The Department of Architecture and Spatial Design (ASD) at London Metropolitan University is launching a new PhD programme, Autumn 2009. The programme will be lead by Professor Peter Carl who joined the Department in January. The programme offers four types of PhD: a traditional written PhD, a PhD by design, a PhD by prior achievement, and a Professional Doctorate.
The new PhD programme places emphasis upon understanding the "generalist knowledge" of design, which is often ignored by conventional research. We recognize that design represents a unique form of "interdisciplinary" knowledge, with significant importance for current cultural exigencies. In this context the Department is particularly interested in applicants who wish to explore and define their architectural or urban practice through formal research.
The Department has a particular expertise in design as research and practice-based research. The Architecture Research Unit (ARU) lead by Professor Florien Beigel is acknowledged as an international leader in this area and the Department’s many design Units also act as research environments for the practices who teach. Current units include CHORA, FLUID, UFO, EAST, the AOC, Stephen Taylor Architects, Lynch Architects, David Kohn Architects and ARU. ASD also maintains a lively exchange with many international practices and thinkers.
Whilst students are encouraged to propose their own topics linked to their own forms of practice the Department has well-established research units and taught MA’s in: design as research; low energy architecture; architectural history and interpretation; urban design; regeneration; planning; interior design; digital design and construction and work in areas subject to political change and scarce resources.
The department places great value on applied research in the form of live projects. Students wishing to carry out live projects or practice based work, as part of their research will be supported by ASD Projects. ASD Projects is an RIBA chartered practice within ASD that provides a supportive professional environment in which staff and students can undertake live projects and consultancy. ASD Projects currently supports projects in London, Cuba, China, India and Iran and is partnering with the Department of Children, Schools and Families and the RIBA to manage research into school design across UK schools of architecture. ASD Projects makes it is possible to combine research with bids for large-scale public projects; and ASD actively encourages partnerships to these ends.
A further resource is the Research Institutes and other academic departments within London Metropolitan University, which conduct distinguished research. These include aspects of urban sociology, European culture, computation and simulation, as well as psychology, law, human rights and business.
Students undertaking the programme will be part of an active conversation. Weekly seminars, field trips, exhibitions, lectures and debates. Research like practice is a collaborative process.
Applications are invited from interested practitioners, students and enthusiasts of all kinds.
For an informal conversation please contact:
Professor Peter Carl (p.carl@londonmet.ac.uk)
Professor Robert Mull (r.mull@londonmet.ac.uk).
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Professor Peter Carl:
"The global crises in economics and in sustainability have necessarily begun to stimulate reflection on the nature of the discipline and its possible new directions and emphases. Recessions are characteristically a time of vigorous transformation. There is a need for creative, profound and relevant insights, for which the rich design and academic context of London Metropolitan University, as well as London itself, offers a unique opportunity."
"We are in one of those periods of shifting paradigms; the economic metaphors seem hollow and new motifs are appearing - in particular an interest in deeper forms of collaboration in urban settings, and, at the opposite extreme, very local initiatives, intelligently intervening in the dispersed, variegated topographies thrown up by global capitalism. Something similar is happening to architectural understanding. We are learning to make sense of the vast range of specialist knowledge that has accumulated: in building craft, new materials, new ways of consolidating communities, digital production, etc. Because of its emphasis upon the concrete contexts for design, the London Met programme is beautifully positioned to nurture important, creative and innovative work",
Professor Robert Mull:
"Peter Carl is one of the few figures in Architectural education who can engage with diverse forms of practice with equal knowledge and enthusiasm. At the core of the program will be the opportunity for participants to share their research with each other in a conversation lead by Peter. Our hope is that this will serve as a platform for a critical re-evaluation of practice and practice based research during and beyond the current reality."
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