In third year, students work on their first self-directed original research, on a topic of their choice, to produce a 5,000 words dissertation. The research is primarily driven by the student, with the support of their supervisor, giving them the opportunity to engage with current debates within the historical, cultural, technological and social concerns of architecture and urban design. 

The module encourages a creative process of enquiry, with emphasis on primary research, which requires students to be rigorous, systematic and most importantly, critical. This enables them to examine a diverse range of case studies by engaging with relevant theories and academic debates, rigorous ethics review, qualitative methods, aligned with their supervisor’s expertise. Students develop insights into the complex network of relationships between contemporary society and the built environment, and acquire skills relevant to their future professional practice.

This year dissertations investigated an array of relevant topics such as the future of office spaces, adaptive reuse, minimalism in UK domestic architecture, third places for the intergenerational city, modern interventions in historic buildings, community resilience relevant to flood planning, memory of paces in video games, and post-phenomenological exploration of walking.

Module Convenor: Penélope Plaza

Supervisors: Amy Butt, Lorraine Farrelly, Oliver Froome-Lewis, Stephen Gage, John Harding, Penélope Plaza, Flora Samuel, Carolina Vasilikou, Izabela Wieczorek.