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Postgraduate

Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design - MA

MA

Features

1 year
Full-time

Outline

What - and where - is interior? Interiors - and interiority - can be challenging to define. They can take specificity from a multiplicity of roles and functions, and must respond and adapt to site and situation. They can be porous, have fuzzy edges and extend beyond their physical limits. As such, to practice interior making - and the making of interiority - demands agility, responsiveness and the capacity to extend oneself beyond boundaries.

This programme is designed to support you in establishing your own approaches in defining interiors and interiority, supporting you to lay the foundations for your own path through the opportunities this field of knowledge and practice presents.

In this programme, you will engage with a range of theoretical positions and concepts, to creatively and critically explore and craft experimental and technically resolved design outcomes across a variety of scales. You will complete creative projects that give attention to detail design and construction at a human scale with direct material engagement with buildings and environments, as well as extending beyond the boundaries of a discrete site and conceive strategic masterplan approaches to understand how interiors connect with contexts and ideas at the scale of the city.

At the same time, you will explore and experiment with various media including writing, drawing, digital modelling and physical exhibition to engage with the theoretical, historical, and cultural contexts that frame the practices of interior, architectural and spatial design.

Following the deep site-focused character of the programme, each year engages with a particular site, situation or institution in the city of Edinburgh, be it a local community, a historic building, or a changing organisation. Using their own research to inform teaching, staff will work together with you to unlock the creative possibilities presented by that specific environment. 

In joining this programme you will also be joining Interior Lab – a wider family of staff, students and researchers - including professional alumni, undergraduate interior design and PhD students who will join us for talks, exhibitions and other events. 

To find out more about this course, visit our Degree Finder: Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design.

Hear from our staff and students

Careers

We have a strong track record of graduates working in interior design and architectural practices both here in the UK and overseas, or setting up their own businesses once they have completed the programme.

Graduates have also gone on to further academic study at masters or PhD level in various institutions around the world.

Why you should choose this programme

1

City as Laboratory: we engage with the historic and contemporary buildings and institutions of the world-renowned city of Edinburgh as sites for design experimentation.

2

Developing Diverse Skills: you will undertake courses that engage with interior design practices from construction detailing to master-planning, utilising your skills from manifesto writing to digital visualisation.

3

Theory is Practice: our programme encourages you to think across different media, developing new ideas by working from, writing to drawing, making to debating, and analogue to digital.

4

A Global Community. Through group working we welcome and encourage conversation between the diverse interior experiences that our students bring from all over the world.

5

External Engagement: we work together on live projects, and you will share your work with the broader public and industry in various ways.

Opportunities

We think of Edinburgh itself as a ‘living lab’ which we can use to experiment with the ways in which interior, architectural and spatial design can unlock the potential of buildings and the communities and institutions that occupy them. 

Each of our core course begins with a visit to our site, situation, and/or institution of interest, and we regularly engage with those institutions and communities throughout the design development process for each project.  

Each of our core courses, and our programme, all culminate in events, physical exhibitions, or digital media that you will conceive, design and implement in order to share your work with the people for and about whom it has been created. 

Work by students and graduates of the programme

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students examining models using their telephones Edward Hollis

Imagining Interiors: in reality, and on the phone

students examining models using their telephones Edward Hollis

How to apply and entry requirements

If you'd like to study on a postgraduate programme at Edinburgh College of Art, you must apply through EUCLID, our online application system. You can find out how to do this on the University of Edinburgh website, where you'll also be able to:

  • See detailed entrance requirements for each programme on the Degree Finder
  • Get information on what to expect after you apply
  • Find out about study modes, start dates and fees
  • Find out if, and how, you need to submit a portfolio, showreel or research proposal
  • Find out where to go for further advice and guidance.
Apply now

Get in touch

Edinburgh College of Art Postgraduate Admissions

futurestudents@ed.ac.uk
+44 (0)131 650 4086

View the work of our latest graduates

Field trips

Our core course consists of design projects that are site-based and you be spending much time engaging with these sites and situations in the city. In the past, these have included:

  • various historic buildings on the university campus
  • the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
  • the Edinburgh Freemason’s Hall
  • Summerhall Arts centre
  • Leith Custom House.

In addition, where appropriate, we organise day trips to encounter buildings, exhibitions or events that are relevant to your studies.

Campus facilities

Our base is a studio in ECA’s Lauriston Campus, in the heart of Edinburgh. This is where you will have a place to draw, make models, meet your classmates for social and group sessions, and attend classes and seminars.

The ECA Campus is well-furnished with diverse workshops facilitating digital and analogue methods. We encourage you to use these, and you can access them with short induction courses. It also has two art and architecture libraries, and numerous spaces to encounter your fellow students and their work.

The Lauriston campus is 10 minutes’ walk from the University of Edinburgh’s Central Campus, with its libraries, museums and social spaces.

In addition, Scotland’s national galleries, museum, opera house and parliament – all examples of exceptional design, both ancient and modern - are all within 30 minutes’ walk.

Lauriston campus redevelopment

ECA are excited to be undertaking a capital redevelopment of ECA’s Lauriston campus over the next 3 years, from April 2024 to April 2027.

The project aims to maximise the use of existing space, improve accessibility, and create a vibrant campus that fosters collaboration and innovation.

The project involves refurbishing and repurposing various spaces across the Lauriston campus, including technical facilities, student and teaching spaces, and the relocation of the Reid School of Music from Alison House to the Lauriston campus. New social spaces, seminar rooms, and studios are being created to accommodate our growing community.

You can find more about the project at the below link:

Building work starts at ECA’s Lauriston campus | Edinburgh College of Art

Scholarships and bursaries

Andrew Grant Bequest
Andrew Grant Postgraduate Scholarships
Value £13,000 for one year
Deadline 17 April 2025
ECA
John L Paterson Postgraduate Design Scholarship
Value £8,000 tenable for one academic year and will be deducted from your tuition fee with any remaining funds being awarded towards living costs
Deadline 17 April 2025
ECA
Edinburgh College of Art EU Scholarship Scheme (PGT)
Value £17,500
Deadline N/A
See all Scholarships and bursaries

Facilities and resources

A person welding metal in the metal workshop

Metal workshop

Students working around a desk table in the wood workshop

Wood workshop

View all our Facilities

Our alumni

Work by Foo Sher Ming

Foo Sher Ming

Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design - MA 2020

Since graduating from ECA Foo Sher Ming has moved back to Malaysia where he has been implementing ideas on conservation and heritage, learned at ECA, into the start-up firm where he now works.

Farah Sami Barham

Farah Sami Barham

Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design - MA 2019

Studying Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design gave Farah the opportunity to build on the knowledge she had previously acquired in her career as an architect.

Ashley Mbithe Liku

Ashley Mbithe Liku

Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design - MA 2019

For Ashley, graduating from ECA presented the opportunity to showcase the vast array of skills she acquired during her time studying. Reflecting on her work, like she did at university, to ensure she is able to continue to evolve her design skills and processes.

View all our Alumni

Meet our staff

A person wearing glasses, an orange hat and a grey scarf stands in front of a leafy tree.

Dr Dave Loder

Lecturer in Interior, Architecture and Spatial Design

Programme Director, MA Interior, Architectural & Spatial Design

Dave.Loder@ed.ac.uk
Edward Hollis profile picture

Prof Edward Hollis

Professor of Interior Design

ECA Director of Postgraduate Research (PGR)

e.hollis@ed.ac.uk
+44 (0) 131 651 5724
Rachel Simmonds profile picture

Rachel Simmonds

Senior Lecturer Interior, Architectural and Spatial Design

rachel.simmonds@ed.ac.uk
+44 (0)131 651 5752
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