Cinematic Architecture

Overview

This is a personalised certificate programme for engaged students who would like to make the most of their time at Queen’s. The work produced throughout the year will be a collaborative effort between you, your year group, our award-winning academics and practicing architects. This two-semester course encourages you to work both within and beyond the realm of creative practices that you are experienced in. We would like you to push the boundaries of your imagination and the limits of creative media, while working with other architects, filmmakers, designers, and artists.



You will work in two practice-based studio modules, one in each semester, questioning norms through research, analysis, and design. You will be able to use the CineArch studio to experiment with new ideas, technologies and media, and as a gateway to your future career goals.



The course encourages lateral thinking, problem solving, creativity and engagement with design through a self-critical process. It will address issues as diverse as our survival on the planet and alternative ways of thinking about what innovative design practices can be and do.



The PgCert Cinematic Architecture course provides a scaffold for our students to develop their own personal position within the broad culture of design, and in doing so, contribute to the ongoing debate that shapes creative industries and our world. Our concerns range from the role of art, design and architecture in communities, environmental, social, and economic sustainability, humanitarian architecture for all, tangible and intangible qualities of space to the mapping and analysis of urban, territorial and global conditions. In all this, media including filmmaking, modelmaking, sketching, and drawing play a crucial role as does developing a self-critical understanding of how each individual works as a designer.



The PgCert CineArch is a studio-based programme, underscoring design and design processes as the core concerns, challenging students to be experimental both in their design methodologies/analyses and their design proposals. The one-year programme comprises of two semesters. The staff cohort is composed of a diverse spectrum of esteemed practitioners and innovative academics supported by external consultants beyond Queen’s, providing a further dimension to a rich learning environment. In this context, the students are encouraged to push the limits of their profession as well as their personal capabilities.

Semester 1: CineArch Studio 1 (30 cats)

Semester 2: CineArch Studio 2 (30 cats)



Modules

The modules listed below are compulsory. Field trips -within pandemic regulations- will enrich the programme; last year, we have spent a week in Berlin, Germany, and two days in Liverpool, UK. Students are also encouraged to incorporate other Queen’s modules (languages, history, introduction to film studies, etc.) as long as timetables allow.



CineArch Studio 1 (30 CATS), Semester 1/12 weeks

CineArch Studio 2 (30 CATS), Semester 2/12 weeks

Graduate

1. Normally a 2.2 Honours degree or above in a creative discipline, including Film Studies, Animation, Design (Product Design, Stage Design, Graphic Design, etc.), Architecture, Interior Architecture, and the Arts (Visual Arts, Fine Arts, Creative Arts, Digital Arts, etc.). Applicants with entry qualifications other than 2.2 Honours will be considered on an individual basis based on their portfolio.



2. A creative background evidenced by a (Art, Design, Film, Architecture, etc.) digital portfolio or equivalent. A video explaining why the candidate would like to do the course (maximum three minutes) may also be submitted to support the application. (The submission of the video is optional.)



The University's Recognition of Prior Learning Policy provides guidance on the assessment of experiential learning (RPEL). Please visit the link below for more information.

http://go.qub.ac.uk/RPLpolicyQUB

Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible and ideally no later than 30th June 2025 for courses which commence in late September. In the event that any programme receives a high number of applications, the University reserves the right to close the application portal prior to the deadline stated on course finder. Notifications to this effect will appear on the application portal against the programme application page.

1 year full-time.

Entry Year: 2025/26

Career Prospects

By completing the programme, you will graduate with a PgCert Cinematic Architecture degree within a year from a Russell Group university in the UK. The certificate is ideal for postgraduate students who are interested in the creative industries such as set design, production design, game design, exhibition design, interior design, and architectural design. If you would like to push the boundaries of your education and think outside-the-box, CineArch is for you.