Architectural Association

The Architectural Association (AA) has grown up alongside, and to a very great degree helped shape, modern architectural education and the profession, both in the UK and beyond. This year’s prospectus demonstrates our school’s on-going evolution in light of the challenges and opportunities faced by architects today.

The AA is made up of countless projects, personalities and audiences. We are unique in that we are more than a school but a worldwide association made up of members and visitors and an unrivalled public programme of lectures, exhibitions, publications and special events, all of which set the backdrop for full-time foundation, undergraduate - and graduate-level study at our campuses in London and Dorset. In addition, each year short courses and global schools in the AA Visiting School bring together students and teachers in more than 50 locations across five continents.

Whether at Bedford Square or abroad, the AA’s teachers and staff provide students with expertise, encouragement and support across all levels of education. And given the fact that 85 per cent of our students (and a similar percentage of tutors) come to London from abroad every autumn, we really are a school unlike any other. The following pages provide a brief introduction to AA life – from our renowned unit system of teaching and programme agendas to the public lectures, symposia, trips and projects that make up the year ahead.

Designed to be read while looking out from one of the orderly windows that makes up the facade of our Georgian houses on Bedford Square; or under the canopy of trees in the working woodland of our Hooke Park campus in Dorset; from within the lively unit design studios; or during a packed public forum, what follows is a glimpse into a completely unique and diverse world of design units and studios, public galleries, lectures, performances and events all taking place within our world of acclaimed collections, archives, libraries, workshops and workspaces and from which moments of spontaneity occur throughout the year.