Whether applying to study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, our application criteria are the same. These values have been developed in close consultation with staff and students to reflect the identity, culture and specialisms of our school.
Portfolio guidance for Architecture applicants
As part of your application, you will be invited to share a digital portfolio of your work with us. You may be offered the opportunity of a portfolio interview, which is a chance to meet us either online or in person to give further context to your work.
When assessing your portfolio, we would like to see that you have certain skills and abilities:
- We’d like to see evidence of creative and conceptual thinking, which might take the form of problem-solving or idea generation through sketching and making or using digital tools.
- Spatial or 3-dimensional thinking should be evidenced visually where possible. A passion for, or appreciation of, architectural spaces should also be communicated.
- Graphic ability and aptitude for drawing/making could be evidenced through academic or extracurricular projects. A balance between analogue (hand) drawing and digital drawing is desirable.
- Architects are storytellers so it is important to include process work documenting the self-criticality behind project outcomes, as opposed to only including final pieces. Showing evidence of your approach to learning and development is important.
- The school has a strong social / cultural / historical research agenda. Critical thinking and engagement with these themes could be evidenced through project work, case studies, reflective writing or self-initiated research.
- Finally, we are committed to recognising expertise gained outside of the classroom through work experience, extra-curricular or self-initiated projects, employment and other formative life experiences. Evidence of these could be provided through photo record, reflective writing, video, blogs, websites and other means of documenting/recording.
We would expect to see around 15-20 pieces of work as a rough guide. Your portfolio is all about your potential, so do try to curate it in such a way that not only shows off your skills but also your interests, values and critical approach to learning.
Ensure that all of your work is in order and clearly labelled with annotations that explain the context. (e.g Pen and ink study on A2 canvas, a self-initiated project undertaken in 2023 to record light and colour). Where work has been undertaken either as a group or under supervision, it is important to properly credit others and describe your role in the work accurately.
You may choose to include reflective notes alongside each study to give context to the work and the lessons learned from undertaking it.
We do not expect everyone to have all of the elements described above, and in this respect, it is important to celebrate what makes people different. We are therefore keen to see your points of view and what kind of architecture you find exciting. Show us your passions, ambition and commitment to creative endeavour. Architecture is a challenging subject, so show initiative and surprise us.
Once you have initiated your application, you will receive an invitation to share your portfolio via email. You can use any of the following ways to send your portfolio to us:
- Attach a PDF file to an email. The size limit for this option is 20mB max.
- Use an online portfolio hosting website such as Carbonmade / Issuu / Behance or similar. Share the URL and ensure it is not password-protected.
- Use google drive / dropbox or similar to share a PDF file. Share the URL and ensure sharing permissions allow ‘anyone to view’.
We aim to respond to all portfolio submissions within 3 weeks of the submission date. However, if you have not received a response by that point, please do contact us at: admissions@brookes.ac.uk.