Master's Thesis, Master of Fine Arts in Architecture and Urban Design, 30 credits
Contents
The course consists of an advanced and substantial degree project within a given framework.
The degree project enables students to integrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities they have acquired during the architecture programme and apply them to an advanced architectural project. The emphasis of the degree project is on establishing, explaining, and defending the student's own position as a future professional. As part of the degree project, students apply the contextual, historical, technical, and design research conducted in "Seminar Course 3a" and "Seminar Course 3b", as well as "Synthesis Course 3", to develop an ambitious well researched and well-grounded architectural project.
Students will be expected to develop a design for an advanced architectural proposal, which may include but is not restricted to its physical, historical, and social framework, along with its structural, tectonic, environmental, material, and sustainable characteristics and its impact on its context.
While the master's thesis inevitably leads to an advanced architectural proposal and while it must meet the learning outcomes for the course, it may focus on urbanism, landscape, social and participatory processes, technical and material innovations, etc.
Students who wish to locate their project in another context, for example in another country, city or region where field study of context is required, may do so in dialogue with the supervisor and in accordance with the given framework for the exam project. In this case the student will be required to regularly visit Umeå during the course period as agreed with the supervisor.
Expected learning outcomes
For a passing result, the student must be able to:
Knowledge and understanding
- demonstrate expertise and advanced knowledge within the specific field of the degree project and the theories and hypothesis related to it.
- exhibit the expertise, knowledge, and personal responsibility required to work independently in a professional capacity and be capable if identifying own needs of further knowledge and continued development of skills.
Competence and skills
- exhibit independent ability to proceed from a previously identified position and research agenda to plan, undertake and solve advanced creative problems using suitable architectonic methods.
- demonstrate the ability to use appropriate architectonic methods and syntheses to develop, undertake and evaluate an original exploration of a specific research question, agenda, speculation, or hypothesis based on personal professional interests, resulting in an advanced, well-researched and well-grounded architectural proposal including its physical, historical and social context, structural, tectonic, environmental, material and sustainable qualities and impact.
Judgement and approach
- carry out ideas from a personal vision and contribute to the creation of knowledge by means of a critically deliberative approach within pre-established time constraints.
- demonstrate the ability to clearly present and critically discuss and evaluate his or her research questions, conclusions, and design proposal and the knowledge and reasoning on which they are based in speech, writing, images, and models and so contribute to the development of the profession and professional practice.
Required Knowledge
Admission to the course requires at least 240 credits, including the courses:
Synthesis course 2: Architecture and Urban Design Project, Resolution (20 credits)
Seminar course 2a: Architectural Technology, Resolution (5 credits)
Seminar course 2b: Professional Studies in Architecture and Urban Design (5 credits)
Form of instruction
The teaching consists of supervision of all mandatory parts of the degree project as well as active participation in mandatory mid-term seminars. Each student is responsible for maintaining contact with the faculty during the project period. The student must optimize the available supervisory resources. The student shall plan and execute the project independently within the specified time frame.
Throughout the course, the student is expected to engage in a critical reflection on the initial research, the developed strategies, the spatial character, and the consequences of the architectural proposal. The development of research questions, hypotheses, and theories as well as key architectural decisions and strategies are discussed and evaluated at moments of supervision.
The student's right to teaching and supervision at the course that they are registered for is only valid from the onset of the course to the end of the course.
Examination modes
The course will be graded through a final oral and visual project presentation, written report, and exhibition to communicate work with external parties.
The course will be graded when all examined parts have been approved. The possible grades are Pass (G) or Fail (U).
Examiners may decide to deviate from the modes of assessment in the course syllabus. Individual adaption of modes of assessment must give due consideration to the student's needs. The adaption of modes of assessment must remain within the framework of the intended learning outcomes in the course syllabus. Students who require an adapted examination must submit a request to the department holding the course no later than 10 days before the examination. The examiner decides on the adaption of the examination, after which the student will be notified.
Students who have achieved a pass are not permitted to retake an examination.
Students who do not pass an examination have the right to retake examinations. The date of the retake must be notified no later than the date of the regular examination. The first opportunity to retake an examination is to be offered no later than two months after the regular examination, but no earlier than 10 working days after students have been notified of the results of the regular examination. For examinations held in May and June, the first opportunity to retake the examination is to be offered within three months of the regular examination session. In addition, at least one further re-examination is offered within a year from the regular exam date.
A student who has taken a regular examination and retake in a course or a part of a course without obtaining a pass grade is entitled to request the appointment of another examiner or marking teacher, unless there are special reasons to the contrary. Students should address any such request to the director of studies or equivalent.
Other regulations
In the event of a course syllabus being withdrawn or undergoing major changes, students are guaranteed at least three examination opportunities (including the regular examination session) in accordance with the previous course syllabus during a maximum of two years from the expiry of the course syllabus or the discontinuation of the course.
Literature
Mandatory course literature refers to the main and recommended literature for assimilating the course content and achieving the expected study results.
Course literature for Studio 11
Housing design
: a manual
Leupen Bernard, Mooij Harald, Uytenhaak Rudy, Jürgenhake Birgit, Nottrot Robert, Zondag John, Sedighi Mohamad Ali, Zweeden Alexander van, Bouvier Pierre, Vroomen Laura
2. rev. English language ed. :
Rotterdam :
NAi publ. :
2011 :
447 s. :
ISBN: 9789056628260
LIBRIS ID: 12682166
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Course literature for Studio 11
MAB 2025 Manual för analys av bostadskvaliteter
Granath Kaj, Nylander Ola
CBA: Göteborg :
2025 :
52 :
Available online
Mandatory
The Life and Death of Residential Room Types: A Study of Swedish Building Plans, 1750–2010
Kärrholm Mattias
Included in:
Architectural histories
2013- :
Available online
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 1-18
Course literature for Studio 11
Mandatory course literature refers to the main and recommended literature for assimilating the course content and achieving the expected study results.
Housing design
: a manual
Leupen Bernard, Mooij Harald, Uytenhaak Rudy, Jürgenhake Birgit, Nottrot Robert, Zondag John, Sedighi Mohamad Ali, Zweeden Alexander van, Bouvier Pierre, Vroomen Laura
2. rev. English language ed. :
Rotterdam :
NAi publ. :
2011 :
447 s. :
ISBN: 9789056628260
LIBRIS ID: 12682166
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
MAB 2025 Manual för analys av bostadskvaliteter
Granath Kaj, Nylander Ola
CBA: Göteborg :
2025 :
52 :
Available online
Mandatory
The Life and Death of Residential Room Types: A Study of Swedish Building Plans, 1750–2010
Kärrholm Mattias
Included in:
Architectural histories
2013- :
Available online
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 1-18
Course literature for Studio 12
Mandatory course literature refers to the main and recommended literature for assimilating the course content and achieving the expected study results.
Building Intelligence and Situated Building Cultures
Architecture without architects
: a short introduction to non-pedigreed architecture
Rudofsky Bernard
Albuquerque :
University of New Mexico Press :
1987 :
156 s. :
ISBN: 9780826310040
LIBRIS ID: 10875628
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Outdoor Domesticity : On the Relationships between Trees, Architecture, and Inhabitants / Ricardo Devesa
Devesa Ricardo.
uuuu-uuuu :
LIBRIS ID: 5px90jqw3k7c4xjz
ISBN: 9781638408345
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Graphic anatomy Atelier Bow-Wow
Tsukamoto Yoshiharu, Kaijima Momoyo
Tokyo :
TOTO Shuppan :
cop. 2007 :
153 s. :
LIBRIS ID: 10625415
ISBN: 9784887062788
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Sami Manifesto
Hakovirta Jenni (Sápmi/FIN), Halonen Vilja (Sápmi/FIN), Hansen Trine (Sápmi/NOR), Minde Johanna (Sápmi/SWE), Nango Joar (Sápmi/NOR), Sarapää Eveliina (Sápmi/FIN), Tuolja Magnus Antaris (Sápmi/SWE), Wilstrand Karin (Sápmi/SWE)
Verdde :
2026 :
Tillhandhålls av institutionen
Mandatory
Dwellings
: the vernacular house world wide
Oliver Paul
London :
Phaidon :
2003 :
288 s. :
LIBRIS ID: 8868561
ISBN: 0714842028
ISBN: 9780714847931
Search the University Library catalogue
Tectonics, Structure and Joinery
Studies in tectonic culture
: the poetics of construction in nineteenth and twentieth century architecture
Frampton Kenneth, Cava John
Cambridge, Mass. :
MIT Press :
cop. 1995 :
xi, 430 s. :
LIBRIS ID: 4738458
ISBN: 0262061732
ISBN: 9780262061735
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Constructing architecture
: materials, processes, structures : a handbook
Deplazes Andrea
Fifth, extended edition :
Basel :
Birkhäuser :
2022 :
607 sidor :
LIBRIS ID: 3n2m35hg1m13tqvz
ISBN: 9783035626650
ISBN: 9783035626667
Search the University Library catalogue
Timber construction manual
Herzog Thomas
Basel :
Birkhäuser :
cop. 2004 :
375 s. :
LIBRIS ID: 9366945
ISBN: 3764370254
ISBN: 9783764370251
Search the University Library catalogue
Material, Labour and Territory
Making
: anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture
Ingold Tim
London :
Routledge :
2013 :
xii, 163 s. :
LIBRIS ID: 11646473
ISBN: 9780415567237
ISBN: 041556722X
ISBN: 9780415567220
ISBN: 041556722X
ISBN: 0415567238
Search the University Library catalogue
The craftsman
Sennett Richard
New Haven :
Yale University Press :
cop. 2008 :
326 s. :
LIBRIS ID: 10894661
ISBN: 9780300119091
ISBN: 0300119097
ISBN: 9780300151190
ISBN: 0300151195
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Reciprocal landscapes
: stories of material movements
Hutton Jane
Abingdon, Oxon :
Routledge :
2020 :
232 sidor :
LIBRIS ID: v73rmk16sbgkz87s
ISBN: 9781138830684
Search the University Library catalogue
Climate, Performance and Building Afterlives
The whole building handbook
: how to design healthy, efficient and sustainable buildings
Bokalders Varis, Block Maria
1. ed. :
London :
Earthscan :
2010 :
xii, 689 s. :
LIBRIS ID: 11728287
ISBN: 9781844078332
ISBN: 9781844075232
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Design with climate
: bioclimatic approach to architectural regionalism
Olgyay Victor, Olgyay Aladar, Lyndon Donlyn, Olgyay Victor W., Reynolds John, Yeang Ken
New and expanded edition. :
Princeton :
Princeton University Press :
[2015] :
xx, 190 sidor :
LIBRIS ID: l5nvxsdfjhcfh5np
ISBN: 9780691169736
ISBN: 069116973X
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Maintenance architecture
Sample Hilary
Cambridge, Massachusetts :
The MIT Press :
2016 :
xi, 192 pages :
LIBRIS ID: 20053725
ISBN: 9780262034975
Search the University Library catalogue
Manual of biogenic house sections
Lewis Paul, Tsurumaki Marc, Lewis David J.
First edition. :
[Novato, California] :
ORO Editions :
[2022] :
351 pages :
LIBRIS ID: sbj2jg2vqqcrqhw8
ISBN: 9781957183091
ISBN: 1957183098
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The great repair
: Praktiken der Reparatur = a catalog of practices
Ngo Anh-Linh, Dünser Nora, Gatti Mirko, Hiller Christian, Hofmann Felix, Krieger Markus, Nehmer Alex, Hertweck Florian, Topalović Milica, Hierro Santiago del, Marić Marija, Tümerdem Nazlı
Erstauflage. :
Berlin :
ARCH+ Verlag GmbH :
2023 :
216 Seiten :
LIBRIS ID: cwdxtkmm97fn83fr
ISBN: 9783931435806
ISBN: 3931435806
ISBN: 9783959057882
ISBN: 3959057881
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Experimental Methods and Fabrication
Fabricate 2024: Creating Resourceful Futures
uuuu-uuuu :
LIBRIS ID: 5pbv7hpj3jpn3nd7
ISBN: 9781800086357
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Frei Otto
: thinking by modeling
1. edition. :
Leipzig :
Spector Books :
[2017] :
408 pages :
LIBRIS ID: 21347062
ISBN: 9783959050890
ISBN: 3959050895
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
The robotic touch
: how robots change architecture : Gramazio & Kohler, Research ETH Zurich 2005-2013
Gramazio Fabio, Kohler Matthias, Willmann Jan, Jaeger Ralf
Zurich :
Park Books :
c2014. :
488 p. :
LIBRIS ID: 16923501
ISBN: 9783906027371
ISBN: 3906027376
Search the University Library catalogue
Mandatory course literature refers to the main and recommended literature for assimilating the course content and achieving the expected study results.
Course literature for Studio 11
Housing design
: a manual
Leupen Bernard, Mooij Harald, Uytenhaak Rudy, Jürgenhake Birgit, Nottrot Robert, Zondag John, Sedighi Mohamad Ali, Zweeden Alexander van, Bouvier Pierre, Vroomen Laura
2. rev. English language ed. :
Rotterdam :
NAi publ. :
2011 :
447 s. :
ISBN: 9789056628260
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Course literature for Studio 11
Mandatory course literature refers to the main and recommended literature for assimilating the course content and achieving the expected study results.
Course literature for Studio 11
Housing design
: a manual
Leupen Bernard, Mooij Harald, Uytenhaak Rudy, Jürgenhake Birgit, Nottrot Robert, Zondag John, Sedighi Mohamad Ali, Zweeden Alexander van, Bouvier Pierre, Vroomen Laura
2. rev. English language ed. :
Rotterdam :
NAi publ. :
2011 :
447 s. :
ISBN: 9789056628260
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Course literature for Studio 11
Bostadsbestämmelser 2023
: en handbok om byggbestämmelser för bostäder och bostadsmiljö - nybyggnad och ändring
Örnhall Hans, Dobi Magdi, Hagander Carl-Gustaf
Trettonde utgåvan :
Stockholm :
Svensk Byggtjänst :
[2023] :
199 sidor :
ISBN: 9789179171612
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Course literature for Studio 11