Timber Technology - MSc

Our Timber Technology MSc will allow you to develop your skills as a timber design professional within a rapidly expanding sustainable agenda for the built environment.

You'll be taught at our internationally renowned art, architecture and design school, The Cass, offering you the unique opportunity to study timber technology in central London. Our exceptional location means you'll be close to internationally significant architects, timber engineers, timber building contractors and engineered timber suppliers, many of which have headquarters in the City.

You will graduate with a holistic understanding of wood, from its micro to its macro scale properties, giving you the confidence and skills to design with dimensional and engineered timber across multiple building scales.

More about this course

Graduates of timber technology related degrees are highly sought-after for their combination of specialist design skills, understanding of characteristic properties of timber, and knowledge of industrial processing of timber buildings as key contributors to a net zero-carbon economy.

As well as developing a vast range of expertise in timber technology, you will also learn about adjacent disciplines including sustainable forestry practice and the timber construction industry. This will help you ensure that your own technical architectural designs align with the latest construction practices and efficiencies associated with design for manufacture and assembly.

Our architecture teaching team is comprised of specialists in the field of timber design, with a collective teaching experience in this area of more than 60 years. They have established a broad range of industry links with timber suppliers, forestry specialists, timber scientists, timber manufacturers, timber engineers and the Timber Trade Journey, through which they have published numerous articles.

Our lecturers have also developed a partnership with Mudchute park and farm, which, for the past four years, has provided a venue for the structural assembly and testing of timber structures.

Assessment

You will be assessed through a sequence of formative and summative submissions of written coursework including a technical report, construction diary, design report, costing report and design thesis/innovation design project including physical prototype(s) at 1:2 or 1:1 scale.

After the course

The course is intended to foster close links through organisations throughout the timber supply chain including forestry, architecture and construction companies. Job opportunities across these fields include:

Architectural designer
Timber technologist / architectural technologist
Product development engineer / product designer
Production manager
Construction manager.