Master of Architecture I and Master of Urban Design Dual Degree

Overview

The dual Master of Architecture I and Master of Urban Design degree is a 123 credit program (102 cr + 21 cr). The dual Master of Architecture I AP and Master of Urban Design degree is a 81 credit program (60 cr + 21 cr).

The first year of the program is an intensive introduction to the tools, conventions and agendas central to the discipline of architecture. The first two studios balance an exploration of form and function that will define the future of the profession, with a deep commitment to learning from architecture's past and present. The following summer, students participate in the Great Cities Design Studio. The Great Cities Design Studio uses design-based critical inquiry to address issues of site-specific design and infrastructure. This immersive travel-based studio provides ample opportunities for extensive student analysis and observation. Students will discover the layers of the City, combining archaeology and anthropology with architecture and history. Coursework emphasizes a critical assessment of the given site relative to questions of program, infrastructure, and cultural changes. 

During the second year, studios focus on the complex interrelationship of architectural problems across scales, from building details to global ecologies. Through design-based critical inquiry, students engage the many mandates of architectural design, including resilience, program, form, structural and environmental systems, building envelope, and urban context. The realities of the architectural profession are a consistent presence throughout the year, with practicing professionals incorporated into the studio context, and an emphasis on proficiency in technical documentation. 

Beyond the Core Studios, students are able to develop individual focuses, including computation and digital technologies, design-build, building construction, sustainability and resilience, urban design, historic preservation, adaptive-reuse, healthcare, or hospitality. Students direct this trajectory to match their own interests and career ambitions, allowing them to earn certificates in a professional concentration. This development is supported by a range of Upper Level Design Studios that reflect the diversity of faculty interests and experience, including those of internationally-recognized visiting scholars and fellows. The School is also home to innovative research units, including RAD-UM, Littoral Urbanism Lab, Community, Housing & Identity Lab, Center for Urban and Community Design and O Lab.

In their final year, graduate M.Arch students can opt to take an additional Upper Level Design Studio or pursue an Architecture Design Degree Project. The Architecture Design Degree Project takes one of three forms: 1) an individual design thesis on a topic selected and developed by the student through rigorous research, or 2) a directed design research group or 3) a Vertical Studio. Individual thesis is an opportunity for each student, working with a faculty advisor, to define an individual position with regard to the discipline of Architecture. In contrast, design research groups are led by faculty, and address relevant architectural questions through the lens of the faculty's areas of expertise. 

The M.Arch degree can also be combined efficiently with on-site post-professional degree programs, such as the Master of Urban Design and the Master of Real Estate Development and Urbanism.

Master of Architecture I AP (2-year advanced placement track)

The Master of Architecture I AP is a 2-year (4-semester program) for students holding a pre-professional degree in architecture or a closely-related field. This STEM-designated professional degree program provides an advanced platform for students to engage contemporary challenges and address a variety of social, cultural, technological and programmatic contexts.

This M.Arch I AP program allows students to advance their undergraduate education by engaging more complex challenges, honing their skills in essential areas, and by developing individual focus areas, for instance in advanced technology, design-build, and building construction, sustainability and resilience, urban design, historic preservation and adaptive-use, healthcare, or hospitality. Students direct their trajectory following their interests, develop areas of professional concentration through certificates, and engage in critical research.

Beyond the Core Studios, students are able to develop individual focuses, including computation and digital technologies, design-build, building construction, sustainability and resilience, urban design, historic preservation, adaptive-reuse, healthcare, or hospitality. Students direct this trajectory to match their own interests and career ambitions, allowing them to earn certificates in a professional concentration. This development is supported by a range of Upper Level Design Studios that reflect the diversity of faculty interests and experience, including those of internationally-recognized visiting scholars and fellows. The School is also home to innovative research units, including RAD-UM, Littoral Urbanism Lab, Community, Housing & Identity Lab, Center for Urban and Community Design and O Lab.

In their final year, graduate M.Arch students can opt to take an additional Upper Level Design Studio or pursue an Architecture Design Degree Project. The Architecture Design Degree Project takes one of three forms: 1) an individual design thesis on a topic selected and developed by the student through rigorous research, or 2) a directed design research group or 3) a Vertical Studio. Individual thesis is an opportunity for each student, working with a faculty advisor, to define an individual position with regard to the discipline of Architecture. In contrast, design research groups are led by faculty, and address relevant architectural questions through the lens of the faculty's areas of expertise. 

The M.Arch degree can also be combined efficiently with on-site post-professional degree programs, such as the Master of Urban Design or the Master of Real Estate Development and Urbanism.

Certificates

Graduate students increasingly look to areas of concentration that can provide skill and knowledge bases for professional applications. Historic Preservation, Classical and Traditional Design, Design for Health and Wellbeing, Sustainable and Resilient Design, Hospitality Design, Construction Management, Urban Design, and Real Estate Development prove to be rapidly growing areas of professional specialization as they engage critical areas of investigation in contemporary architecture. The certificate programs address both the intellectual and academic needs of the School of Architecture, and the desire of the School to use its current curriculum as a platform to engage these specialized areas further.

Certificates require 12-15 credits of one certificate-related studio (6 cr) and related architecture electives (9 cr).