MA in Interior Architecture

Program Overview

Interior Architecture

MA

Key Facts

• Start dates: September 2025 / September 2026
• Location: Headington
• Course length: Full time: 1 year September-November, Part time: 2 years September-May / September-November
• School(s): School of Architecture

Overview

Interior Architecture merges competences between architecture, interior design, and social science. Its fluid approach permits for a shift of focus from the design of ‘objects’ (buildings and furniture) to an evaluation of the ‘subjective’ experience of the users. As the ‘spatial art of environmental design’, Interior Architecture refers thus to the process by which the interiors of buildings and public spaces are designed to support human activities, in a range of crafted environments that maintain a sustainable relation with the communities they serve.

Although the ability to design is not necessarily required for admission in this programme, each successful applicant must demonstrate an awareness of design consequences as evaluated in ‘real’ environments through a portfolio of social research work.

How to Apply

Entry Requirements

• Specific entry requirements: Admission to the programme will normally be open to applicants who fulfil either of the following requirements:
  • Hold a minimum of a second class honours degree (2:2), or an equivalent overseas qualification from a recognised institution, in either a design-related discipline (e.g. interior design, interior architecture, architecture or product design) or in a environmental-oriented discipline (e.g. applied sociology, environmental psychology or human geography).
  • Submit a portfolio of research and design work which will be requested after a valid application has been submitted.
• English language requirements: If your first language is not English you will require a minimum academic IELTS score of 6.5 overall with 6.0 in all components.
• International qualifications and equivalences: Please see the University's general entry requirements.

Application Process

Applications must meet the entry requirements, and demonstrate a protracted awareness of the social consequences of design decisions in the built environment through the submission of a portfolio of relevant design and/or research work. Selected suitable applicants will be invited to a comprehensive interview, either in person or via a digital platform.

Tuition Fees

• Home (UK) full time: £9,700 (2025/26), £9,950 (2026/27)
• Home (UK) part time: £4,850 (2025/26), £4,975 (2026/27)
• International full time: £17,950 (2025/26), £18,500 (2026/27)

Funding Your Studies

• Financial support and scholarships: Featured funding opportunities available for this course.
• Part-Time UK Faculty Scholarship
• Postgraduate Master's Loan - England

Learning and Assessment

The student cohort includes graduates and practitioners from a variety of design related courses (interior design, interior architecture, product design, and architecture) as well as from environmental disciplines (sociology, environmental psychology, human geography). The purpose of this integrative approach is a practical one: we seek to equip students to intervene effectively in the production of an improved public realm, through a practice that is relevant to the design and the process of actual inhabitation in the built environment.

Study Modules

• Taught modules:
  • Spatial Qualities: History and Theory (20 credits)
  • Affordance: Practices of Social Space (20 credits)
  • Design Variables: Technology & Experience (20 credits)
  • Furnitecture: Research and Design (20 credits)
  • Social Space: Research and Design (40 credits)
  • Research Methods and Design (10 credits)
• Dissertation / final project:
  • Dissertation: MA Interior Architecture (50 credits)

Learning and Teaching

The course's teaching and learning methods are concerned with the practice of interior architecture as mediating between the disciplines of interior design and architecture, in relation to the social activities that occur in public and shared environments. This requires a combination of theoretical knowledge, professional competence, and direct experience acquired through research and design modules, project work, and analysis of specific sites.

Assessment

A holistic approach to design specifications articulates the professional curriculum in the MA Interior Architecture, with an emphasis on critical methodologies of social evaluation and performance. To ensure that students from different academic and professional backgrounds are equally able to perform in the course, upon agreement with staff students can tailor submissions to suit their personal abilities and graphic style.

Research

The MA Interior Architecture broadens and consolidates the research on social design in the School of Architecture at Oxford Brookes, alongside the BA Honours Degree in Interior Architecture and the research group on Therapeutic Environments and Experiential Design.

Our team consists of architects, interior designers, historians and critics, with experience in dealing with social inclusivity, for example, live projects and client-led built propositions for education, flexible living, community infrastructure, and hospitality. In professional application, we have several design consultancies established with design practices and social services providers with the purpose of advising on the impact of design on people. This includes the (re)design of buildings from inside out as well as outside in, and the rehabilitation of existing structures to accommodate changed purposes, as well as contributions to new design propositions as part of a more sustainable architecture practice.

After You Graduate

Career Prospects

Design practices are increasingly required to produce socially inclusive design solutions, by aligning spatial qualities to individual multi-sensorial experience. Graduates from the MA Interior Architecture will be proficient in the shift from sustainability quantitative indicators to qualitative experiential parameters, with the ability to provide comprehensive people-focused design competences and tailored solutions to fulfil the changing demands from users.