The Aarhus School of Architecture has established a 2 year Master of Architecture Program taught in English. The Program admit students with a Bachelor of Architecture (or equivalent) once a year. The application deadline is February 1st, and the Program start is September 1st. You can find more information about the Program, application requirements and procedure, and tuition in the column to the right.

1. On Cosmopolitan Ground
In 1917 the Danish painter Harald Giersing asserted that Good art is always national, national art is always bad. This seeming paradox illustrates the International Studio’s stance in relation to notions of the cosmopolitan, the national and the inter-national: cultural background is a resource in architectural practice, not an asset to a work of architecture; nationality is a potential means, not an end.

Thus the International Studio’s situation in Denmark is of circumstantial interest only.  But these circumstances do matter: in the Aarhus School of Architecture a belief exists that architecture can gain from a sensitivity borne of a particular pedagogy and atmosphere.

The ‘Danishness’ of The International Studio is therefore seen as a consequence of an international group of students becoming aware of their own ‘regionality’ by their situation in Aarhus and in a rich group of students from all quarters of the globe. Their difference is a matter of difference in architectural sensibility which is a consequence in part of their cultural background.

2. Sensibility of an Architect: a general educational agenda
The International Studio is in opposition to a trend in architectural education whereby the acquisition of tools (about computer process, diagramming or technical expertise) underpins the pedagogic approach.

We believe that architectural practice is not a linear process of acquiring knowledge, putting up theory, and then executing a work in accordance with it. Instead, we seek to embrace the chaotic contextual conditions for any given project, as well as the necessity to rely on intuition borne actions. These actions should be reflected upon, as this reflectivity then informs further actions, and so on, in an iterative, non-linear process. Props in this reflectivity can be anything: paintings, poetry, other architectural projects, natural phenomena, and of course books and theory.  The studio promotes the view that a sensibility towards architecture is not equal to the possession of an implicit theory of architecture.
 

3. Learning from Aarhus School of Architecture: the studio-based sociality as an educational lever
The education of an architect in Aarhus is exceptional in that it revolves completely around the design studio; this is the everyday work space, where every student has his or her own drawing table.  Unlike most schools internationally - which understand the studio in the context of a range of subjects aimed at building expertise in related areas (theory, history, structure etc) – at Aarhus the design studio is positioned as the sole subject while all other inputs occur through or around this studio environment. 

The studio is underpinned by four key concepts: it is a project-centered place; students are self-directed; teachers are bound together with the students in an enquiry around a project; and the studio is the centre of both an educational and social constellation.

Hence about half of the students in the International Studio are Danish to ensure the studio’s full social integration in the school and city.

4. Studios Academic Year 2011-2012

For international students (degree, exchange and guest students), we offer a number of studios taught in English. Below, please find short introductions to the studios, with links to a more expanded description. Each studio runs for two semesters, and students signed up for one semester can either conclude their Fall program with an examination, or join one of the studios for the Spring semester.

Each semester will, upon successful completion, award 30 ECTS credits (one semester full-time workload).

Some studios are taught both in English AND Danish, and are listed below the English taught studios.

Read a description of the entire program  


STUDIO OFFERING ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-2012:

Studio Platform Materiality & Spatial Experience
Materials and space are fundamental axioms of architectural formation. Through mutual interaction there can occur special moments when material and space decisively give architecture meaning. When this happens, there can, at best, emerge architecture of high artistic quality. It is this quest for architectural quality that is the goal of this studio.

Man, body and senses will together constitute the basis for development of architecture. Thus studies will operate at a scale that relates directly to man. The exciting part of this studio is also that we will get the opportunity to build and test your ideas.


Studio Approaching Sustainable Architecture
In order to take the global perspective into consideration we have to think and act in a balanced way. At present, almost everything is referred to as being “sustainable” – but how does architecture actually BECOME sustainable?

We would like to initiate an architectural discussion of this topic: the nature of this discussion will be challenging, barrier-breaking and experimental – it will also require knowledge and an openness towards cross-disciplinary studies. Studies of architectural sustainability bridge the gap between practice and theory - specific design choices will have a decisive impact on our environment. The realisation of architecture is all about physical creation, about transforming architectural ideas into a constructed form, into space, into material and into construction. It is also about the circumstances which affect creation, i.e. technological, production and resource- related conditions. However, meeting with the users and, not least, the social and political responsibility of the architect are also decisive factors.


Studio Urban Landscape
The city and the open landscape are becoming increasingly intertwined into the urban landscape of eastern Jutland which the city of Aarhus is a part of. This “interwoven landscape” necessitates that we merge the relationship between city and landscape as urban archetypes are gradually broken down by contextual conditions of society. In this urban landscape the natural network will play an ever increasing role as a backbone and catalyst for new development.

The overall purpose of the course is to contribute to the development of a morphology for urban landscapes which will qualify their planning and lay-out and make them a better place to live for humans, animals and plants.

The programme will be established in cooperation with the platforms Urban Landscapes and Sustainability.


Studio M:A:D. Making Architectural Design
M.A.D focuses its energy on teaching, research, and artistic innovative work in architectures intimate scale such as component design, system design, pre-fabrication, customisation, interior design, furniture and investigating daylight and artificial lighting conditions. We work with varying typologies of use and architectural themes from ephemeral buildings, exhibition spaces, living, working, playing, relaxation, and relationships between new into old, re-inventing, re-use, sustainability and entrepreneurship.

It is our intention to provide a broad knowledge base about construction, materials awareness their manipulation whether it is crafted by hand, industrial or digitally enhanced the manufacturers and specialists become an integrated part of the multidisciplinary design process. The schools workshop facilities become an integral part of the studio environment.


Studio Constructing an Archive
Architectural experimentation - through representations focusing on studies of light.

The aim of the studio programme is to focus on each student’s individual development of an artistic production – an architectural proposal – a project.

A further purpose is to create an intensive workspace where the production of each student becomes a part of the whole and which provides everyone with an opportunity to immerse themselves in their work.

We will aim at obtaining a specific knowledge of production, methods and media focusing on light and its existing or applied representation in architecture. A further aim is to develop new insights and new modes of architectural representation with light as the subject of study. The collective production as well as the individual production will constantly be discussed within the studio context and will be communicated within a broader context.


Studios taught in both English AND Danish:

Studio Digital Tectonics
The computer and the resultant means of production will have an enormous influence on the way we think and develop architecture for many years into the future. Potentially, the development in digital tools and methods of manufacturing will influence the way we think and build architecture in the same way that Brunelleschi’s discovery of perspective changed spatial understanding and consequently the discourses of architecture.

The Digital Tectonics Studio has a broad interdisciplinary orientation: producers and manufacturers, architectural and engineering firms, as well as national and international cross-institutional co-operations will be included as much as possible and in as topical a way as possible. This, furthermore, means that a number of external teachers and lecturers, from Denmark and from abroad, will participate in the programme. Consequently the principal language will be English, supplemented by Danish.


Studio Spatial Intelligence
The Parable Architecture Studio challenges a trend in architectural education whereby the acquisition of tools (about computer process, diagramming or technical expertise) drives the pedagogic approach. We believe that architectural practice is not a linear process of acquiring knowledge, putting up theory, and then executing in accordance. Instead, we seek to embrace the chaotic contextual conditions for any given project, as well as the necessity to rely on intuition borne actions. These actions should be reflected upon, and reflectivity then informs further actions in an iterative, non-linear process. Props in this reflectivity can be anything: paintings, poetry, other architectural projects, natural phenomena, and of course books and theory. But theory and instrumental knowledge has no primacy in the education of an architect; only through awareness, presence and action can architectural sensibility and spatial intelligence be unfolded and developed.

The Parable Architecture Studio is international, and we welcome international diploma students and guest students. Working languages are English and Danish/Scandinavian. Students are free to choose language for presentations and critiques. Lectures and meetings will be in English.


Studio Sustainable Transformation
The Studio Sustainable Transformation is dealing with the on-going transformation of the urban environment and the challenge to redirect these spatial structures to future circumstances. The transformation of the existing architecture and cities are the quantitative and qualitative most challenging task for our generation. The Studio aims to investigate the redirection and superimposing already existing urban environment through architectural design of urban fragment, clusters, infrastructural elements and environmental green technologies to meet the need for an environmental and social relational web.

This studio is interested in the research and development of design in the scale between architecture and urbanism, and will investigate this split through interscalar studies and experiments. This position is open to the tradition of architectural concepts and the specific readings and mappings of the site, and we find the deepest relation to both architectural and urban history as to the specific site in time and space meeting the radical new from the creative workshop.