Intro

The aligned subjects of ‘design’ and ‘interiority’ are rich, complex and diverse in nature, and have an increasingly important part to play in our future. Our Interior Design MA is designed to promote interdisciplinary research and practice and explores both the intellectual idea and the spatial language of interior environments.

We are looking to develop creative collaborations between fine artists, designers, architects and thinkers. Ours is a creative, technical and theoretical approach, that helps you to become a professional leader in the field of interior design.

We will encourage and support you to form your own critical responses to the concerns of the discipline including spatial intelligence and experience, diversity, inclusion, equity, inhabitation, occupation, belonging, sustainability, identity, and storytelling.

You’ll explore the subject through lectures, workshops and seminars delivered by staff who are active in research and consultancy, tutors who are practising designers, and visiting specialists, critics and consultants who will share their knowledge and experience.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Moulsecoomb

Full-time 18 months
Part-time Typically 30 months

Find out about postgraduate events

Apply online

Please review the entry requirements carefully and if you have any questions do get in touch with us.

Apply now for your place

Course content

Why study with us?

International links and overseas teaching, with workshops taking place in Milan, Istanbul and Beijing in recent years

Featured university in the book Masterclass: Interior Design, a guide to the world's leading graduate schools

Dual emphasis on creative and critical enquiry in the broad context of the visual and performing arts, design and the humanities

Interdisciplinary workshops that encourage you to think across a range of design fields including architecture, urban design, fashion and textiles

A creative, technical and theoretical approach that helps you to become a professional leader in the field of interior design.

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A selection of work by Interior Design MA students for their Design Museum project

Course structure

During semester 1, the projects set for the Preliminary Design module provide an opportunity for students returning to education to take stock of their position, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and identify ambitions for future study. Lecture courses in Technology and Material Practices, Critical Readings and Research Methods run in parallel.

In semester 2, you consolidate and extend the priorities, ideas and strategies established in the preliminary design. Lecture series in Technology and Critical Readings continue. A proposal for the final research project is developed and submitted, which then takes up the whole of semester 3.

Students develop new skills while extending existing design practices to precisely articulate spatial design proposals.

We offer at least one study trip each year. It might be related to the design studio or a trip that offers you direct exposure to and experience of some of the most contemporary spatial design projects in Britain and mainland Europe.

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.

Four female students presenting Interior Design work

Syllabus

Our starting point is to acknowledge the complexities and paradoxes inherent in orthodox architectural documentation in order to unearth the dubious simplifications and missed opportunities that result from the tendency to privilege the visual at the expense of our other senses.

In anticipation of 'the creative user', all our proposals originate from a close focus on the existing condition, paying particular attention to local takeovers, autonomous occupations and the blurring of boundaries of ownership and programme. In considering issues of technology, we are concerned as much with intuition, desire and chance as with precedent, economy and established practice.

Modules

Preliminary Design

During semester 1, the projects set for the Preliminary Design module provide an opportunity for students returning to education to take stock of their position, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and identify ambitions for future study. Lecture courses in technology and the chosen optional module run in parallel.

Technology and Material Practices

The central concern of the work undertaken in this module is to investigate the ways in which a building’s materiality, systems of construction and service infrastructure provide an opportunity to bring into sharp focus the polemical, ethical and philosophical positions that underpin the project as a whole. The module consists of a series of lectures and workshops focusing on visual, thermal, aural, climatic, structural, constructional and sustainability issues.

Main Design

By semester 2, work undertaken for the Main Design module consolidates and extends the priorities, ideas and strategies established in Preliminary Design (talks and tutorials on Technology and Material Practices continue to run parallel with the studio project).

Research Practices

Throughout this module, you develop your research skills to construct research questions, hypotheses and methodologies, which you will adapt to issues of personal interest. You also develop and submit a research project proposal.

Masterwork

The Masterwork is the culmination of the course and may be undertaken through creative design practice supported by critical text or as a text-based thesis. The development of the Masterwork proposal is supported by research-based seminars and regular seminar presentations with supervisory input from your course tutors.

Meet the team

Gemma Barton, course leader

Gem Barton is an academic with a varied and active flair for writing, curating and designing. In 2019 she won a National Teaching Fellow by Advance HE for her "hands on and inspiring" teaching (read more about the award).

Gem has been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students for almost a decade in architecture, interior architecture, urban design and design thinking.

Find out more about Gem's teaching and research interests.

Gem Barton (right) with student

How this course is delivered

How will my course be taught?
For the academic year that starts in September 2022 we’re planning for all students to be taught face-to-face on campus, enhanced by some online learning.

Students who started their course with us in 2021 are on campus for some face-to-face learning including tutorials, workshops, laboratory classes and studio sessions. They are also taking part in off-campus learning activities such as placements, field trips and study visits. And all of our campus facilities – libraries, learning spaces, restaurants, gyms and more are open.

Like all universities we are following government guidance and we are monitoring the pandemic very closely. Should Public Health advise it we have robust plans in place for additional safety measures to be introduced to enable everyone to continue learning on campus, and, as a last resort, for students to continue their learning remotely.

We will update you regularly on our teaching plans for the next academic year as you progress your application with us.

When does my course start?
The 2022 academic year begins on Monday 26 September 2022. Teaching for most courses starts the following week.

Many education courses, some health science courses including Medicine, and some postgraduate business courses have an earlier start date. Check your offer letter for the start date of your course.

Our latest news

Architecture and Spatial Design Prizes 2022

Congratulations to all our winners and a big thank you to all the Practices and Companies who sponsored this years’ awards.

Inspirational Student Award 2022

2022 has been another testing year for students studying on practical courses such as Architecture and Design.

Sally Sutherland: What If ? Why Not ?

Sally Sutherland will be a speaker at an inspiring event at the Whitworth Art Gallery on 13th July in Manchester.

RIBA Mock Interviews are Back….In Person !!

We are delighted that after being online in 2021 and 2020 the annual RIBA Mock Interviews for our graduating Architects and Interior Architects are back …in person!

Careers

Our graduates generally succeed in finding challenging and rewarding work in the public and private sectors, nationally and internationally. Brighton graduates enjoy a reputation for being creative and innovative designers, responsive to the needs of people and places. In addition, this postgraduate programme offers opportunities for experimental and exploratory work in spatial design both within and beyond the limits of professional practice.Previous students include:

an interior designer at Harrison Ince
an interior designer at gpstudio
a store designer at Estée Lauder Travel Retail
an architect at Nest Architects
an architectural technologist at Agora Chartered Architects
an industrial and interior designer at B-H Design
a senior interior designer at Hirsch Bedner Associates
a creative director at Night Art Design Studio
a designer at Johnson Naylor
an interior architect at Cramer Möbel Design.

Students crowded round a table with spatial design model structure

Careers

Prepare for your career

Brighton graduates enjoy a reputation for being creative and innovative designers, responsive to the needs of people and places.

In addition, this postgraduate programme offers opportunities for experimental and exploratory work in spatial design both within and beyond the limits of professional practice.

Facilities for learning

Benefit from the new Masters Centre including studio space, tutorial areas and shared creative spaces

Modelling and construction workshops: timber and metal, dedicated 'wet' modelling bay, plastic dying facility, drill press, spray booth, vacuum former, strip bender, plastics oven, hot wire cutter and spot welder; further workshops available by arrangement with rapid prototyping and laser cutter

IT facilities include 3D paper and printer, plotters, scanners and a reprographics suite

Software includes Adobe suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Professional), VW2010, Cinema 4D, Premiere, Blender, AutoCAD, Maya and Rhino

Library facilities include additional computing equipment, digital and hard copy specialist library facilities, and specialist collections

Female student using a machine cutting shapes in wood

Graduate destinations

Our graduates have gone on to roles such as:

interior designer at Harrison Ince
interior design at gpstudio
a store designer at Estée Lauder Travel Retail
an architect at Nest Architects
an architectural technologist at Agora Chartered Architects
an industrial and interior designer at B-H Design
a senior interior designer at Hirsch Bedner Associates
a creative director at Night Art Design Studio
a designer at Johnson Naylor
an interior architect at Cramer Möbel Design.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2022. They should be used as a general guide.

Degree and experience
A good degree (2.2 or above) in a design-related subject. In exceptional circumstances, ie where an applicant has several years experience working in a design industry, those with non-design degrees will be considered. Applicants need to show evidence of a portfolio and most will be invited for interview.

English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. Find out more about the other English qualifications that we accept.

International students whose language skills do not match the IELTS scores set out here should consider applying for this course through our Extended Masters programme.

International requirements and visas

International requirements by country
Country name
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

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

Visit our language centre

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For degree preparation courses.

Visas and immigration advice

Applying for a student visa

Check out our step-by-step guidance.

Portfolio advice

Your portfolio should be a maximum of 20 pages/images showing examples of projects from previous or ongoing academic studies. It should also include recent work undertaken in practice as appropriate.

Remember – it's useful for the course leader to see the range of representational skills you have as well as your approach to design.

Please upload your portfolio to an image-sharing website such as Flickr or Dropbox, and include the link in your application.

Fees

Course fees

UK (full-time)5,650 GBP

International (full-time) 13,680 GBP

Please note these are the annual fees for the course. As the course duration is 18 months (full-time), you will pay a further 50% of the above figure for the final six months.

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.

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in your fees, while studying a course in the School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering in the 2022–23 academic year are listed here.

Travel and accommodation costs are included for all mandatory taught residential field trips, but you’ll need to provide your own food and drink.
There will be opportunities to attend additional study trips or optional taught residential field trips throughout the school, but these are not required to pass your course. Normally, a contribution will be required towards expenses such as travel, entrance fees and accommodation. This will vary depending on where and how long the trip is, but you should budget around £1,500.
Where optional international field trips are offered, these are not required to pass your course. You should expect to budget £300–£500 for these, to cover flight, accommodation, food and entrance to museums. The total amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
If you choose to take an optional paid placement, you’ll be expected to cover your own travel, accommodation, food and drink.
Some students require specialist outdoor equipment and/or personal protective equipment (PPE) and should budget up to £150.
You will have access to computers and necessary software; however, many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices, but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses. Find out what free software is available from the University of Brighton.
Course books are available from the university, but you may wish to budget from £15 to £100 per year to buy your own copies and subscribe to design magazines.
In most cases coursework submissions are electronic but students may wish to print notes which would involve an extra cost.
Costs of up to £50 are included in the fees for students on engineering courses to pay for materials for their final year projects. On rare occasions where material costs exceed £50, they will need to be paid for by the student.

For architecture, interior architecture, design and product design, additional costs are as follow

Students should budget around £25 for printing and binding dissertations in their final year.
In your first year of studies, you will need to buy a drawing and modelling toolkit. Each course will suggest a list of items of which some will be essential, and others optional. You should budget around £100–£250 for these.
For most courses you will need to budget between £100 to £300 per year for printing and portfolio costs. Costs will vary depending on type of printer and type and size of paper used. Some students tend to work digitally, spending more on printing and some by hand, spending more on materials so these costs vary widely between students.
For most courses you will need to budget between £10 and £100 for material costs per design project. Costs will vary depending on how and what you use to make models. You are encouraged to recycle used materials where possible.
You will need to budget between £5–£50 to exhibit work for the end-of-year show. Fundraising by the student society, BIAAS, normally helps towards this cost.

You can chat with our enquiries team if you have a question or need more information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2022–23.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Location and student life

Campus where this course is taught

Moulsecoomb campus

Two miles north of Brighton seafront, Moulsecoomb is our largest campus and student village. Over the last four years Moulsecoomb has undergone a major transformation, planned with accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability in mind.

Over 900 students live here in our halls, Moulsecoomb Place and the new Mithras halls – Brunswick, Goldstone, Hanover, Preston and Regency.

On campus you’ll find professional-standard facilities and learning resources for all of our subjects and a brand new academic building Elm House, alongside the library, student centre, fitness facilities and the Students’ Union.

Moulsecoomb has easy access to buses and trains and to all the exciting things happening in our home city.

Accommodation

Brighton: Moulsecoomb

We guarantee an offer of a place in halls of residence to all eligible students who apply by 30 June.

Halls of residence
We have halls of residence across Brighton in the city centre, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

You'll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
Moulsecoomb campus is linked to Moulsecoomb Place, Mithras halls and Varley Park. All halls are self-catered.
- Varley Park offers a mix of rooms. It is around two miles from Moulsecoomb campus and four miles from the city centre. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there’s a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.
- Moulsecoomb Place halls are all self-catered and are located right on campus.

Want to live independently? We can help – find out more about private renting.

Modern accommodation at nearby Varley Halls

Modern accommodation at nearby Varley Park

Relaxing in halls near the campus

Students eating at the Hub

Local area

About Brighton

The city of Brighton & Hove is a forward-thinking place which leads the way in the arts, technology, sustainability and creativity. You'll find living here plays a key role in your learning experience.

Brighton is a leading centre for creative media technology, recently named the startup capital of the UK.

The city is home to a national 5G testbed and over 1,000 tech businesses. The digital sector is worth over £1bn a year to the local economy - as much as tourism.

All of our full-time undergraduate courses involve work-based learning - this could be through placements, live briefs and guest lectures. Many of these opportunities are provided by local businesses and organisations.

It's only 50 minutes by train from Brighton to central London and less than 40 minutes to Eastbourne. There are also daily direct trains to Bristol, Bedford, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Maps

Moulsecoomb campus map

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Support and wellbeing

Your course team

Your personal academic tutor, course leader and other tutors are all there to help you with your personal and academic progress. You'll also have a student support and guidance tutor (SSGT) who can help with everything from homesickness, managing stress or accommodation issues.

Your academic skills

Our Brighton Student Skills Hub gives you extra support and resources to develop the skills you'll need for university study, whatever your level of experience so far.

Your mental health and wellbeing

As well as being supported to succeed, we want you to feel good too. You'll be part of a community that builds you up, with lots of ways to connect with one another, as well having access to dedicated experts if you need them. Find out more.

Sport at Brighton

Sport Brighton

Sport Brighton brings together our sport and recreation services. As a Brighton student you'll have use of sport and fitness facilities across all our campuses and there are opportunities to play for fun, fitness or take part in serious competition.

Find out more about Sport Brighton.

Sports scholarships

Our sports scholarship scheme is designed to help students develop their full sporting potential to train and compete at the highest level. We offer scholarships for elite athletes, elite disabled athletes and talented sports performers.

Find out more about sport scholarships.

Cricket Academy

New for September 2023, our Cricket Academy offers aspiring players the opportunity to continue their cricket development alongside studying for a degree. The programme offers a world-class training environment with the highest quality coaching.

Find out more about the Cricket Academy.