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Programmes

Foundation Programme

AA Foundation Award in Architecture
One year, full-time
1 Year

The Foundation Programme is a one-year full-time course that focuses on observation, conversation and the development of key skills. This course is aimed at students who are at the very start of their architectural studies, and facilitates individual and group project work. 

Intermediate Programme

BA(Hons) / RIBA Part 1
Three years, full-time (years one to three of the five-years course in architecture)
Intermediate
Diploma
Yr 1
2
3
4
5

The Intermediate Programme (BA(Hons)) is a three-year full-time programme. The First Year is characterised by its shared, open studio, where students work individually and together across a series of projects. Years two and three introduce students to the unit system, in which small design studios (12–14 students) operate a vertical structure of Second and Third Year students.

Transfer Programme

Graduate Certificate (GradCert)
One Year
1 Year

The Transfer Programme (GradCert) is the world’s first one-year graduate access programme in architecture. Designed for graduates from non-architecture disciplines who wish to transition into architectural study and practice.

Diploma Programme

Master of Architecture (MArch) and AA Diploma / RIBA Part II
Two years, full time (years four and five of the five-years course in architecture)
Diploma
Intermediate
1
2
3
Yr 4
5

The Diploma Programme (MArch) is a two-year full-time programme that accepts students who have completed the Intermediate Programme at the AA, as well as eligible new students who have studied elsewhere. The programme leads to the AA Final Examination (ARB/RIBA Part 2) and is structured around a unit system, in which small design studios (12–14 students) operate a vertical structure of Fourth and Fifth Year students. 

Taught Postgraduate Programmes

MA/MSc, MArch, MFA and MPhil
Full-time and part-time depending on programme
1 Year
or
Yr 1
2

The AA offers ten Taught Postgraduate Programmes for students with prior academic and professional experience. Most of the programmes are full-time courses of advanced study, except for Conservation and Reuse, which provides a part-time study option. 

PhD Programme

PhD
Four years, full-time
1 Year

The PhD Programme at the AA is a full-time, four-year course that trains scholars and researchers in the fields of architectural history and theory, urban studies and technology. Its ambition is to learn from architectural knowledge and its history in order to understand the built environment at large. 

Professional Practice Part 3

RIBA, ARB
2 weeks full-time or 10 weeks part-time

Professional Practice is a RIBA Part 3 course and examination that allows successful candidates to register as architects with the Architects Registration Board (ARB). The course is open to AA RIBA Part 2 graduates and eligible non-graduates. 

Visiting School

One – three weeks

The Visiting School encompasses diverse learning programmes, workshops and site-based agendas shaped by participants working intensively in small groups over varying periods of time from one to two weeks. Central to each programme is the idea that experimental, new and provocative forms of architecture are best learned by doing. 

Semester Programme

1 September – 11 December 2026

The Semester Programme is a full-time, 15-week studio-based course open to undergraduate and graduate students, architects, and other creative individuals from around the world seeking to further their knowledge, practice and skills in architecture.

36 Bedford Square London WC1B 3ES +44 (0)20 7887 4000 reception@aaschool.ac.uk
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