Architecture with Foundation Year

Foundation Year - helping you to achieve more

Including a foundation year as part of your four-year study programme will give you a head start in your academic and professional life. The foundation year offers the chance to strengthen your skills, knowledge and confidence – with extensive support from our expert staff – before you advance to stage one of your honours degree. It could also be beneficial if you are planning a career change and want to get to grips with aspects of subjects which are new to you.

Our degrees with a foundation year are continuous, meaning that you won’t need to apply again once you have successfully completed the first year.

Design real spaces

On our BA (Hons) Architecture, you will learn in a studio-centred environment where you can develop bold ideas, test them through design, and turn them into meaningful architectural proposals. You will explore how architecture shapes the way people live, work and connect, while designing spaces that are creative, functional, socially responsible and technically informed.

You will learn through hands-on projects, live briefs, professional practice, and input from visiting contributors. An optional placement year gives you the chance to gain valuable industry experience and strengthen your portfolio before graduation.

Throughout the course, you will develop as a designer, communicator and problem-solver with the knowledge and attributes needed to operate as a designer, communicator and coordinator within the wider built-environment field. You will learn how to imagine, create, refine and present design proposals for spaces and places, responding to user needs, cultural context, materials, structures and environmental challenges.

You will also explore sustainability as a core part of contemporary architectural design. This includes regenerative and low-carbon approaches, adaptive reuse, circular material practices, biodiversity, and climate justice. Alongside this, you will use advanced digital tools to support your design development, including computational workflows and 3D printing, immersive technologies (e.g., virtual and augmented reality), game engines, and generative AI used responsibly and ethically.

Learn how architecture works in practice

You will work alongside students from other built-environment programmes, giving you valuable experience of the collaborative way design happens in the real world. This multi-disciplinary approach helps you understand how architecture connects with other specialist areas and prepares you for professional practice.

Through team-based projects and peer learning, you will build the confidence to share ideas, take responsibility, respond to feedback and communicate your design thinking clearly to different audiences. You will also learn how to work across disciplines, coordinate input from others and develop the professional behaviours expected in contemporary project teams.

Aligned with industry standards

You will study a course shaped by current professional practice and informed by employers across the architecture and construction sectors. We work with a wide range of local and regional practices and industry partners, helping to ensure that your learning reflects the realities of contemporary architectural work, such as Jacobs Ltd., Vinci Plc, Kier, Lathams Architects, Pick Everard, Matthew Montague Architects, Morrison Design, Skanska UK, Maber Architects, and Balfour Beatty to name a few.

Throughout the degree, you will benefit from practice-informed learning experiences including live projects, employer engagement, placement support and activities focused on employability. You will learn how to develop ideas, test them, present them clearly and respond to feedback in a professional way.

By the time you graduate from this course, you should be able to:

• Conceive innovative architectural proposals.
• Produce designs that respond to real sites and wider urban contexts.
• Communicate your ideas through drawings, models and digital visualisations.
• Build a strong portfolio that supports your future career as an architect.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

Throughout this course, you will benefit from teaching shaped by professional practice, with input from experienced academic staff, external speakers, guest critics and live briefs in collaboration with local and regional organisations.

Teaching is anchored in dedicated design-studio spaces and specialist making facilities, including model-making and prototyping provision with 3D printing, laser cutting, and wood and concrete laboratory facilities, complemented by IT suites and computer labs equipped with discipline-standard software for CAD/BIM, visualisation and immersive-reality environments, with appropriate support for emerging digital practices including generative AI workflows.

Studio learning is supported by lectures, seminars, technical workshops and research-informed enquiry, helping you develop skills in visual and verbal communication, design thinking, spatial representation, and material and construction understanding.

How you will be assessed

You will be assessed in ways that reflect real architectural practice, with portfolio-based assessment as the main method throughout the course. This will allow you to demonstrate how your ideas develop over time, from research and concept design to testing, refinement and final presentation. Alongside portfolio work, you will also complete a range of assessments that support your technical, intellectual and professional development. These include:

• technical tasks
• seminar-based activities
• written assignments
• practice-focused tasks, including digital workflows and critical reflection
• an independent research project.

This course can be the first step in your journey towards becoming a licensed architect. You will develop the creative, technical and professional skills needed to begin your career in architecture, while building a strong foundation for further study and professional progression.

During your studies, you will work on projects that reflect real architectural practice, helping you learn how to respond to briefs, develop and test design ideas, communicate decisions clearly and present your work professionally.

The course is aligned with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) Competency Outcomes and Standards and informed by the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Architecture. This means your learning is shaped by nationally recognised expectations for architectural education and will prepare you well for future study and professional development. Our curriculum is also designed in line with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Themes and Values for Architectural Education, helping you build knowledge and skills in design, ethics, professional practice and environmental responsibility. This means you will be well prepared to progress to ARB-accredited Level 7 routes, such as a Master’s or Integrated Master’s degree in Architecture, subject to entry requirements. These routes remain the recognised pathway towards professional registration as an architect.

On completion of the BA (Hons) Architecture, you could also continue your studies at Derby to postgraduate courses such as our MSc in Sustainable Architecture and Healthy Buildings, or move into a range of early-career roles across architecture, design and the wider built environment.

Typical roles include:

• Architectural Assistant
• Graduate Architectural Designer
• Interior Architect
• BIM Technician or Graduate BIM Coordinator
• CAD Technician
• 3D Visualiser / Architectural Visualisation Artist
• Graduate roles in design coordination, digital design, sustainability and the built environment.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

*This is the fee for the Foundation Year. Subsequent UK fees are £9,535 per year. Subsequent International fees are £17,500.

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.