Cambridge Architecture interview questions

Architecture interviews at Oxford and Cambridge

Architecture interview questions to practise

Say your first thoughts out loud or type them, then compare with how a strong answer goes. These questions are our own, written in the style tutors use.

1. Question 1

   Why are so many large medieval churches and cathedrals tall and narrow, while many modern supermarkets are low and wide?

   What it shows a tutor: Linking form to structure, materials, use and meaning.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. Start with materials. Stone is strong when squeezed but weak when stretched, so it is hard to span a wide space in stone. Builders went up rather than across.
   2. Height also had meaning: drawing the eye upward, making a building visible across a town, showing wealth and faith.
   3. A supermarket needs a large, flexible floor with few columns for shelves and trolleys. Steel trusses can span wide spaces cheaply.
   4. Land and cost differ too: on cheap land at the edge of town, building wide and low is cheaper than building up, and customers arrive by car.
   5. So each form comes from what was possible and what was wanted at the time. A good answer gives both.

   A tutor might then ask: If you were designing a new place of worship today, would you make it tall? Why?

   The usual wrong turn: Talking only about style. Structure and use usually explain more.

2. Question 2

   Choose a building or space you pass often. What works about it, and what would you change?

   What it shows a tutor: Looking closely at the built environment and explaining your judgement.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. Pick something ordinary you know well, such as a school entrance, a bus station or a high street. Interviewers value close observation of everyday places.
   2. Describe how people use it: where they gather, where they pass straight through, and what they avoid. Use specific details, such as where the light falls or where people queue.
   3. Say what works and why: a canopy that keeps people dry where they wait, or a wide doorway that lets crowds pass.
   4. Then one change, explained: move the entrance to face the route most people arrive by, or add seating where people already wait.
   5. Finish with a cost or trade-off of the change. Showing you know a design decision has consequences is the point.

   A tutor might then ask: How would you find out whether the people who use the space agree with you?

   The usual wrong turn: Choosing a famous building you have only seen in photographs. Talk about a place you have actually used.

3. Question 3

   Should a new building in a historic town copy the style of the old buildings around it?

   What it shows a tutor: Holding a reasoned position on context, imitation and change.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. One view: copying keeps a place's character and avoids jarring contrasts.
   2. The objection: copies can look thin, using cheap versions of old details, and they can make it hard to tell old from new.
   3. A middle path is to respect the context without copying it: matching the height, the line of the street, the rhythm of windows or the local materials, while being clearly of its own time.
   4. Historic towns themselves were built over centuries in many styles, so a mix is part of their character.
   5. My view: I lean towards responding to the setting rather than imitating it, though I can see the case for matching in a very uniform street. Then I would give an example of a building that does this well or badly.

   A tutor might then ask: Who should decide what fits: planners, architects or the people who live there?

   The usual wrong turn: Treating it as old versus modern. The interesting answer is about how a building relates to what is around it.

4. Question 4

   Two rooms have exactly the same floor area. One feels calm and spacious and the other feels cramped. What might make the difference?

   What it shows a tutor: Noticing the qualities of space that drawings do not show.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. Ceiling height changes the volume of air and how the room feels, even with the same floor area.
   2. Light: large windows, light from more than one side, or daylight from above make a room feel larger. Dark corners shrink it.
   3. Proportion and furniture: a long narrow room feels different from a square one, and clutter or furniture across the route makes a room feel smaller.
   4. Views out and colour of surfaces, and sound: a room that echoes or picks up noise from outside can feel restless.
   5. I would test the ideas by sketching two plans and sections, which is how an architect would think it through.

   A tutor might then ask: How would you make a small bedroom feel larger without moving any walls?

   The usual wrong turn: Saying only that one room is painted white. List several factors and say which matters most.

What tutors are listening for

• Thinking aloud

  Both universities say they want to hear how you work things out, not a memorised answer.

• Using a hint

  Tutors expect to help. What matters is what you do with a prompt or an objection.

• Checking

  Test your answer on a simple case, an example or a counterexample, and fix slips out loud.

More for your application

• Cambridge Architecture acceptance rate
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