Preparing for Architecture degrees at Rochester Independent College
Rochester Independent College is the 2021 winner of the Independent Schools Association award for Excellence and Innovation in Fine Arts and has been preparing students for the UK's best architecture schools since 1984.
In recent years our students have left to study Architecture at leading universities such as UCL's Bartlett School of Architecture, The Architectural Association, Sheffield, Liverpool, Cardiff and Brighton as well as related subjects such as Architectural Engineering at Bath and Interior Design at Kingston.
We can offer A level one and two year programmes for students aiming for architecture degrees. Subject choice for architecture can be quite flexible and there are different routes. Popular subject combinations for architecture include:
-Graphic Design, Photography, Digital Media and Design, History of Art
Architecture combines intellectual and academic challenge with the opportunity for creative design.
Most architecture schools will require you to produce a portfolio of work and RIC will work with you to help put that together. All of there students we have aiming for architecture take part in our weekly life drawing class to develop their skills base and have the opportunity to access History of Art classes even if they have not taken this subject as an A level.
Read more about RIC's award winning Fine Arts department here- https://rochester-college.org/...
Recommended Reading For Architecture
Invisible cities by Italo Calvino
Towards a New Architecture by Le Corbusier
The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander
Architecture from Prehistory to Climate Emergency by Barnabas Calder
Field trips to buildings of note both locally and in London are an important part of the course and students have the opportunity to see hidden London at the annual Open House event.
Our aspiring architects visit the graduate shows at UKC and The Bartlett and often have the opportunity to have work experience placements with local architectural firms. There's a full list of RIBA accredited university courses here- https://www.architecture.com/e...
The College itself has always commissioned interesting architectural additions to our campus and students get to watch the design and build process on everything from steel sculptural musical gates to our current major works project- a 100 bedroom student village.
Architecture at Rochester Independent College
The College occupies a campus of mainly listed Georgian buildings enhanced by modern design features and is an inspiring backdrop for the architects of the future.
New on the campus for this year is a Geodesic Dome, the iconic structure imagineered by the amazing polymath, sustainability and design pioneer Buckminster Fuller. Fuller perfected the mathematical ideas behind geodesic domes and hoped that their properties- greater strength and space for minimum weight- might be the future of housing.