Maria, an HKU student in her last year of the MArch program, talks to us about her applications to architecture school. She runs us through the portfolio she used to apply, which was also accepted at the Royal College of Art for their MA, and the University of Cambridge for their MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design. Maria applied from the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL where she completed her undergraduate degree in 2019.

Full transcript

My name is Maria, and I’m currently studying at the University of Hong Kong in the Master of Architecture program. I used the same portfolio to apply to several schools, including Cambridge, the Royal College of Art, and HKU. To my surprise, I was accepted to Cambridge as well, but in the end I decided to come to Hong Kong for a number of reasons that now feel distant and a bit complicated to explain.

This portfolio dates back to 2020, so it has been some time since I first put it together. I structured it into three main sections, although there are five subheadings. The three main parts are professional work completed after my undergraduate studies, academic work from university, and one additional project that I worked on separately. I also included material from the Bartlett Summer Show, which was an important component of my undergraduate experience.

The bulk of the portfolio consists of my undergraduate projects. The opening pages present an overview of selected works that best represent my abilities and design thinking. From there, I included more experimental and developmental projects to show range and process. I think it’s important to show that you can draw well and convey ideas clearly through hand or digital representation, so I made sure that was visible early in the document. I ended each section with a strong drawing, section, or render to leave a lasting impression.

My third-year work at the Bartlett had more direction and resolution than my earlier projects, which tended to be more experimental and exploratory. I still included some of that earlier work to show variety, but I emphasized the final-year material because it demonstrated maturity and conceptual depth.

I also included documentation from the Bartlett Summer Show. At UCL, the Summer Show is an annual exhibition of student work presented by each design unit. Every unit is given a designated space to curate and construct an exhibition that represents their collective projects. It’s primarily focused on the final projects of the year, though it sometimes includes smaller exercises.

In my second year, our unit was given a prime spot on the ground floor, and we designed an immersive installation to occupy it. In third year, our exhibition space was a long stretch of wall across a corner, which required a different approach. One of my classmates, Basil, designed a shelving system for displaying the work, and I handled the CNC fabrication for the fins that structured the display. The photos of the final installation weren’t mine, so I made sure to credit the photographers and those who contributed to the design. I also included teacher and student acknowledgments where possible.

Finally, I ended the portfolio with a smaller project that didn’t directly relate to the others but was personally meaningful. It was an installation piece I created in the summer after my first year. It was a more hands-on, physical project, and I wanted to include it to demonstrate versatility and an interest in material exploration. Although I didn’t have many photos from that time, I felt it added to my character in the portfolio by showing an earlier interest in design.

Overall, the portfolio was designed to balance clarity, range, and craftsmanship. I wanted it to communicate not just the final outcomes of projects but also the processes and contexts behind them. Looking back, I can see how my later work developed more focus and coherence, but the inclusion of early and experimental pieces helped convey a sense of progression and curiosity.