MSc Bio Digital Architecture

Our new MSc in Bio Digital Architecture provides students with the skills and know-how to practice architecture at the cutting edge of digital design. The programme is designed to provide a theoretical basis of Computer-Aided Architectural Design as an academic discipline while simultaneously teaching the use of the computer for analysis of design problems and a tool for the generation of space and form.

The programme provides an excellent environment for computational methods in architectural education, with digital workshop and fabrication facilities, computer labs and an open digital architecture lecture series drawing on leaders in the field to present their work providing students a valuable opportunity to interact with academics and practitioners.

Theory and practice are taught in tandem so that students learn theory through application and testing, enabling them to apply this knowledge and understanding in design studio projects.

The programme is primarily intended for graduates and professionals from a range of design backgrounds, including architecture, interior, graphic and urban design, who wish to develop computational techniques in architecture and gain the ability to use digital tools and programming as easily as any other form of communication.

The course, which can be studied full-time or part-time, offers an academically rigorous and intellectually challenging learning environment, which aims to enhance career development within the field for professionals and academics. The aim of the programme is to provide a systematic understanding of core and advanced aspects of digital architectural design and the applicability of biological theory to enhance participants' architectural thinking and perspective of the built environment. This is done through a combination of taught courses, research assignments and project work. Students will be asked to conduct rigorous research and to explore the theoretical and practical application of their new knowledge and understanding in the context of design.

Teaching and assessment

Assessment is mostly based on coursework, with presentations, case-study analyses, design proposals, essays and the dissertation.

Programme aims

This programme aims to:

• provide students with advanced computer-aided-design (CAD) skills
• introduce students to the use of CAD as a vehicle for design research
• introduce ways of thinking about the role of the computer in architectural design beyond typical architectural practice, through the medium of code
• promote an awareness and understanding of systems-oriented thinking and its application to architectural/design problems
• encourage observation of natural systems and phenomena and their applicability to architectural design, to develop understanding of how digital techniques and knowledge of natural systems can inform and provide new possibilities for architectural thinking and practice