Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Interior architecture is a field that focuses on the design and the spatial organisation of interior spaces within buildings. It goes beyond just decoration and involves the planning and execution of interior layouts, taking into consideration functionality, aesthetics, and the overall user experience.
Our design-led, studio based Interior Architecture course, is a member of Interior Educators, the National Learned Society for the subject, and provides you with the practical skills and specialist knowledge to work as an interior architectural specialist.
Through live and directed design projects, you will develop creative, intelligent and meaningful design proposals for existing buildings through investigation of the site. You will learn to control the relationship between the existing context and your proposed interior adaptation, supported by studies in design, communication, history and theory, construction technology, environment and management. You will take part in site visits within live projects and a European study trip to help contextualise and expand your learning.
At the end of year 2, you can choose the option of an additional study abroad year, or complete the course as originally intended; all of which are designed to enrich your experience as a subject specialist and as a global citizen. You will develop a creative portfolio of directed and self-directed design project work which will allow you to fully explore your interests within interior architecture and building adaptation, while fully expressing your ability as a designer and a future professional.
You will showcase your final project work at an exhibition here in Newcastle and as part of Interior Educators in London, to maximize your reach to industry. Successful graduates can progress onto our one semester Postgraduate Certificate in Interior Architecture course, which is professionally accredited and allows you to satisfy the ARB Part I criteria, when combined with undergraduate Interior Architecture study and Northumbria. This is the only course of its type and allows our graduates to achieve Part I status, as specialists in building adaptation and creative reuse.
See other similar courses you may be interested in: BA (Hons) Interior Design, Architecture BA (Hons).
UCAS Code
W251
Level of Study
Undergraduate
Mode of Study
3 years Full Time or 4 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad
Department
Architecture and Built Environment
Location
City Campus, Northumbria University
City
Newcastle
Start
September 2025
Fees
Fee Information
Modules
Module Information
Explore our immersive 360 tours, informative subject videos, inspirational student profiles, ground-breaking research, and a range of life at university videos and articles.
Find out more about what our Architecture students and staff are getting involved in.
Hear what it is really like to study Interior Architecture from our current students.
Northumbria student, En Xi Wu, talks about the real world experience she has gained while studying Interior Architecture.
Meet Allard, an Interior Architecture BA (Hons) student at Northumbria University, Newcastle. Hear his experience of the course, the opportunities it has presented to him, his experience of Newcastle, and aspirations after graduation.
Architecture and Built Environment encompasses all of our teaching, research and enterprise in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Quantity and Building Surveying, Real Estate and Housing.
The end of year showcase for our Creative Programmes.
Take a look at some examples of our Student projects.
Alasdair Graham describes what it's like being a student at Northumbria University studying Interior architecture
Our academic staff work closely with business and industry and have experience in professional practice. We help you benefit from new skills, knowledge and approaches.
Whatever your aspirations in Interior Architecture, you'll find the latest technologies to support you in our dedicated laboratories and studios.
Come and explore our outstanding facilities in this interactive virtual tour.
At the heart of each Northumbria campus, our libraries provide a range of study space and technology to suit every learning style.
You can boost your CV and develop your experience whilst studying at Northumbria.
From first year through to final year and beyond graduation, we are here to help.
We have a fantastic service for students' to use to gain advice and tips on furthering careers and enhancing their employability.
Careers and Employment Services
Visit an Open Day to get an insight into what it's like to study Interior Architecture. Speak to staff and students from the course and get a tour of the facilities.
120 UCAS Tariff points
From a combination of acceptable Level 3 qualifications which may include: A-level, T Level, BTEC Diplomas/Extended Diplomas, Scottish and Irish Highers, Access to HE Diplomas, or the International Baccalaureate.
Find out how many points your qualifications are worth by using the UCAS Tariff calculator: www.ucas.com/ucas/tariff-calculator
Northumbria University is committed to supporting all individuals to achieve their ambitions. We have a range of schemes and alternative offers to make sure as many individuals as possible are given an opportunity to study at our University regardless of personal circumstances or background. To find out more, review our Northumbria Entry Requirement Essential Information page for further details www.northumbria.ac.uk/entryrequirementsinfo
Subject Requirements:
There are no specific subject requirements for this course.
GCSE Requirements:
Applicants will need Maths and English Language at minimum grade 4/C, or an equivalent.
Additional Requirements:
A portfolio of creative design work is required.
International Qualifications:
We welcome applicants with a range of qualifications which may not match those shown above.
If you have qualifications from outside the UK, find out what you need by visiting www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry
English Language Requirements:
International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.0 with 5.5 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).
*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades in our English Language section: www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications
For further admissions guidance and requirements, please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/admissionsguidance Please review this information before submitting your application.
UK Fee in Year 1: £9,535
* The University may increase fees for subsequent years of study at our discretion in line with any inflationary uplift as decided by the UK Government up to the maximum amount for fees permitted by UK law or regulation for that academic year. To give students an indication of the likely scale of any future increase, the UK government has recently suggested that increases may be linked to RPIX ( Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments)
International Fee in Year 1:
ADDITIONAL COSTS
Specialist equipment/materials - drafting and modelling equipment - approximate cost £200: Optional specialist equipment/materials - modelling materials - approximate cost £200: Print costs - reports, A0 posters, A3 weekly outputs - approximate cost £150: Optional fieldtrip - flight and subsistence costs - approximate cost £400: Final projects - models - £50. Optional Graduate degree show (London based exhibition) - approximate cost £400 ----------------------------- Specialist equipment/materials/printing - IA, approximate cost £400 OPTIONAL IA, approximate cost £1400 Total required + optional, approximate cost £1400
* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here
Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.
KA4011 -
Introduction to Design Project 1.1 (Core,40 Credits)
Acquiring the inherent principles, practices and theoretical motivations of the design process forms the core learning journey within this module. You will develop an emerging understanding of contemporary notions of physical context, narrative and spatial awareness though project briefs which explore the diversity and richness of contemporary design ideas. Combining an appreciation and interpretation of these thematic ideas will foster critical learning skills and will help you to develop a reflective attitude towards design. You will learn how to respond effectively, as an individual or as part of a group, to given narrative and design-based scenarios to help you understand design language, within set design briefs to generate small scale spaces. You will learn how to test and evaluation atmosphere, language, space and form whilst being introduced to the appropriate two and three-dimensional representation skills to explore your ideas.
More informationKA4013 -
Introduction to Theory 1 (Core,20 Credits)
This module will introduce you to a range of historical, theoretical and technological paradigms that govern the disciplines of Architecture and Interior Architecture. Through a thematic exposure to seminal historic and contemporary architecture and interiors, the module reveals key theoretical positions and thinking and allows you to develop your own critical appreciation of these in support of your broader subject knowledge. Presented as a theoretically connected continuum of architectural and interior architectural thought spanning relevant epochs, the modules content will specifically align to your studio-based design projects to ensure that you have opportunity to develop your critical thinking and to inform your emergent creative practice.
More informationKA4017 -
Introduction to Technology 1 (Core,20 Credits)
A fundamental knowledge of the social, environmental, ethical and technological principles, and the requirements of architectural practice within the context of Architecture and Interior Architecture, forms the core learning aims of this module. Such principles will be used to contextualise issues of design theory, environmental literacy, technology and emergent regulatory awareness, all of which influence the design process of these professions. Simultaneously, the module will introduce the broader professional, social and ethical parameters informing the design process. Module content will encourage critical thinking and contextual understanding, enabling the identification and understanding of emergent practice-based issues in relation to architecture and interior architecture. Research based analysis of case studies will contextualise your emergent knowledge towards practical application to studio design projects.
More informationKA4018 -
Interior Architecture Project 1.2 (Core,40 Credits)
Advancing your understanding of the principles, practices and theoretical motivations of the design process forms the core learning activity within this module. You will combine your developing appreciation and interpretation of concepts and ideas with an understanding of the needs of users and individuals within a designed environment and how physical context, narrative and spatial awareness inform ideas with set project briefs. Your will learn to develop design solutions that respond to a given set of interior conditions relating to space, place, form, language and materiality. Within your project work you will develop your critical learning skills, your reflective attitude to design solutions and your application of two and three-dimensional representation to refine and convey your ideas.
More informationKA5041 -
Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)
Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.
The topics you will cover on the module include:
• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
KA5015 -
Interior Architecture Project 2.1 (Core,40 Credits)
Synthesising the principles, practices and theoretical motivations of the architectural design process within interior architecture forms the core learning journey of this module. Combining an independent appreciation and interpretation of conceptual notions with an advanced understanding of physical context, narrative and spatial awareness within an existing built environment, your set project briefs will provoke responses to specific existing spatial conditions and typologies relating to place, form, architectural language, human-scale material and construction within the remodelling of existing space. You will enrich existing 2D and 3D communication skills to realise and represent design propositions within the context of building intervention and alteration, exploring methods of manual, digital and mixed media representation. Working independently and collectively, you will develop critical learning skills and an evaluative attitude to the iterative process of design.
More informationKA5016 -
Interior Architecture Project 2.2 (Core,40 Credits)
Synthesising the principles, practices and design motivations of Interior Architecture forms the core learning journey of this module. Combining your advancing appreciation and interpretation of context, narrative and spatial awareness with an appreciation of the management of design proposals will expand your personal attitude towards existing space, building adaption proposals and creative re-use.; project briefs will provoke responses to specific architectural conditions and typologies relating to place, form, language, material and construction. In addition, you will critically synthesise the broader issues of design practice and management. Working independently and collectively, you will advance your critical learning skills and your reflective attitude to the iterative process of interior architecture and creative reuse.
More informationKA5017 -
Interior Architecture Theory 2 (Core,20 Credits)
An advanced appreciation of historical, theoretical, societal and technological paradigms governing Interior Architecture forms the core learning journey of this module. Through a thematic exposure to seminal historic and contemporary spaces and ideas, you will develop your existing knowledge to further reveal your understanding of key theoretical positions and of your advanced thinking. Presented as a theoretically connected continuum of thought spanning relevant epochs, the modules content will thematically align to your wider creative learning on the programme and present you with an opportunity to apply advanced theoretic thinking to your design practice. You will advance your critical learning skills and your reflective attitude to advanced theories of interior architecture that will help you to contextualise and appraise your own design work.
More informationKA5022 -
Interior Architecture Technology 2 (Core,20 Credits)
You will increase your awareness of the social, environmental, ethical and regulatory principles and requirements of technologies within design practice and how they are applied to your building adaptation and creative reuse design projects. You will develop a critical consideration of environmental design in relation to human well-being, sustainable environments and of the broader professional, social, ecological and ethical factors informing design practice. The modules content will encourage your critical thinking and will supporting you in your identification, appraisal and selection of emergent themes relating to architectural design and practice. Analytical studies of appropriate precedents, technologies and applications will advance your contextualised knowledge and enable you to apply this knowledge to your own design process. A thematic lecture programme will explore key technologies, typologies and principles and is supporting by seminars to provide you with the opportunities to directly apply this knowledge to studio-based project work. Your communications and research skills will be advanced in order to successfully articulate and argue for the technological and environmental choices you will make within your design projects. You will be encouraged in individual and group work to carry out independent learning in order to develop a personal knowledge base applicable to both academic and future professional practice.
More informationKA5041 -
Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)
Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.
The topics you will cover on the module include:
• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
KA5044 -
Work Placement Year (Optional,120 Credits)
This module is designed for all standard full-time undergraduate programmes within the Faculty of Engineering and Environment to provide you with the option to take a one year work placement as part of your programme.
You will be able to apply and evaluate placement experience to develop and enhance appropriate areas of your knowledge and understanding, your intellectual and professional skills, and your personal value attributes, relevant to your programme of study, as well as to accreditation bodies (e.g RICS, CIOB, RIBA) within appropriate working environments. Due to its overall positive impact on employability, degree classification and graduate starting salaries, the University strongly encourages you to pursue a work placement as part of your degree programme.
This module is a Pass/Fail module so does not contribute to the classification of your degree. When taken and passed, however, the Placement Year is recognised both in your transcript as a 120 credit Work Placement Module and on your degree certificate.
Your placement period will normally be full-time and must total a minimum of 40 weeks. This may comprise more than one placement, where appropriate.
KA5045 -
Study abroad year (Optional,120 Credits)
This module is designed for all standard full-time undergraduate programmes within the Faculty of Engineering and Environment and provides you with the option to study abroad for one full year as part of your programme.
This is a 120 credit module which is available between Levels 5 and 6. You will undertake a year of study abroad at an approved partner University where you will have access to modules from your discipline, but taught in a different learning culture. This gives you the opportunity to broaden your overall experience of learning. The structure of study will be dependent on the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria).
Your study abroad year will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. It will not count towards your final degree classification but, it is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Study Abroad module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Study Abroad Year)”.
KA5046 -
Work Placement Semester (Optional,60 Credits)
This module is designed for all standard full-time undergraduate programmes within the Faculty of Engineering and Environment to provide you with the option to take a one semester work placement as part of your programme.
You will be able to apply and evaluate placement experience to develop and enhance appropriate areas of your knowledge and understanding, your intellectual and professional skills, and your personal value attributes, relevant to your programme of study, within the appropriate working environments. Due to its overall positive impact on employability, degree classification and graduate starting salaries, the University strongly encourages you to pursue a work placement as part of your degree programme.
This module is a Pass/Fail module so does not contribute to the classification of your degree. When taken and passed, however, the placement is recognised both in your transcript as a 60 credit Work Placement Module and on your degree certificate.
Your placement period will normally be full-time and must total a minimum of 20 weeks.
KA5059 -
Study Abroad Semester (Optional,60 Credits)
This module is designed for all standard full-time undergraduate programmes within the Faculty of Engineering and Environment and provides you with the option to study abroad for one semester as part of your programme.
This is a 60 credit module which is available between Levels 5 and 6. You will undertake a semester of study abroad at an approved partner University where you will have access to modules from your discipline, but taught in a different learning culture. This gives you the opportunity to broaden your overall experience of learning. The structure of study will be dependent on the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria).
Your study abroad semester will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. It will not count towards your final degree classification but, if you pass, it is recognised in your transcript as an additional 60 credits for Engineering and Environment Study Abroad Semester.
KA5041 -
Academic Language Skills for Architecture and Built Environment (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)
Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.
The topics you will cover on the module include:
• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
KA6036 -
Interior Architecture Project 3.1 (Core,40 Credits)
This module provides you with a platform for your individual analysis and interpretation of the requirements and objectives for complex design proposals within a given context. You will research relevant paradigms within an individual framework of investigation and you will appraise extant histories, narratives, spatial and environmental conditions and atmosphere within a given site to evaluate their impact on and contribution towards an individual proposal for re-use and adaptation. You will synthesise your creative knowledge, practice and theoretical motivation within interior architecture and building adaptations to self-direct and express your response to complex, site defined briefs. Project briefs will provoke responses to specific interior architectural conditions and typologies relating to place, form, interior architectural language, material, construction and, sustainability alongside a written and illustrated study of and the professional context within which your design ideas are framed. You will articulate fluent 2D and 3D communication skills to realise and represent order, integrative detailing and poetic assemblage within your interior architectural propositions.
More informationKA6038 -
Interior Architecture Project 3.2 (Core,40 Credits)
Within this module you will synthesise your creative knowledge of interior architecture and building adaptation within a self-directed and expressive responses to a complex, site defined brief. You will realise a comprehensive design proposition that will develop from your individual response to context conditions, typological studies and end user needs that draws upon your research enquiry into narrative, volume, atmosphere and form. Your self-directed approach will develop rigorous responses to building adaptation with cognisance of their impact upon and contribution to the genius of place within a holistic body of work, from inception to detail and resolution. You will design with ownership of the poetic assemblage of your scheme, whilst exploring individual and imaginative methods of ideas development, communication and resolution. You will exhibit your design portfolio and personal development to a professional standard to express your knowledge and understanding to a wider audience. In addition, you will critically synthesise the broader issues of interior architectural practice, management and sustainability. Working independently and collectively, you will articulate your control of critical learning skills and a reflective attitude to the iterative process of interior architectural design.
More informationKA6039 -
Interior Architecture Theory 3 (Core,20 Credits)
A critical appreciation and evaluation of advanced theoretical paradigms that govern the making of interior environments forms the core learning journey of this module. The thematic exposure to theoretic positions and of seminal interiors and building adaptations will develop your critical knowledge to further reveal key theoretical positions and thinking. Presented as a theoretically connected continuum of thought on the interior, the lecture content will thematically align to your wider creative learning journey through an examination of the pluralist and heterogeneous landscape of influences on the interior space. Your e xisting critical learning skills will be honed to critique established theories of interior architecture and creative reuse towards an individually expressed position.
More informationKA6043 -
Interior Architecture Technology 3 (Core,20 Credits)
Within this module you will advance your comprehension, and justification through critical application, of the relationship between constructional and environmental design existent within the given context and that of the inferred interior intervention. Using your own design project work as a point of reference, you will explore the implications of constructional and environmental systems design upon your proposal; you will investigate the impact of sustainable design upon space, fabric and constructional technology; and demonstrate the integration of environmental systems within your design. The module provides you with opportunities to develop individual attitudes and critical choices towards fit out, material assemblage and integration of technologies, in relation to a studio-based design project. With cognisance of the social, ethical and environmental responsibilities of the interior architecture profession, you will critically justify, through imaginative synthesis, constructional systems and environmental design, and concerns of energy consumption and ecological impacts of adopted technologies. Structural, constructional, environmental and sustainable design criteria will be considered, allowing comparative analysis of current and possible solutions; you will consequently be required to propose solutions for your studio design project that can be rigorously justified in their application to factors such as structural performance; fire strategies; accessibility; and fabrication and assembly. Similarly, environmental consideration of daylighting; acoustic performance, ventilation, heating and cooling will require your justified argument for the design choices you will make. You will critically justify the material, spatial, and technological choices made in your studio design project; and demonstrate the integration of environmental systems in retrofit, while also meeting the aesthetic and functional demands of your studio project.
More informationTo start your application, simply select the month you would like to start your course.
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