Interior Architecture BA(Hons)

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio advice 

Once we receive your UCAS application, we invite you to submit a digital web portfolio. We understand that at this stage you will still be working on key pieces for your studies, and we would very much like to see this work in progress. Regardless of completion, we are keen to see how you generate and work with ideas.

What should be in my work-in-progress portfolio?
Your portfolio should include up to 20 images of your work (jpgs or pdfs). These should include preparatory drawings and studies as well as any finished pieces you may have from previous projects/personal work.

Please include the type of work you are most actively interested in pursuing. We do not necessarily expect to see architectural work, we are looking for a variety of work in different media showing your ability to experiment and utilise different techniques.

Please include a good proportion of analogue (non-computer) generated work. As you will not be present in person to explain the ideas behind the work, you may wish to add a brief statement that supports the images and tells us more about your interests and ambitions.

How do I send my work-in-progress portfolio?
We recommend using an online site such as Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr, Carbonmade, or Flickr to showcase your work as these sites can host visual imagery and accompanying text. When digitising analogue works, please be sure to take care with the photography or scanning process, make sure the digital copy is a good quality representation of the original.

Make sure that the portfolio is publicly viewable and does not require a log in or account to view. Please avoid Dropbox or other sites that are not suited for hosting visual portfolios.

Please do not send pdfs or PowerPoint files directly to us as these are normally too large and likely to bounce and delay your application review.

Find out more about how to create and submit your portfolio.

Why choose Brighton

• Develop real-world skills working on live projects such as set designs and exhibition installations. 
• Access to specialist workshops, supported by knowledgeable and helpful technicians.
• Friendly studio environment, working in collaboration with other students from all years of the degree.
• Showcase your work throughout the course culminating in the end of year show.
• Learn with a course team of practising interior architects, researchers and designers who’ll inspire you to explore diverse fields in your work.
• Each year there are optional field trips and live projects that expand your architectural and spatial design knowledge.
• You'll have the opportunity to help to run the Brighton Interior Architecture and Architecture Student Society (BIAAS) organising lectures, events and exhibitions.

Year 1

In year 1, you will be introduced to the discipline of interior architecture within a wide historical and cultural context, establishing your skills, specialist knowledge and practices.

Modules

• Design and Skills 1: Fundamentals of Interior Architecture

  This module will introduce you to the Interior Architecture course by enabling you to understand the fundamentals of working with existing sites and how to design in response to them. You will learn how spatial design interventions have the power to transform the existing through mini-design projects.

  You will develop the core skills needed to begin exploring, testing and communicating your design ideas effectively and will be introduced to creative design processes and representation techniques through workshops.

• Design and Skills 2: Strategies and Processes

  This module builds on the fundamentals of interior architecture by enabling you to develop strategies for working with existing sites through the design process - from site and contextual analysis, concept and design development through to proposed resolution.

  Your learning is supported by workshops and lectures introducing core themes including technology, sustainability, alternative techniques and media to communicate, test and explore your ideas.

• Interiors: Histories and Theories 1 – an Introduction

  This module provides an overview of major themes needed to understand the context of interior architecture. Lectures and seminars examine case studies and build into a general survey of the historical and cultural dimensions of interior architecture and related disciplines that inform the built environment in general.

• Practices 1: Collaborative Practice

  Practices 1 is where you'll apply the skills you have been developing throughout the year.

  The focus will be on realising designs through a practical response to a brief. Where possible, you will be working with and responding to a live brief and client.

  The aim is to cultivate your critical position in the field and, while working as part of a team in a collaborative and professional manner, evolve your communication skills to support your design work.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

2019 graduate Holly Nash talks about the projects, teaching and strong community of students on Interior Architecture. She also tells us how the subject differs from interior design

All Interior Architecture BA(Hons) students participate in the Context Workshop Week - a five-day project-based learning activity. The aim is to introduce specific skills, techniques and processes that will inform your design practice and thinking.

Year 2

In year 2 you will broaden and deepen your awareness of the field. This is a year for creative experimentation and the exploration of new territories.

Modules

• Design 3: Design Modes
• Design 4: Experience and Systems
• Tehcnology: Strategies
• Contemporary Concerns

Final year

In year 3 you will have opportunities to apply your skills and spatial design awareness. The intention throughout this year is to consolidate your knowledge, enable you to develop an independent creative voice, and prepare you for entry into professional practice or enable you to engage in further research. Each year, graduating students exhibit their work at the end of year show.

Modules

• Skills 4: Resolution
• Design 5: Design Agency
• Design 6: Experience and Systems
• Practices 2: Future Practice
• Research Project

Facilities 

Facilities and workshops are supported by full-time specialist technicians and include: 

• dedicated studio spaces for each group and programme specialist model-making and construction workshops with equipment for fabrication in wood, metal, plastics, resins and textiles
• photographic studios and darkroom 
• digital fabrication facilities including laser cutting and 3D printing rapid prototyping, 5-axis milling and CNC routing facilities 
• PC and Mac computer suites with software including Adobe suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator), Vectorworks, Autodesk suite, Rhino, Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D and Premiere 
• an in-house reprographic department  
• a wide range of surveying and audio-visual equipment available for loan. 

Check out the 360 videos of our workshops and photography studio.

Meet the team

Student views 

Khadiga El Shakhs, Interior Architecture BA(Hons), graduate 2023

"My time in Brighton has been extremely life-changing to say the least. It had really allowed me to grow and learn many different things due to the endless creative freedom we are given on this course. Without it, I would’ve never discovered my passion for the world of fashion.

As a student ambassador and an inclusive practice partner, I have been given the freedom to use my voice and create a healthy inclusive working environment for me and my peers, which has made my journey as an international student so much easier. The vibrant nature of our studio culture has been extremely inspiring as we all get to learn from each others work and experiences as separate individuals."

Khadiga's final year project.

Course fees

Perkins+Will Thesis Prize for Architecture

The £250 Perkins+Will Thesis Prize for Architecture is open to final-year students of the Interior Architecture BA(Hons) and the Interior Design MA. It rewards work that exhibits strong design principles and that shows concern for sustainability, social responsibility, diversity, wellness and innovation.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2024–25.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

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