to test the designs and strategy I have developed on the MAUD course in practice. I have spent my fieldwork period establishing the basis of a practice which will be a vehicle for this work, establishing networks of people in housing policy, and starting ongoing conversations with housing co-operatives that are interested in my ideas. I am very pleased that the luxury of architecture education might bear fruit! 

Georgie Day (student on the previous MAUD course which the new MArch replaces) (April 2016)