An architect needs imagination to design spaces, to find suitable materials and to make a building work. In doing so, a designer must be able to empathise with how users will experience those spaces, how senses will be stimulated and encounters encouraged. The minor in architecture is based on three main themes:
Inspiration
This minor challenges you to further develop your imagination. As an architect, you are the director of how the user experiences the building. During this minor, you are given the space to discover what fascinates and inspires you, how your imagination comes to life and how you can transform that imagination into an architectural design. Research, analysis, ideation, production and presentation come together in a design process. Lectures by inspirational architects and artists and excursions to architectural firms and projects support the exercises you will undertake in the various design assignments.
Design
Short projects challenge a creative and intuitive process in which hands and design tools play an important role. The end products, such as models or drawings, are not fixed in advance. By always starting from different starting points (e.g. from a material, image, artwork or story), the imagination is stimulated. The design skills you acquired in the first period will come in handy later during the larger design task in the second part of the minor.
Communications
Besides inspiration and design talent, an architect needs communication skills. You can have a great idea but if you cannot communicate it, it is difficult to get other people excited. During these months, you will learn how models, drawings, photos, collages and booklets can represent your ideas. By presenting and discussing your design, you reflect on your work and learn to hone it further and further. Which way of communicating works best to convince others of your plan?
Practical teaching method
At the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam, we believe in ‘learning from experiences’ and ‘applying theory in practice’. Our way of teaching is adapted to this. The combination of studying and concrete practise is an essential part of the course.
During the minor, you will work on five learning objectives:
1. Knowledge of architecture, analysis, form study, history, and the field and the professional practice of architects.
2. Knowledge of architectural programmes, functional systems, sustainability, typologies and the field and the professional practice of architects.
3. Research and design skills in terms of cultural, programmatic and technical aspects.
4. Research and design skills in terms of planning, details and materialisation.
5. Skills in terms of conceptual and academic thinking, as well as debating, communication and presentation techniques.
Which prior education do you need for the minor in Architecture?
You can register via Kies op Maat if:
• You are in the process of doing a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture at a university of applied sciences (hbo-bachelor Bouwkunde) or similar degree programme.
• You have level B2 in the English language
For the in minor Architecture, you must register via Kies op Maat.
Registration is only possible if your current study programme:
•is affiliated with Kies op Maat,
•wants to enter into a learning agreement with our Academy.
Deadline for registration
We offer the minor in minor Architecture once per year in the first semester: from the end of August up to and including January. You can register up from 10 February until 6 April 2025 at the latest.
For the minor in Architecture, you must register via Kies op Maat.
Registration is only possible if your current study programme:
- Is affiliated with Kies op Maat,
- Wants to enter into a learning agreement with our Academy.
Deadline for registration
We offer the minor in Architecture once per year in the first semester: from September up to and including January. The application term for 2024-2025 has closed. From February 2025 registration will be open again at Kies op Maat for 2025-2026.
When will you receive a pass for the minor?
De minor in worth a total of 30 EC. Compulsory attendance applies to all programme components. *
At the end of the minor, an assessment committee will assess your performance on the basis of:
• your results for the studios and workshops;
• your attendance at lectures, exercises, excursions and visits to firms (compulsory)*;
• the digital final presentation of your work.
The assessment committee consists of the coordinators, supplemented by guest lecturers and/or the heads of the study programmes. They will draw up your final assessment together. During the minor, you will receive an assessment form with notes for each assessment. Did you get a fail for one or more components? In that case, the assessment committee will consider this within your results achieved as a whole. This may lead to a negative final assessment or to an additional assignment of approximately two weeks, immediately after your final presentation.
*Compulsory attendance applies to all programme components. If you are not able to attend, please report this beforehand to the coordinator and lecturer concerned or, if this is not possible, to the study secretariat of the Academy of Architecture: avbpremasters-minors@ahk.nl
Have you successfully completed the minor in Architecture? You then have a greater chance of being selected for a Master’s degree at the Academy of Architecture.
Our Master’s programmes train you to become a skilful and authentic spatial designer. You will learn to clearly (re)formulate design assignments and form powerful conceptual ideas. You will know how to translate these into concrete spatial design proposals. In addition, you will learn how to present a plan in an attractive way and how you should enter into debate about your design considerations.
Are you doubting whether you meet the admission requirements? Have you got questions about registering? Do you have any other questions?
Feel free to send an email with your question to the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture via avb-premasters-minors@ahk.nl
What will your timetable look like?
The minor begins at the end of August and ends in January. You will follow the lessons on weekdays from Monday to Friday, from 9.30 to 16.30. We will occasionally deviate from this timetable.
Which courses and programme components will you do?
This lecture series covers key topics in architectural history and theory.
A number of excursions reveal how an architect works from idea to building. The first excursion is to a design office, where the architect explains a project through drawings, models and stories. Then this project is visited together with the architect. Sometimes the project has already been realised; sometimes it is still under construction. Learning objective is to gain knowledge on how to translate an idea or a fascination into a design and to develop a working method. The emphasis is on the integration between concept and concretisation.
Viewing and doing exercises based on architectural examples provide insight into the means that can be used to achieve a specific architectural quality. The aim is for you to use your architectural knowledge in a targeted way in your design. In a series of thematic mini-assignments, you put this knowledge to work. The tasks and themes are closely linked to the design task that follows.
The design task takes place in a green zone of the city of Amsterdam. The assignment is a work-home for a specific client. To what extent do the client's profession and the materials in the immediate surroundings influence the design? You work on your design at different scale levels, communicating a lot using models.
During this exercise, you will learn about a series of representative buildings using analysis, visit and evaluation. The aim of the exercise is to expand your architectural repertoire, learn to look and analyse and recognise ideas behind a design and the physical building.
The aim of this subject is to acquire knowledge and insight into the relationship between the creative process and the design. You learn to think from the material and formulate design principles from there. You learn to relate design principles to building practice and reflect critically on self-made objects. The way of working is also discussed; the balance between rules and freedom. These classes consist of three workshops over two days per week. During the workshops, different techniques are used to work in clay, sand and gravel.
Architecture is a language. A design principle must be able to be explained. Drawing is one of the oldest and most fundamental ways of communicating. Through a drawing, the aesthetics, meaning and culture of the draughtsman can be understood. These lessons focus on two skills that are crucial in using a drawing as a communication tool: the clear representation of an idea and the unique language of the designer. These qualities are further developed through practice. With the help of the teacher, each student chooses different materials and techniques that best suit their own design. Drawings are not meant to represent reality but rather to capture the idea behind the design.
Models are essential when conducting architectural research: thinking and doing go hand in hand. In this exercise, you will learn to make effective models. What methods work at what scale? How can you make beautiful maquettes using simple materials? The starting point is the materials at your disposal and what these materials can do for your model. You work in the Academy's model workshop.
The word photography is derived from Greek and literally means to write with light. Photography is a wonderful communication tool to capture your initial ideas about a design. Photography can be helpful at all stages of a design process: from the depiction of a certain atmosphere to the presentation of the final design. This course lasts five weeks. Subjects include the city and your models.
Organising your work and documenting it well is very important. To conclude the first two months of the minor, you will make a book presentation under the supervision of a graphic designer. This will focus on the process you went through in the various programme components. You will also reflect on the subjects you have completed. You will acquire basic knowledge of the Adobe Indesignprogramme and will be challenged to create a consistent document with your personal signature. To conclude the minor, you will create a book about your personal design process. In this book, you will record your design process. Being able to communicate your work clearly and enthusiastically is essential. In the last two weeks of the project, you will work under supervision on a text that briefly and powerfully explains what your design is about. Youthen present your design usingthistext.