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Situated Practice MA

London, Bloomsbury and London, Hackney Wick (Here East)

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2026/27)

£16,800

£8,400

Full-time: Published fee is for the whole programme and must be paid in Year 1. No fees are charged in Year 2..
Part-time: Published fee is for half the programme and must be paid in Year 1. The other half must be paid in Year 2. No fees are charged in Year 3.
Note: SLC instalments and UCL fee payment deadlines do not align. You will therefore have a shortfall in your fees to UCL. You will need to personally fund any shortfall until the remainder of your loan is paid to you by SLC.

Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)

£35,400

£17,700

Duration

4 terms

30 months

5 calendar years

Programme starts

September 2026

Applications accepted

Applicants who require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 26 Jun 2026

Applications closed

Applicants who do not require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 28 Aug 2026

Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of a second-class UK degree in an appropriate subject or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. A design/creative portfolio is also expected. Applicants will be asked to submit a portfolio of their design work once their completed application has been received, and should not send or upload work until it has been requested.

The English language level for this course is: Level 1

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

Contemporary creativity doesn't fit neatly into a box. The overlap between practices, methods and approaches from the fields of architecture, art and design is the fast-evolving terrain of this Situated Practice master's degree, which examines how architecture cross-pollinates with other creative arts.

Students will create their own site-related projects – from physical installations and digital interventions to site writings, ending with a highly innovative professional creation in their portfolio. Students learn about spatial theories and practices in art, architecture, performativity, urbanism and writing, developing a robust understanding of research methods that redefines public space and engagement and the notion of site, through design practice-led research.

Working with practitioners and researchers from The Bartlett School of Architecture, alongside international affiliated centres and institutions, this course empowers students to pioneer new forms of hybrid practice between art, design, architecture and curatorial work.

Who this course is for

The course is suited to those who aspire to work toward understanding and enlivening the environment we live in and engage with communities and cultural institutions. We are looking for applications from people with interdisciplinary aims, whether students wish to do pop up interventions as a critical start for an experimental architectural career, are in employment seeking continuing professional development, or looking toward a curatorial or site-specific art practice.

What is it like being a student with us? Explore the stories from our students and alumni as they share their experiences, insights, and advice. Plus, connect with a current Bartlett student via our Unibuddy platform to have your questions answered.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

Developing your portfolio: This course adds a public realm intervention to participants’ portfolios —an ideal starting point or next step in an experimental career. Supported by practitioners, academics, and art critics, students develop immersive, situated practice projects ranging from physical installations and events to digital interventions and site-writings.

Strong understanding of research methods: Students develop a strong understanding of appropriate research methodologies in art and design practice-led research, specifically relating to approaches towards criticality, performativity and textuality.

Engaging with communities and institutions: The course modules and activities will offer direct engagement with local communities, cultural and academic institutions in London and the UK, within Europe and globally. Tutors and lecturers will support the development of the necessary skills to transform these relationships into meaningful placemaking.

Fieldtrip opportunity: Students and staff will go on an optional fieldtrip together and will create a collective intervention. Fieldtrips will connect students with institutions that are developing festival, art and curatorial residencies intimately related with their location.

Career support: Studying at UCL provides students with access to a range of career services including networking events, career workshops, and internship opportunities.

The Bartlett is ranked #1 in the world for Architecture and Built Environment studies in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025. We remain global #1 for the third year in a row, and #1 in the UK for the 11th year in a row.
Our research is recognised as ‘World Leading' and 'Internationally Excellent' (UK REF 2021).

London is ranked the best city for students in the UK and Europe and holds third place worldwide (QS Best Student Cities 2026).

In a typical year, the school hosts a number of exhibitions, both physically across our London locations, and digitally via our online exhibition platform bartlettarchucl.com. This includes The Bartlett Autumn Show, The Bartlett Summer Show and The Bartlett B-Pro Show. These exhibitions act as a showcase for the extraordinary work produced by our students and are visited by thousands of people from across the globe each year.

Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

93.9% of Bartlett School of Architecture graduates were in work or further study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes Surveys 2017-22).

Top industry sectors for Bartlett School of Architecture graduates in work are construction, built environment and property (74.9% of graduates); academic research and higher education (6.5%); and performance and creative arts (5.6%).

Bartlett School of Architecture graduates are working in 46 countries around the world.

Example employers:

Foster and Partners
Zaha Hadid Architects
Adjaye Associates Ltd
Wilkinson Eyre Architects
ARUP

Employability

Graduates of the Situated Practice MA course are critical, innovative and transdisciplinary practitioners who undertake projects addressing the specific concerns of sites and developing appropriate transformations for them.

The Bartlett School of Architecture is one of the world's top-ranked architecture schools and our graduates enjoy excellent employment opportunities and the practice-led research skills to carry out future doctoral research in the field.

The school helps students to prepare for successful careers in a range of fields. We aim to be an exciting and innovative place to study architecture. Our students have the opportunity to develop their creativity, curiosity and dynamism, and learn the skills needed to build a better future for people and the planet. The Bartlett offers a whole range of approaches to the notion of site that will allow students an individual and specific acquisition of skills aligned with their own career interests.

Networking

The Bartlett School of Architecture hosts numerous events throughout the year that feature industry guests and networking opportunities. These include lecture series, seminars, conferences, symposiums, book launches, and show launch events. The school also hosts a Future Practice event each year that links students with employers.

Additionally, there are a broad range of university-wide career events to help current students and recent graduates develop their employability skills, explore different sectors, increase commercial awareness, build professional networks and more.

Teaching and learning

Over 400 staff from around the world teach at The Bartlett School of Architecture. Many of our academic staff are part-time, working at the school while also carrying out highly successful work in practice across a diverse spectrum of activities related to architecture. Explore expert teaching.

Modules use advanced-level teaching approaches to encourage innovative student-led work. Tutorials and seminars are the leading teaching methods, together with lectures, group-working, writing workshops, research seminars, film screenings, and reviews of student work by The Bartlett School of Architecture staff and visiting researchers. There are building and gallery visits in London and further afield, and an annual (optional) field trip.

Assessment is through documentation in a design portfolio: an artist’s book and a situated video work.

In Terms 1 and 2, full-time students can typically expect around 15 contact hours per teaching week through lectures, workshops and tutorials. In Terms 3 and 4 (summer term included), students will be completing their own dissertation research, keeping regular contact with dissertation supervisors.

Outside of lectures, full-time students typically study the equivalent of a full-time job, using their remaining time for self-directed work and completing final projects, approximately 22 hours per week.

Modules

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The course consists of four compulsory modules (90 credits) and a 'Major Project' exhibition module (90 credits).

Upon successful completion of 180 credits, students will be awarded a MA in Situated Practice.

The course consists of five modules, two of which are taught in Term 1 and in Term 2. For one of the modules in Term 2, students have the option to undertake a self-defined project to address specific research questions or to take another relevant module from The Bartlett School of Architecture, Faculty or UCL.

In Terms 3 and 4, students complete the last module, the Major Project - a project portfolio with a written element of critical self-reflection.

Part-time students must complete 180 credits over two years. Students should select half taught modules in Year 1 and half in Year 2, plus the major project module.

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change.

Modular/flexible students can choose any modules per year as long as they complete 180 credits within five years. Students will select all taught modules first and take the major research project module in the last year of study.

Compulsory modules

Critical Spatial Practice: Site-Writing

Mediated Environments

Situated Practice: Major Project

Situated Practice: Research Methods

The Open Work

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MA in Situated Practice.

Fieldwork

There will be one optional field trip annually as part of the course. Students will also conduct their own original spatial research into a specific site of their own choosing for the Major Project.

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Visit us

All open days and events

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Bartlett Promise UK Scholarship

Join our virtual event to explore our postgraduate courses, hear from academic staff and current students, and learn about the application process, scholarships, and career support. A live Q&A will give you the chance to get your questions answered. Take the next step toward shaping a more sustainable built environment with us.

Watch on demand event

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2026/27)	£16,800	£8,400
Tuition fees (2026/27)	£35,400	£17,700

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a fee deposit will be charged at 2.5% of the first year fee.

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

For modular/flexible offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a £350 deposit will be charged.

For modular/flexible offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a £500 deposit will be charged.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

There is one optional field trip for this master’s degree, which costs students a maximum of £250 each. We estimate that students spend between £300-£600 on specialist materials throughout the course.

All students work differently so costs incurred depend on the approach they take to the brief given. The school encourages students to use recycled materials in their models and presentations, not only is it sustainable, but also cost effective and potentially innovative. The school also offers subsidies for exhibition costs.

For in-person teaching, UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

UCL offers a range of financial awards aimed at assisting both prospective and current students with their studies.

Any additional funding available from The Bartlett School of Architecture and The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment are advertised on their respective websites.

In our faculty, The Bartlett Promise Scholarship aims to enable students from backgrounds underrepresented in the built environment to pursue master's studies. Please see the UK Master's scholarship and Sub-Saharan Africa Master's scholarship pages for more information on eligibility criteria, selection process and FAQs.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

: Bartlett Promise Sub-Saharan Africa Masters Scholarship

Deadline: 29 March 2026

Value: Fees, stipend and other allowances (Duration of programme)

Criteria Based on financial need

Eligibility: Overseas

Bartlett Promise UK Master's Scholarship

Deadline: 31 May 2026

Value: Full tuition fees and an annual stipend of £17,096 for a 12 month master's or £15,864 for a 9 month (Duration of programme)

Criteria Based on financial need

Eligibility: UK

UCL East London Scholarship

Deadline: 25 June 2026

Value: Tuition fees plus £17,096 stipend ()

Criteria Based on financial need

Eligibility: UK

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this course of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

This course only requires one reference in support of the application. The reference should be academic unless the student has been out of university education for more than four years. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This course only requires one reference in support of your application. Your reference should be academic unless you have been out of university education for more than four years. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.