The AA is an independent London school of architecture in Bedford Square, famous for experimental teaching and an unusual way of electing its own director.
The Architectural Association School of Architecture, known as the AA, is an independent school of architecture in central London. It is not part of a university and does not take part in the UCAS system or university rankings. Undergraduate students study for the AA Diploma, which carries RIBA and ARB Part 2 recognition, and the school also offers postgraduate programmes such as Landscape Urbanism, Housing and Urbanism, Sustainable Environmental Design, Histories and Theories, Emergent Technologies, Design Research Lab and Design + Make. In 2023 it had 562 undergraduate and 361 postgraduate students, according to Wikipedia.
The AA was founded in 1847 as an alternative to learning architecture through apprenticeship, and Robert Kerr was its first president. It has been in Bedford Square since 1917. It also has premises on nearby streets and a 350-acre woodland site at Hooke Park in Dorset where students design and build. The school's formal establishment as a school dates from 1890, and the school marked the centenary of women's admission with a year-long programme in 2017. We found no mission statement on the pages read, so none is quoted.
The AA's character is unusual. Wikipedia reports that staff and students elect the director and a majority of the governing board. Teaching staff come from practices around the world and are reappointed every year. The director since August 2022 is Ingrid Schroder. The school hosts exhibitions, lectures and symposia, publishes the journal AA Files through AA Publications, and runs a bookshop and a print studio dating from 1971. Its alumni include David Chipperfield, and Zaha Hadid is among well-known figures linked with the school.
For people working at the AA, roles go well beyond teaching. A school like this needs admissions and student support staff, technical workshop and print staff, librarians and archivists, publishing and bookshop teams, event organisers, fundraisers and administrators. It is a small and distinctive institution, and its culture is shaped by debate, critique and experiment, as the public programme suggests. These are descriptions from public sources, not statements from staff.
If you are thinking about architecture school, the AA is one of several routes, and a very different one from a conventional university. Its courses lead to the same professional steps as other schools, but you should read the school's own admissions information for how it works. We did not read the AA's own website in detail, so check it for current courses, fees and vacancies.
Website: www.aaschool.ac.uk
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