Push the limits of architectural thinking

MSc Applied Architecture & Design

Ranked Joint 5th

In the UK for Graduate Prospects for Architecture

Complete University Guide 2025

MSc Applied Architecture and Design gives you the ability to further your design horizons.

This innovative and personalised Master’s programme is perfect for enthusiastic students with an undergraduate degree in a creative discipline who wish to explore future opportunities in architecture, design, film and other creative industries. If you want to expand the possibilities of architectural design and push the boundaries of your imagination and the limits of architectural media this course is perfect for you.

The masters is a one-year, studio-based programme. It provides a scaffold for you to develop your own personal position within the broad culture of architecture, and in doing so, contribute to the ongoing debate that shapes the profession and our world. Underscoring design and design processes as the core concerns, challenging you to be experimental both in your design methodologies/analyses and your architectural proposals.

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Applications for 2025 entry are now open

Now, more than ever, our societies demand innovative designers and creative problem solvers to propose solutions to the challenges we face in a complex contemporary world.

Through design methods such as cinematic analysis, modelmaking, filmmaking, sketching, and photography, you will design projects from the bottom up and focus on both the tangible and intangible qualities of urban and architectural spaces.

You will spend the year designing, collaborating and producing with people from around the world and working in an interdisciplinary environment that encourages you to push the boundaries in every direction.

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Why Applied Architecture and Design

If you would like to push the boundaries of your education and think outside the box, this MSc is for you. This course focuses on cinematic and digital arts, advanced spatial media, moving imagery and creative design practices to broaden learners’ conceptual thinking and critical reflection on architecture. Our innovative visual practices and immersive methodologies provide a new way of looking at architectural design including filmmaking, animation, stop motion, storyboarding, storytelling, collage/montage, 3D modelling, digital photography, analytical mapping, virtual reality and augmented reality alongside the ‘usual suspects’ that architects do.

Career Opportunities

You have a wide scope of career opportunities; our graduates have ended up designing skyscrapers in Asia and the Middle East, emergency housing for refugees in Africa, film sets for Hollywood productions, computer game environments as well as working as urban planners, photographers, editors, illustrators, visual artists worldwide and lecturing/researching in universities.

Student Experience

You will be based in Belfast, a growing city known for its industrial design heritage on one hand and its vibrant arts culture and creative industries on the other. You will enjoy a healthy staff to student ratio, good studios where you will have your own space and excellent workshops for physical and digital manufacturing. The staff cohort is composed of a diverse spectrum of esteemed practitioners and innovative academics supported by external consultants beyond Queen’s, providing a further dimension to a rich learning environment.

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Why Choose Queen's

Top 170 in the world for graduate prospects

(QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022)

World-class university

‘One of the world’s most beautiful universities’ (Huffington Post), Queen’s is the 9th oldest university in the UK, established in 1845 with over 170 years of teaching excellence.

The UK's Best Value Student Destination

Northern Ireland has the lowest student living costs in the UK (Save the Student National Student Money Survey 2023)

Employment potential

Queen's offers opportunities for work placements, industry-led programmes and ground breaking research projects. 94.4% of Queen’s graduates are in employment or further study six months after graduation

State-of-the-art facilities

Be taught by world-leading researchers and experts in their field in state-of-the-art facilities. 19 Queen’s subjects in the top 200 in the world (QS World Rankings by subject 2024)