Master of Arts [M.A] Interior Design

at Royal College of Art

The programme is delivered across three terms and includes a combination of programme, School and College units.
 

Term 1

You'll take an initial Primer unit, which will engage you in the exploration and synthesis of the principles and methods of critical ideas in interior space. It introduces you to ideas and the processes that will enable participants to synthesise thinking and research in the design of interior spaces. The work in this unit will be based on a focused exploration that affords the participant the possibilities to challenge their thinking through research, design, exploration in order to generate new meanings for buildings, objects, spaces and the elements within them.
 

Across Terms 1 and 2, you will participate in the College-wide unit. This unit aims to support students to meet the challenges of a complex, uncertain and changing world by bringing them together to work collaboratively on a series of themed projects informed by expertise within and beyond the College. These projects will challenge you to use your intellect and imagination to address key cultural, social, environmental and economic challenges. In doing so, you will develop and reflect on the abilities required to translate knowledge into action, and help demonstrate the contribution that the creative arts can make to our understanding and experience of the world.
 

You'll also take an Elective unit.
 

Term 2

The Platforms unit engages you in the origination and development of your own project in relation to the thematic concerns of the programme platforms. Each platform in this unit is design to emphasise a particular way of thinking or aspect of the design of the interior.
 

Platform themes are the provocations or generators of ideas that students utilise in the development of their own research and projects. It is anticipated that you will use the platforms interests to assist in the determination of your own practice interests and ultimately your professional identities.
 

To note: In order to retain an agility and capacity to maintain currency and agency through being able to respond to emergent issues, the number and themes of platforms will always adapt and change. Recurring themes, such as Reuse, Detail, Display, are based on fundamental issues of the interior and are supplemented with more speculative themes such as Matter, Urbanism, Behaviours, Futures and the Non-terior.
 

In term 2 all School of Architecture students will participate in the Media Studies, School-wide unit. The unit aims to increase students’ critical engagement with media and space. Through this unit you will be supported to increase your cross-disciplinary communication and you will be challenged to expand your media practice beyond architecture’s reliance on media as purely representation.
 

Term 3

The purpose of the Independent Research Project (IRP) is to enable you to apply the intellectual, technical and professional skills that you have developed throughout the programme to a challenging self-set brief. The project will normally be advanced from the work previously undertaken in the platforms.
 

Working within the thematic concerns of the platforms, each student is expected to have agreed a research and project proposal, a brief, with their tutor that identifies the parameters of their project, including its aims, rationale, approaches and methodologies and possible resource implications.
 

This majority of this unit will involve independent study in the platform system. This unit engages the student in the development and realisation of their IRP. The provocations provided by the platforms are expected to be utilised in order to assist in the determination of the students own practice interests and ultimately their professional ambitions and responsibilities and identities as a practising designer.

Candidates are selected entirely on merit and applications are welcomed from all over the world. The selection process will consider creativity, imagination and innovation as demonstrated in your portfolio, as well as your potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve high MA standards overall.
 

You will usually have a good undergraduate degree or other appropriate experience. Professional experience, either before during or after a first degree, may be a benefit. We welcome applications from candidates from other related backgrounds, such as architecture, furniture design, product design and graphic design.
 

Portfolio requirements

Your portfolio is a showcase of your work as an artist or designer and can be made up of images, videos or writing examples. Your portfolio helps us to better understand your application and allows you to show evidence of your ability and motivation to undertake a given programme.
 

Generally, we’re looking for you to demonstrate your:

• Creativity, imagination and innovation
• Ability to articulate the intentions of the work
• Intellectual engagement in areas relevant to the work
• Technical skills appropriate to the work
• Potential to benefit from the programme
   

English-language requirements

If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country you will need the equivalent of an IELTS Academic score of 6.5 with a 6.0 in the Test of Written English (TWE) and at least 5.5 in other skills. Students achieving a grade of at least 6.0, with a grade of 5.5 in the Test of Written English, may be eligible to take the College’s English for Academic Purposes course to enable them to reach the required standard.

Overseas and EU - £32,000*