Research at msa / MARC
The Manchester Architecture Research Centre
The Manchester Architectural Research Centre (MARC), located within the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester, draws upon a wide range of interdisciplinary research and teaching interests within the School, the Faculty of Humanities, the University and the Faculty of Art and Design at the neighbouring Manchester Metropolitan University (through the joint Manchester School of Architecture).
MARC and MSA provide a stimulating intellectual environment for research derived from its previously separate schools within the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester and the Faculty of Art and Design at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Our staff possess a unique and broad range of interests and expertise across theory and design, policy and practice. Research students have their own rooms and facilities located physically at the heart of the School and are centrally involved in all scholarly activities.
Research entails a degree of maturity and self-determination and direction over and above that needed for postgraduate taught courses. This is not to say that research within the School is either undirected or of a solitary nature. Students participate in our graduate studies programme and benefit from involvement in research activities of the newly established Graduate School of Architecture.
MARC's research aims to critically understand the co-evolution of design and development strategies and socio-economic processes shaping architecture and cities. Our approach involves: the development and application of an interdisciplinary approach to researching architecture and its links to urban development, understanding technological innovation and urban change; analysing and integrating previously disconnected research fields - architecture and urban planning, the property sector, civil engineering and utilities industry, and stimulating collaborative, inter-disciplinary methodological approaches to understanding architecture and engaging with contemporary practice in a global context.
Our PhD/MPhil programme is intrinsically inter-disciplinary and is open to students with an interest in any aspect of architectural research including; sustainable urbanism, urban design and development, ecological and landscape design and the conservation and management of historic environments.
We also encourage proposals for research by design.
- Visit MARC's website.
Research Locations
- PhD/MPhil courses
- Our PhD/MPhil programme is intrinsically inter-disciplinary and is open to students with an interest in any aspect of architectural research.
- MARC
- The Manchester Architectural Research Centre, with research activity in interdisciplinary fields concerning architecture and the city.
- MIRIAD’s City lab
- A cross-disciplinary group looking at design and urbanism.