London WC1B 3ES
UK
Applications are open for 2027–28.
Virtual open event: November 5, 10–11am GMT and 5–6pm GMT, register here.
Round One deadline: January 22, 11:59pm GMT (apply by this date to be eligible to be considered for a bursary)
Round Two deadline: March 5, 11:59pm GMT
Applications are now open for 2027 entry to the Conservation and Reuse (MA/PG Dip) programme at the Architectural Association (AA), which focuses on working with existing buildings, landscapes and environments. The programme aims to reconcile ideas about planetary boundaries, modernity, technology and history with contemporary spatial and material practice. The first cohort of Conservation and Reuse students completed their studies in September 2026, with projects that speculate about the future of sites from a disused coal-fired power station to a precious estuarine landscape, and from a palazzo in Puglia to a run-down Hawksmoor church in East London.
The programme is organised around seminars and visits, trips and workshops. London is a good place to see a range of different kinds of practice – some conventional, some radical and campaigning. One day we will be in Bedford Square debating the laws that protect buildings in a war zone, the next we will be in a reuse depot understanding how materials are mined from urban sites. Each seminar is led by an expert in the field resulting in a diverse set of voices and approaches.
All students produce a series of enquiries where they research topics of interest and articulate their own ethical position through writing, drawing and making. The programme supports students to project their own voice and provides practical help with academic skills. We also spend time at Hooke Park, the AA’s forest campus in Dorset, where we take a different approach to learning, encouraging students to get hands-on in the workshop and on site. The year culminates in the production of a design thesis, in a situation that the student chooses, and which can take different forms – a dissertation, a live project, a film, or a portfolio.
Conservation and Reuse looks beyond artefacts to include wider material practice and is concerned with both tangible and intangible culture. The bringing together of conservation and reuse in one programme is unusual and reflects a belief that recombining these two areas of concern is productive and mutually supportive. Reusers have something to learn from the debates about value and the practical skills that underpin contemporary conservation, while conservationists can gain from exposure to the creative processes, imaginative improvisations, and carbon awareness that characterise reuse.
Pathways
The programme welcomes students from a range of professional or academic backgrounds – architects, historians, archaeologists, artists and engineers – as well as those with multidisciplinary experience and practical knowledge. We also support applications from mature students who want to specialise and grow their practice. To make the course as accessible as possible, there are four pathways – full-time MA (12 months), part-time MA (24 months), full-time PGDip (9 months) and part-time PGDip (21 months). Short courses are also available via the AA visiting school, apply here.
Careers
The graduating cohort have gone on to a range of careers including designing the reuse of highways in car-free neighbourhoods, practising as a conservation architect, working in environmental education and policy, and installing and conserving art. The aim is to ignite passions and foster skills that allow graduates to thrive in a variety of settings, using what they have learnt to navigate the urgent challenges that face us today.
