The PhD Programme at the Architectural Association is a full-time, three-year course that aims to train scholars and researchers in the fields of architectural history and theory, urban studies and technology.

The ambition of the programme is to learn from architectural knowledge and its history in order to understand the built environment at large. As Walter Benjamin noted, the great advantage of architectural knowledge is that it constitutes the possibility of pursuing a material history of the world. Architectural knowledge is here understood not as a static set of principles, but rather as an ever-changing conceptual and practical apparatus that manifests itself in concrete objects and spaces.

The programme encourages risky, rigorous and speculative dissertations that ultimately question architecture itself and its history, as well as its professional and disciplinary mandate. Parallel to the development of their individual theses, candidates are provided with a background of intense historical and theoretical thinking through weekly discussions with their Director of Studies and supervisor, monthly seminars with guest scholars and a yearly symposium that gathers invited guests and current candidates in a collective discussion.