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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. These programmes take place all over the world, including Bedford Square in London and Hooke Park in Dorset. The Visiting School welcomes applicants in any moment of their studies and careers, from within and outside of the architectural realm. The AA Summer School Programme, also part of the Visiting School, is equally open and takes place for three weeks during the summer period.
DTA Students’ education and architectural practices post AA
Join one of our Visiting School short courses happening around the world.
Furnishing the Landscape, Hooke Park 2024Tuition fee is free for all successful applicants.
Successful applicants will be asked to make a contribution for food and accommodation at Hooke Park (Mon-Fri meals [breakfast/lunch/dinner]):
No payment is required before the outcome of your application is received.
Fees do not include flights.
Students need to bring their own laptops, digital equipment and model making tools.
APPLICATIONS FOR THIS PROGRAMME WILL OPEN SOON
This Visiting School is sponsored by MAEDA, therefore, this programme requires a selection process.
Successful applicants will not pay programme fees. AA Digital Membership, accommodation and food fees are payable by all successful applicants.
Additional Information
Work Week: Participants will be required to arrive to Hooke Park on Sunday 22 June in the evening and leave in the morning hours of Saturday 28 June.
Participants will work and be supervised on fabrication activities. Each session starts with mandatory safe working inductions.
Meals on Site: Hooke Park's Refectory The meals are now exclusively vegetarian. Please advise us of any allergies or dietary requirements. Additionally, participants have access to a fully equipped kitchen for non-catered meals.
Accommodation: Participants live on site in Westminster Lodge, a dormitory with shared same-sex twin rooms, each with en-suite washroom and shower pods. Bedding is provided – participants are required to bring their own towel and toiletries.
This programme is available to all, from all backgrounds who are 18 years old or above – we seek interesting and interested people.
ENTERING THE UK
If you are traveling to the UK from abroad, it is your responsibility to ensure that you hold the right documents to enter the UK.
All applicants are required to review the relevant sections on ‘Entering the UK’ via the UK Government website to check which documents are required to enter the UK and check if an application to a Standard Visitor visa or an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is needed. Your type of immigration document and how to apply depends on your nationality, the AA can provide a letter confirming your enrolment to the course to support your application once the course fees are settled.
Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)
Commencing 8 January 2025, the UK introduced ETAs for all visitors who do not currently need a visa for short stays of under six months, including Australian, Canadian, and US passport holders.
Starting in April 2025, all visitors to the UK who do not require a visa for short stays and do not already have a UK immigration status will need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). This includes nationals from many countries, including those in the European Union as well as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
You can Check if you can apply for an ETA on the UK Government website. An ETA costs £10 and allows multiple entries into the UK for stays of up to six months at a time, valid for two years or until the holder’s passport expires—whichever is sooner.
Standard Visitor Visa
Please note that Standard Visitor Visas may take up to 3 months to be issued, all applicants who require a visa to enter the UK are encouraged to apply for a Standard Visitor visa at least 3 months in advance and no later than 1 month before the start of the programme or the date of the flight in which is intended to enter the UK, whichever is first. Student Visas are not required for study periods shorter than six months.
How to apply for a Standard Visitor Visa depends on your country of origin. You can check check if you need to apply for a visa in advance or if you can enter with and ETA and your passport upon arrival in the UK.
Applicants who need a visa to study in the UK are encouraged to carefully review the details and eligibility criteria for the Standard Visitor Visa, which are available on the UK Government website. The Visiting School Office will provide guidance throughout the process to ensure applicants are well-informed and prepared to submit their visa applications. Please also review the costs associated with obtaining a visa.
Once an applicant has been accepted into the programme and has paid the deposit or full fees (see ‘Fees’ section), the Visiting School Office will issue an invitation letter confirming enrolment. This letter can also be used as a supporting document when entering the UK.
All participants are responsible for their own insurance including travel and health insurance. All participants also need to ensure that any equipment and valuable items such as laptops are covered by their own insurance as the AA takes no responsibility for items lost or stolen.
Programme Head
Shin Egashira is an architect, artist, educator and PhD candidate who works collaboratively worldwide. His experiments which fuse old and new technologies, include the construction of Alfred Jarry’s Time Machine alongside astrophysicist Andrew Jaffe; ‘How to Walk a Flat elephant’, ‘Twisting Concrete’ and ‘Beautifully Incomplete’ at Betts Projects.
He conducts a series of landscape workshops in rural and inner-city communities inter-culturally. Shin Egashira is Unit Master of the AA Diploma Unit 11, with whom he has been critically documenting neoliberal urban development in London from 1996 to the present day.
He holds visiting professorships at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and the University of Hong Kong.