The UIC Barcelona School of Architecture offers students individual support in an international environment, transmitting the view of architecture as a service to society, fostering both creative talent and technical skills, generating synergies with the construction sector and working to give students access to a diverse and international range of work.

Committed to its students, the School offers personal attention and academic assessment throughout their time at the university, as well as a coaching service to ensure students are prepared for the transition to the job world.

Committed to society, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture is the only Spanish school of architecture that makes cooperation, sustainability and accessibility compulsory subjects. The School also offers master’s and postgraduate programmes in these subjects.

Committed to contemporary architecture, not only does it promote close cooperation with the construction industry’s most advanced and innovative sectors through University-Industry Professorships, joint research and technology transfer projects, its teaching staff also includes lecturers who liaise constantly with the professional world.

There are three distinguishing moments that complement the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture’s study programme. The first is the Vertical Workshop, which takes place at the start of each academic year. As part of this activity, students from all years are divided into teams and are required design and construct full-scale projects.
Halfway through the academic year, the School of Architecture hosts Foros, a series of lectures by prestigious national and international professionals, which has brought to Barcelona leading figures from the field of architecture.

At the end of the degree programme, the School organises an exhibition of the students’ Final Degree Projects (TFGs). These projects consist of real proposals for improving the city and are displayed at a strategic venue in Barcelona.

The School uses a cross-disciplinary teaching model that incorporates different areas of knowledge. The students have access to cutting-edge workshops, open 24 hours a day. In addition to the Analogue Model Workshop, the School also has a Digital Architecture Workshop, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, such as laser cutters, CNC milling machines, 3D printers and, coming soon, a robotic arm.

This educational model makes for an eminently hands-on programme, which aims to ensure students are capable of working at all levels, from territorial planning to construction detail.

Please contact the School for more information.

Fees for 2018-2019 academic year

Bachelor’s Degree: €8,400 (2 semesters)

Master’s programmes: Price varies depending on the programme. Please contact the School for more information.

Doctoral programme: Please contact the School for more information.

Bachelor, Spanish, English, Catalan,
Master, Spanish, English, Catalan,
Doctoral, Spanish, English, Catalan,

Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture

We are committed to providing you the best academic education, one that ensures you have the theoretical and practical tools necessary to successfully transition to the job market. We strive to enrich the professional profile of all future architects through multiple lines.

The student-teacher ratio is under 15 students per lecturer, which is well below that of other schools. As a result, the students are continually monitored right from day one. Eight out of every ten lecturers are active national and international professionals, something that encourages contact between the students and the professional reality.

We have a national and international job bank that helps students find jobs around the world, thanks to the network of agreements we hold with industry companies, which provide numerous professional opportunities.

 

Structure of the curriculum

At the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, students have the chance to earn a master’s-level Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture recognised throughout Europe through a five-year study programme.

Bachelor’s degree programme

2018-2019 study programme and subjects

• Year 1 subjects:
  • Architectural Drawing
  • Computational Design
  • History of Art and Architecture
  • Mathematics
  • Design Studio 0
  • Introduction to Architectural Construction
  • Physics
  • Spatial and Formal Analysis
• Year 2 subjects:
  • Building Construction I
  • Critical Thinking I
  • Design Studio I
  • English II
  • History and Theory of Architecture I
  • Structural Calculation I
  • Vertical Workshop I
  • Building Construction II
  • Critical Thinking II
  • Design Studio II
  • Foros I
  • History and Theory of Architecture II
  • Urban Design I
• Year 3 subjects:
  • Accessibility
  • Building Construction III
  • Design Studio III
  • English II
  • History and Theory of Architecture III
  • Urban Design II
  • Vertical Workshop II
  • Building Construction IV
  • Building Mechanics and Facilities I
  • Design Studio IV
  • Ethics
  • Foros II
  • History and Theory of Architecture IV
  • Structural Calculation II
• Year 4 subjects:
  • Architectural Theory and Criticism
  • Building Construction V
  • Building Mechanics and Facilities II
  • Cooperation I
  • Design Studio V
  • Elective Course I
  • Sustainability I
  • Vertical Workshop III
  • Building Construction VI
  • Cooperation II
  • Design Studio VI
  • Optional subject 3
  • Foros III
  • Structural Calculation III
  • Urban Design III
• Year 5 subjects:
  • Design Studio VII
  • Optional subject 2
  • Optional subject 4
  • Management
  • Professional Ethics
  • Sustainability II
  • Vertical Workshop IV
  • Work Experience
  • Building Construction VII
  • Design Studio VIII
  • Final Degree Project
  • Foros IV
  • Urban Design IV

 

Master’s programmes

Master’s Degree in City Resilience Design and Management

This master’s degree has been framed and supported by the International Urban Resilience Research Network, and the programme is taught by professors from some of the most prestigious universities and research centres dealing with urban resilience in different parts of the world. The programme’s global and multidisciplinary perspective (it addresses the environmental, social, economic, planning and political aspects of urban studies) enables students to learn about and understand resilience challenges on an international, national and local city level, thanks to the dense network of research and teaching partners involved in this master’s degree.

Master’s Degree in Architecture and Design Business Management

This master’s degree strives to ensure that you will be able to bring a distinctive value to your profession through business know-how. This knowledge will bolster your capacity to expand your business and increase your chances of joining the leading companies in your sector, which are in need of professionals with technical knowledge and a versatile, innovative and strategic business mind.

University Master’s Degree in International Cooperation: Sustainable Emergency Architecture

This official degree prepares architects, urban planners and other professionals to develop and rebuild communities affected by the ever-growing impact of climate change, military conflicts, rapid urbanisation and economic crises in both developed and developing countries. The one-year programme provides students with the necessary theoretical and methodological background in order to develop an interdisciplinary approach and manage projects in cooperation and sustainable development ranging from the urban to the architectural scale.

University Master’s Degree in Biodigital Architecture

We offer you the chance to take part in the first architecture programme that explores the subject from a biological and digital perspective. An avant-garde syllabus and a new, 21st-century concept at your fingertips.

You will have the opportunity to use state-of-the-art technology with new production possibilities. And a whole new world of tools will open up to you, enhancing your professional qualifications and job skills.

 

Doctoral programme

The objectives of the doctoral studies are to train researchers and lecturers, pass on scientific progress, learn about specialised sciences and technology and provide a learning experience for university graduates. The doctoral studies are structured into programmes that include learning and research activities, and end with the presentation and approval of a doctoral thesis, which should be an original research project on a subject related to the programme’s scientific, technical or artistic field.

 

Research Programme

Business Chairs

The ASCER Ceramics Chair

This Chair was created in order to reach a rapprochement, or better still, foster complicity between the university and the sector that produces ceramic tiles; complicity because it is a mutual exchange.

On the one hand, this Chair allows the tile industry to incorporate more technical knowledge of their product into the training of future architects, as well as the enormous aesthetic possibilities that ceramic tiles can add to the creative work of our professional group. On the other hand, this training will allow future architects to focus their proposals on ceramics, spurring innovation within existing formats or developing new applications. It is clear that architects and manufacturers needed to be brought together.

The ASCER Ceramics Chair will help dilute the traditionalist associations which tend to accompany the world of tiles, and imbue this product with values associated with innovation, creativity and the avant-garde. Not on a whim, but because ceramics and its reality allow for this. There are many facets and possibilities involving ceramic tiles that are still unknown, which is why we believe that this initiative is an excellent opportunity to prove it.

CEIM Chair in Industrialised Construction and the Environment

UIC Barcelona created this Chair in response to market needs and to be able to cooperate in science and technology to a greater extent than is possible through R&D. It involves three clear areas of activity: training, knowledge generation and the transfer of technology and knowledge.

One of the objectives of the CEIM is to establish forms of collaboration and joint development between UIC Barcelona and the various companies and organisations in the construction industry, in order to obtain a significant result in terms of sustainability and environmental friendliness. The Chair began with a partnership with four companies but, in efforts to make it more representative of the sector, aims to increase this number to between ten and twelve.

Research Groups

Genetic Architecture

The work this research group carries out is related to the application of genetics to architecture, in an interdisciplinary way, from two points of view: a natural one, using the latest biological technology, and an artificial one, using the latest digital technology. The group has therefore set up the first genetic architecture laboratory in the world and the first digital architecture production workshop in a school of architecture in Spain. The objective is therefore to perform research that furthers the understanding of architecture, based on the potential of the natural world, working with DNA as if it were natural software, and the opportunities of the digital world, working with software as if it were digital DNA.

History, Architecture and Design

The research group has undertaken a number of different projects, all of which revolve around the analysis of history, architecture and design from specific time periods, singular objects and prominent figures from the fields of art history and architecture. Examples of the Group’s projects include Casa Gralla, the “Mansana de la Discòrdia” and Can Feu. At present, their research is focused on the Vic Cathedral, with a view to promoting cultural visits.

Community-based Urbanism

The regeneration of urban fabrics and public spaces is an important issue in both developed and developing countries. We propose systemic, long-term and co-produced solutions, instead of the piecemeal, instant and top-down approaches prevalent today.

Our work is focused on participatory planning and design based on: (1) systemic analysis oriented to the identification of networks of places with collective meaning; (2) evolutionary analysis addressed to the discernment of regenerative processes; and (3) participatory analysis aimed at propelling communities’ involvement in the definition, implementation and maintenance of spatial transformations.

Laboratory for Technological Innovation in Industrialised and Sustainable Construction

The scientific activity of this group is mainly based on obtaining new subsidies which will enable it to continue the lines of research it began in previous years, based on the premise of innovating and developing new construction systems that are able to provide a response to current sector needs. In addition, to promote environmental awareness in the construction sector, the group has defined new guidelines in terms of attitudes, company strategies, users and sector professionals. In this regard, industrialisation and sustainability stand as the main pillars and cornerstones of this line of work.