Spatial Performance and Design (AAIS)

Entry requirements

SPATIAL PERFORMANCE & DESIGN (AAIS) MA – Bachelor’s degree (minimum second class honours) in architecture, design/creative arts or a related discipline from a United Kingdom university or a degree of equivalent standard from a recognised university or higher education institution from outside the UK.

SPATIAL PERFORMANCE & DESIGN (AAIS) MFA – Bachelor’s degree (minimum second class honours) in architecture, design/creative arts or a related discipline from a United Kingdom university or a degree of equivalent standard from a recognised university or higher education institution from outside the UK.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The AA Interprofessional Studio (AAIS) explores practices of spatial performance and design that reach beyond standard definitions of architecture and performance. The programme focuses on fields such as dance, theatre, music, exhibitions and festivals, with emphasis on the socio-political effect of works in these fields. AAIS offers 12-month MA or 18-month MFA options within a learning environment that encourages students to communicate and collaborate across disciplinary boundaries. The aim is to challenge and extend the frontiers of art, architecture and performance.

Individuals who work in the creative industries often define their work as multidisciplinary; AAIS responds to this by encouraging students to develop new methods of collaboration. Participants in the programme research, design and produce a series of genre-defying spatial performances and installations through which they examine the ways in which creative work and design overlap during the development of projects and events.

AAIS explores the boundaries between art, architecture and performance, revealing unseen networks between professions, products and methodologies. The studio operates as a creative office and centre for knowledge exchange, allowing students to develop a language with which to communicate between creative disciplines. We work with visual art, the performing arts, design and media practices -challenging rather than upholding the divisions between these disciplines.

We create pathways for students to learn new skills and techniques. The programme has established connections to other institutions, academics and practices within a wide range of creative disciplines; these contribute to the programme through lectures, seminars, exercises, tutorials and talks. The studio also creates real-world projects within a range of fields that shape the work of the year and enable public participation. Alongside this, students are encouraged to build new professional networks from creative backgrounds as diverse and complementary as performance, design, music, film, photography, fashion, communication and curation.

Fees and funding

The MA in Spatial Performance and Design is a 12-month programme of full-time study, and the tuition fee is £30,840.

The MFA in Spatial Performance and Design is an 18-month programme of full-time study. The tuition fee for the programme is £44,826, of which £26,896 is paid in the first year of study and £17,930 is paid in the second and final year of study.

Taught Postgraduate students may apply for a Bursary to support the duration of their studies in their programme. Further information can be found here.