The four-year master is an investment in the future

In the spring of 2019, Aarhus School of Architecture launched a four-year master with a professional orientation (Erhvervskandidatuddannelse) in which students share their time between studying and working in an architectural practice. The first students in the new Studio 1D – Cultural Environments and Urban Transformation will soon have completed their first year of studies. And after the summer holidays, another group of students start on the four-year master. If you ask Rune Hovmøller Lauridsen, one of the first students to join the four-year master, the new students have every reason to look forward to studying on the programme.

‘I think I was the only one who turned up for the first info meeting about the four-year master. But I was hooked straight away. The first year has been out of this world. I have made an insane amount of progress, and I have really gained a lot of experience. You need to be willing to extend your education by two years – but I see it as an investment. And looking four years into the future, it will give me a smooth transition to professional employment, which I would not have had taking the direct route. And I feel I am an important part of the team here in the studio. They give me responsibilities and tasks because they know that I am here for four years’, Says Rune Hovmøller Lauridsen, who is employed by the landscape design studio ByMUNCH in Aarhus.

The programme is organised in such a way that you are at the School for two blocks of 10 weeks of full-time studies every academic year. The rest of the time you spend at the workplace. And this mix of studying and working suits Rune Hovmøller Lauridsen.

‘The beauty of the four-year master is that you still have time to immerse yourself at the School – but you also have the real architectural world with deadlines, where you learn to be more realistic and precise to avoid wasting time. This combination has given me a much clearer language of form, which means I rarely have to spend as many attempts doing something as in the past’, says Rune Hovmøller Lauridsen, who went straight from his bachelor to the four-year master.

The master contributes value

In the design studio ByMUNCH the student’s four-year affiliation with the practice was decisive when owner Anita Munch Jensen chose to hire a student on the four-year master.

‘We are used to having a mix of trainees and permanent employees in the practice. The trainees bring fresh blood and new life to the firm, but from the company’s perspective, three to six months is a very short time. When we have just introduced them to how we do things, they have to go back to school. That’s why having Rune in the company has been such a great experience – we know we have him for four years. Employing students on the four-year master for an extended period of time is of great value to us,’ she says. She goes on:

‘Employing a student on the four-year master contributes many good things to the practice in terms of diversity in age and inspiration. The alternation between working and studying at the School is really beneficial to both parties. It helps Rune achieve a broader knowledge, which we, in the practice, then also benefit from. When you have completed your four-year master you have a stronger position than if you are ‘just’ a new graduate. You have broad knowledge and a good mix of the practical and the more creative. I am sure Rune will not find entering the labour market difficult, for he knows what it means to work in a design studio’.

The landscape design studio ByMUNCH exclusively works with outdoor areas. And the projects range from very large planning projects to projects on a smaller scale, such as designing outdoor furniture.

‘Since I started working here, I’ve been involved in six different projects, so I get my hands on more projects than would be the case at the School. It is immensely satisfying to see something you have drawn actually being created. Being able to see the things that you have made become reality makes me want to be even better at what I do’, says Rune Hovmøller Lauridsen.

A broad scope

Emma Valnæs Holck works in the design studio Karlsson Arkitekter, in Copenhagen. Like Rune Hovmøller Lauridsen she was one of the first students on the four-year master. Unlike Rune, who went straight from bachelor to master, Emma Valnæs Holck had been working for Karlsson Arkitekter for two years during a break from her studies.

‘I have fallen for the practical aspects of the discipline. When I started working with architecture in practice, I felt that I was the right person in the right place. It would have been extremely difficult for me to go back to the very intense project courses at the School, which is why I saw a good opportunity in combining my studies with working in the practice’, explains Emma Valnæs Holck, who is very pleased with the first academic year of the four-year master.

‘A semester divided into parts in between which I have been back at the workplace has been really good for me. I have been able to feel how I developed – in the periods in the design studio I have had time and opportunities to reflect on what I learnt during the periods at school,’ she says.

Karlsson Arkitekter is a relatively small studio that works with psychiatric hospitals and residences for people suffering from dementia. This means Emma Valnæs Holck does not from day to day work with that many of the professional areas on which Studio 1D focuses. Studio 1D centres on the development of cultural environments and urban transformation.

‘In the design studio I don’t work with large scale projects, but I don’t mind. Although there is not much of a connection between the academic aspects at school and my work in the practice, that doesn’t mean what I learn at school is not relevant. The combination of courses at school and work in the practice also allows me to find out what I am most interested in doing in the future – while giving me a very broad approach to the discipline’, says Emma Valnæs Holck, who has no qualms about extending her master with two years.

‘We are in a profession where finding a job can sometimes be difficult – for recent graduates – so why rush to finish your education? With the four-year master you graduate with four years’ professional experience on your CV and a huge amount of practical knowledge. Which makes me think you are in a really good position in terms of looking for jobs. ‘

The next group of students on the programme start after the summer holidays. To be admitted to the four-year master, students must have an average of at least 25 hours of educationally relevant employment per week over a year. It is up to the individual students to find relevant employment. And students on the new four-year master are not eligible for state educational grants (SU).

More information about the four-year master