phd degree in architecture

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Ph.D. in Architecture

• About Architecture
• Building Science, Technology, and Sustainability

History, Theory, and Society

The Ph.D. in architecture is a research degree appropriate for those seeking careers in teaching and scholarship in architecture and its related areas, or in roles in government or professional consultation that require depth in specialization and experience in research.

The Program

Berkeley’s Ph.D. program in architecture is interdisciplinary in outlook, reaching into the various disciplines related to architecture and incorporating substantial knowledge from outside fields. Students admitted to this program carry out a program of advanced study and research, both on the basis of formal class work and of individual investigation. Work centers on three related fields of study, the major field (the basis for the dissertation), and one-to-two minor fields, at least one of which must be from a discipline outside architecture.

Fields of Study

The Ph.D. degree emphasizes course work and supervised independent research in one of the following areas of study:

• Building Science, Technology and Sustainability (BSTS)
• History, Theory and Society (HTS)

Major fields outside these fields or combinations thereof may also be proposed at the time of admission.

Course work is individually developed through consultation with an academic adviser. Outside fields of study may take advantage of the University’s varied resources. Recent graduates have completed outside fields in anthropology, art history, business administration, city and regional planning, computer science, various engineering fields, psychology, women’s studies, geography and sociology.

The following are members of the Ph.D faculty, broken into one of two offered areas of study. Please also review the current list of all faculty in the Architecture Department for other faculty and specialities. A sampling of faculty research is described on the faculty research projects page.

Building Science, Technology and Sustainability

Requirements

The Ph.D. program in architecture is governed by the regulations of the University Graduate Division and administered by the departmental Ph.D. committee. Specific degree requirements include:

• A minimum of two years in residence.
• Completion of a one-semester course in research methods.
• Satisfaction of a foreign language requirement for those in the History, Theory and Society.
• Completion of one-to-two outside fields of study.
• A written qualifying examination, followed by an oral qualifying examination.
• A dissertation.

Course requirements for the degree include:

• 2023-2024 BSTS Ph.D. Handbook [PDF]
• 2023-2024 HTS Ph.D. Handbook [PDF]
• 2022-2023 BSTS Ph.D. Handbook [PDF]
• 2022-2023 HTS Ph.D. Handbook [PDF]
• 2021-2022 BSTS Ph.D. Handbook [PDF]
• 2021-2022 HTS Ph.D. Handbook [PDF]

Ph.D. Alumni List

• Ph.D. Alumni — Building Science, Technology and Sustainability
• Ph.D. Alumni — History, Theory, and Society

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Introduction

Past dissertations, forms and resources.

The doctoral program in Architecture currently offers two tracks of study: History and Theory of Architecture, and Ecosystems in Architectural Sciences. Both tracks aim to educate teachers capable of effectively instructing future architects in their own field and its manifold connections with the culture at large. The program forges a unique combination of professional knowledge with a historical and analytical grasp of architecture, deepening awareness of the field’s current state and the critical issues it faces.

The History and Theory track provides sound training in historical study and historiography, and cultivates understanding of intellectual trends that inform the reception and role of architecture in the world at large. It prepares candidates for careers in university teaching, cultural advocacy and administration, museum curatorship, and publishing, among others. Students draw on a wide range of disciplines including, but not limited to, the history of science and technology, social and political history, media theory, as well as the fine arts, literature, and popular culture.

The Ecosystems in Architectural Sciences track provides preparation in interdisciplinary scientific inquiry, qualifying students to incorporate scientific methods into experimental design frameworks in order to research and develop novel material and informational ecosystems. Students in this track engage in research related to the behaviors of living ecosystems, emphasizing their interconnection with the built environment.

Joan Ockman, Director of Doctoral Studies

Ateya Khorakiwala Granularities: Concrete and the “Gray Architecture” of Grain Storage in 1960s and 70s India

Albena yaneva the craft of architectural archiving, eeva-liisa pelkonen in conversation with nicola suthor untimely moderns: how 20th century architecture reimagined the past, current candidates and students, publications by current and graduated phd students.

Echo’s Chambers: Architecture and the Idea of Acoustic Space

University of pittsburgh press.

Avant-Garde as Method: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920-1930

Babel’s Present

Standpunkte dokumente.

Perspecta 46

Aaron tobey and jia weng win 2023 carter manny awards for writing and research, cea phd student phoebe mankiewicz wins lafargeholcim award for indoor plant module, tim altenhof (ph.d. ‘18) wins theron rockwell field prize for his dissertation “breathing space: the architecture of pneumatic beings”, david turturo.

Caryatid: Architecture and the Framing of Bodies (2022). View dissertation.

Theodossios Issaias

Architectures of the Humanitarian Front, 1915-1930: The American Red Cross and the Refugee Settlement Commission of the League of Nations (2021). View dissertation.

A Theory of Common Form in Aesthetic Perception (2019). Abstract.

Skender Luarasi

Where Do You Stop? A Critical Inquiry into Style, Geometry, and Parametricism in History (2018). Abstract.

Tim Altenhof

Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings (2018). Abstract.

Teaching Architecture to the Masses: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920-1930 (2017). Abstract

Surry Schlabs

Waiting for Architecture: John Dewey and the Limits of Modern Art (2017). Abstract.

Kyle Dugdale

Architecture After the Death of God: Uriel Birnbaum’s Der Kaiser und derArchitekt (2015). Abstract.

Joseph Clarke

The Architectural Discourse of Reverberation, 1750-1900 (2014). Abstract.

• Request to Take Course at Architecture School ((Non-YSoA Grad & Professional Students))
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Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Fellow Experience

Master’s degree, required courses, history and theory track.

551a, Ph.D. Seminar I 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, fall term.) This seminar centers on a thorough examination of fundamental ideas of historiography, centering on Rome and exploring aspects of geology, culture, mapping, site development, the establishment of institutions, and the construction of buildings across several millennia, as well as a study of literature on the urbs and its worldwide impact. Faculty

552b, Ph.D. Seminar II 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, spring term.) This seminar centers on concepts of history and their application to architecture from Jacob Burckhardt to the present and a close reading of historiographic theories, including ethnography, modernity, and the emergence of the profession of architecture in the light of present-day critique. Faculty

553a, Ph.D. Seminar III 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, fall term.) Seminar content to be announced. Faculty

554b, Ph.D. Dissertation Preparation 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, spring term.) Ph.D. tutoring in preparation for oral examinations and formulation of a thesis topic. Faculty

Required Courses, Ecosystems in Architectural Sciences Track

558a, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture I 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, fall term.)

559b, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture II 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, spring term.)

568a, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture III 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, fall term.)

569b, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture IV 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, spring term.)

History and Theory 4

Urbanism and landscape 1.

Ph.D. in Architecture

The PhD in Architecture (PhD-Arch) program at Carnegie Mellon advances interpretive, critical and contextual perspectives on the built environment and spatial design. The program offers students an interdisciplinary platform to investigate built environment cultures, practices and politics across a range of historical and geographical contexts.

Nida Rehman

Assistant Professor & PhD-Arch Track Chair

Program Overview

The PhD in Architecture (PhD-Arch) program at Carnegie Mellon advances interpretive, critical and contextual perspectives on the built environment and spatial design. Bringing together methods in history of architecture, urban studies, critical spatial practices, environmental humanities, digital humanities, environmental justice and community-oriented research, the program offers students an interdisciplinary platform to investigate built environment cultures, practices and politics across a range of historical and geographical contexts.

The intellectual foundation of the program is informed by Carnegie Mellon Architecture’s commitments to racial and spatial justice in architectural epistemology, pedagogy and practice. The program builds on and extends the foundational work in the school in the area of community-oriented urban design and research and is supported by the wide-ranging expertise and resources in the school and across the university, particularly in the arts and humanities.

Admission Information

Program Curriculum

Learn more about the PhD-Arch curriculum below.

PhD-Arch Curriculum

Program Faculty

For more information about the PhD-Arch program, please contact track chair Nida Rehman .

Erica Cochran Hameen

Assistant Professor, DEI Director & DDes Track Chair

Stefan Gruber

Associate Professor, MUD Track Chair & RCI Director

Kai Gutschow

Associate Professor & Associate Head for Design Ethics

Associate Professor

Francesca Torello

Special Faculty

Admissions Resources

Are you a current student looking for resources? Handbooks, procedures and other information can be found on the Student Resources page .

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PhD in Architecture

The Ph.D. in Architecture offers candidates opportunities to develop and deepen their education in 3 important ways:

• Enhancing research and analytical skills with rigorous methods of inquiry and synthesis;
• Acquiring advanced knowledge specific to their area(s) of inquiry through comprehensive scholarly investigations and distinguished documentation; and
• Developing the ability to communicate knowledge in a clear and eloquent manner.

To realize this goal, the faculty has made a commitment to create, along with doctoral students, a climate in which scholarship and creativity can flourish. Underlying the advanced study of architecture at KU is an ethic regarding architectural inquiry and architectural practice; one that sustains the question, “What ought we do as architects and researchers to enhance the quality of life on this planet?” Examples of inquiry at KU that exemplify this underlying question are

• Progressive models of practice embracing evidence-based design and design-build practices;
• Affordable housing with a sensitive aesthetic;
• Material investigations to create more affordable and sustainable building practices;
• Rigorous evaluations of built artifacts to inform better design practice;
• Translation of empirical findings of person-place interaction research into design guidelines; and
• Critical perspectives on human settlement patterns.

Our research is founded on an ethical position. We are not involved in research simply to generate knowledge for its own sake but rather to improve the human condition through more thoughtful built form. The overall focus is on developing understanding that may inform the critical delivery processes by which humane architecture is created.

Note : Contact your department or program for more information about the Research and Skills and Responsible Scholarship requirement for doctoral students.

This degree requires a minimum of 49 credits and is for students seeking to enhance the body of knowledge in the discipline of architecture. Because of this desire, Ph.D. students at KU are viewed as colleagues and collaborators with our faculty and as such, as valuable resources. The degree prepares students for careers in academia, consulting, practice-based research, or work in the public sector.

Concentration Areas

The Architecture, Culture, and Behavior concentration investigates the social, cultural, political, and psychological dimensions of designed environments within a broad interdisciplinary framework, using a range of qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. Within this concentration, students could inquire into a variety of research questions related to diverse types of architectural, urban, and geographical settings. Research topics may include, among others, issues related to: architectural education; housing and community designs; social justice in design; psychological aspects in designed environments ; programming and post-occupancy evaluation of designed environments; nexus between organizational culture and space; architectural and urban morphology; social aspects in sustainable design; cultural heritage preservation and management; traditional settlement studies; urban design and development; and international development and globalization.

Students are highly encouraged to pursue advanced theory and methodology courses offered in the fields of humanities and social sciences, in addition to those offered in the School of Architecture & Design in order to develop an interdisciplinary intellectual context for their research inquiries. 

The faculty members serving on the committees of our students in this area are:

• Dr. Hui Cai
• Dr. Nisha Fernando
• Dr. Farhan Karim
• Dr. Marie-Alice L’Heureux
• Dr. Mahbub Rashid
• Dr. Kapila Silva
• Prof. Kent Spreckelmeyer, D. Arch., FAIA

A list of recommended courses for our students in Architecture, Culture, & Behavior:

• ABSC 798: Conceptual Foundations of Behavior Analysis
• ABSC 831: Science of Human Behavior
• ABSC 935: Experimental Foundations of Applied Behavior Analysis
• ANTH 695: Cultural Ecology
• ANTH 732: Discourse Analysis
• ANTH 775: Seminar in Cultural Anthropology
• ANTH 783: Doing Ethnography
• ANTH 788: Symbol Systems
• ANTH 794: Material Culture
• C&T 907: Critical Pedagogies
• ELPS 777: Problems in Contemporary Educational Theory
• ELPS 831: Sociology of Education
• ELPS 871: Introduction to Qualitative Research
• ELPS 948: Research in Education Policy and Leadership
• EVRN 620: Environmental Politics and Policy
• EVRN 656: Ecosystem Ecology
• EVRN 701: Climate Change, Ecological Change, and Social Change
• EVRN 720: Topics in Environmental Studies
• GEOG 670: Cultural Ecology
• GEOG 751: Analysis of Regional Development
• GEOG 772: Problems in Political Geography
• GEOG 773: Humanistic Geography
• GIST 701: Approaches to International Studies
• GIST 702: Globalization
• HIST 898: Colloquium in Material Culture and History
• HIST 901: Research Seminar in Global History
• HWC 775: Advanced Study in the Body and Senses
• ISP 814: Decolonizing Narratives
• PHIL 622: Philosophy of Social Science
• PHIL 850: Topics in Recent Philosophy
• POLS 961: The Politics of Culturally Plural Societies
• POLS 978: Advanced Topics in International Relations Theory
• POLS 981: Global Development
• PSYC 693: Multivariate Analysis
• PSYC 790: Statistical Methods in Psychology I
• PSYC 791: Statistical Methods in Psychology II
• PSYC 818: Experimental Research Methods in Social Psychology
• PSYC 882: Theory and Method for Research of Human Environments
• PUAD 836: Introduction to Quantitative Methods
• PUAD 937: Qualitative Methods in Public Administration
• SOC 803: Issues in Contemporary Theory
• SOC 804: Sociology of Knowledge
• SOC 812: Analytic Methods in Sociology
• SOC 813: Field Methods and Participant Observation
• SOC 875: The Political Economy of Globalization
• SW 730: Human Behavior in the Social Environment
• SW 847: Grant Writing and Fundraising
• SW 979: Methods of Qualitative Inquiry
• SW 981: Advance Quantitative Research Methods
• SW 988: Mixing Methods in Social science Research
• WGSS 600: Contemporary Feminist Political Theory
• WGSS 801: Feminist Theory
• WGSS 802: Feminist Methodologies

Growing evidence has demonstrated strong links between the built environment and human health and wellness. The Health & Wellness program at the school of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas, including both the professional program and the PhD concentration, is one of the strongest programs in the nation that is dedicated to research and design education about environments for health and wellness. It is built on close collaborations between an interdisciplinary team of faculty, affiliated professionals, and several academic and research programs (including the University of Kansas Center for Sustainability, Gerontology Center at the Life Span Institute, Health Policy and Management at the School of Medicine and School of Nursing, and Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at School of Engineering).

The goal of the concentration is to use evidence-based design approaches to study the impacts of design on human health and wellness. The scope varies at multiple scales, from object, to room, to building and site, to entire communities.

This concentration provides students with the theoretical, technical and applied knowledge and skills to prepare them for academic and professional careers to promote human wellness in a variety of building types (e.g. healthcare, senior care, office, education, recreation). The curriculum focuses on developing skills in quantitative and qualitative research on health-related design. In addition, PhD students may also consider participating in the seven-month health and wellness professional internship, which is currently offered in the professional program.

Some topics that students may investigate in this program are:

• Inpatient and ambulatory healthcare facilities
• Environments for special populations
• Natural or built environments that enhance human wellness
• Environments that support healthy and productive workplaces
• Neighborhoods that improve the physical, social and cultural health of the community
• Prof. Kent Spreckelmeyer, D.Arch, Emeritus FAIA
• Frank Zilm, D.Arch, FAIA
• Dr. Herminia Machry

Recommended Health and Wellness courses include:

• ARCH 600: Evidence-based Design in Healthcare Facilities
• ARCH 731: Architecture of Health

Some other courses currently offered to health and wellness professional program may be available to PhD students:

• ARCH 807: Healthy and Sustainable Environments Internship
• ARCH 692: Documentation (in conjunction with ARCH 807)
• ARCH 808: Healthy and Sustainable Environments Capstone Studio

The Building Performance & Design Computation concentration examines the crossroads of building science (lighting, acoustics, thermal, energy conservation, air quality) and design. Studies in this area seek to advance knowledge improving building occupant well-being and environmental sustainability through optimized building design. Research may require both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, often involving both physical testing and numerical simulation of the built environment.

Courses within the department are augmented by courses offered in other university units such as engineering, psychology, planning, and computer science. 

• Dr. Dilshan Remaz Ossen 
• Dr. Francesco Carota
• Dr. Gustavo Garcia do Amaral 
• Dr. Jae Chang
• Dr. Hongyi Cai
• Dr. Hugo Sheward
• Dr. Keith Van de Riet
• Dr. Tzu-Chieh Kurt Hong
• Dr. Xiaobo Quan

A list of recommended courses for our students in Building Performance & Design Computation:

• ARCE 650: Illumination Engineering
• ARCE 660: Building Thermal Science
• ARCE 750: Daylighting
• ARCE 751: Advanced Lighting Design
• ARCE 752: Lighting Measurement and Design
• ARCE 760: Automatic Controls for Building Mechanical Systems
• ARCE 764: Advanced Thermal Analysis of Buildings
• SW 847: Grant-writing and Fundraising
• UBPL 738: Environmental Planning Techniques

The aim of History Theory and Criticism concentration is to produce cutting-edge scholarship in the field of architectural history, philosophy and theory. The courses in this concentration offers a wide ranges of topics that includes architectural historiography, discourse analysis, analytical methodology, critical survey of architectural history around the globe, and the emerging issues that set the current philosophical and disciplinary debates. Allied faculty members and research students investigates the socio, political, philosophical and material context of architecture to understand the broader shifts of the discipline and its impact on society, and vice versa over time. The main goal of this research cluster is to identify and use novel research methods in architectural history and theory to understand the relationship among changing social dynamics, evolving technology, and built environment. 

Students are highly encouraged to pursue advanced theory and methodology courses offered in the fields of humanities and social sciences, in addition to those offered in the School of Architecture, Design, and Planning, in order to develop an interdisciplinary intellectual context for their research inquiries.

A list of recommended courses for our students in History, Theory, & Criticism in Architecture

• ARCH 540: Global History of Architecture I
• ARCH 541: Global History of Architecture II
• ARCH 542: History of Architecture III
• ARCH 600: Spaces of Poverty
• ARCH 600: Postcolonial Architecture
• ARCH 600: HyperHistory: Digital technology and architectural historiography
• ARCH 600: History of American Architecture
• ARCH 600: Global Cities
• ARCH 600: Theory of Vernacular Architecture
• ARCH 630: Theory and Context of Architecture
• ARCH 665: History of Urban Design.
• UBPL 522: History of the American City I
• UBPL 722: History of the American City II
• HIST 302/303: The Historian's Craft
• HIST 303: Sin Cities
• HIST 660: Biography of a City
• HA 305/505: Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture
• HA 536: Islamic Art and Architecture in Africa
• HA 310: The Art and Architecture of Florence and Paris
• HA 311: The Art and Architecture of the British Isles
• HA 508: The Italian Renaissance Home

Program Details

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MA & PhD in Architecture

Ucla architecture and urban design offers two academic graduate degrees: the master of arts in architecture (ma) and doctor of philosophy in architecture (phd)..

The programs produce students whose scholarship aims to provoke and operate within architecture’s public, professional, and scholarly constituencies. Both programs are supported by the Standing Committee, made up of five faculty members: Michael Osman (interim program director), Cristóbal Amunátegui , Dana Cuff , Samaa Elimam , and Ayala Levin . A number of visiting faculty teach courses to expand the range of offerings.

Applications for the MA/PhD program (Fall 2024 matriculation) are completed via the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission , and are due January 6, 2024. Candidates will be notified of decisions in March 2024; admitted candidates who wish to accept the offer of matriculation must submit their Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) by April 15, 2024.

All MA and PhD students are required to enroll in a two-year colloquium focused on methods for writing, teaching, and researching in the field of architecture. The six courses that constitute the colloquium train students in the apparatus of academic scholarship. Over the two-year sequence, students produce original research projects and develop skills in long-format writing.

Research Opportunities

The intellectual life of the students in the MA and PhD programs are reinforced by the increasing number of opportunities afforded to students through specialized faculty-led research projects. These include cityLAB-UCLA and the Urban Humanities Institute .

MA in Architecture

This program prepares students to work in a variety of intellectual and programmatic milieus including historical research, cultural studies, and interdisciplinary studies with particular emphasis on connections with geography, design, art history, history of science and literary studies, as well as studio and design based research.

Beyond the core colloquium, MA students take a series of approved courses both at UCLA AUD and across campus. The MA program is a two-year degree, culminating in a thesis. The thesis is developed from a paper written by the student in their coursework and developed in consultation with the primary advisor and the standing committee. In addition to courses and individual research, students often participate in collective, project-based activities, including publications, symposia and exhibitions.

The program is distinguished by its engagement with contemporary design and historical techniques as well by the unusual balance it offers: fostering great independence and freedom in the students’ courses of study while providing fundamental training in architectural scholarship.

Recent MA Theses

• Jacqueline Meyer, “Crafting Utopia: Paolo Soleri and the Building of Arcosanti.”
• Joseph Maguid, “The Architecture of the Videogame: Architecture as the Link Between Representational and Participatory Immersion.”
• Meltem Al, “The Agency of Words and Images in the Transformation of Istanbul: The Case of Ayazma.”
• Courtney Coffman, “Addressing Architecture and Fashion: On Simulacrum, Time and Poché.”
• Joseph Ebert, “Prolegomena to a Poiesis of Architectural Phenomenology.”
• Jamie Aron, “Women Images: From the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop to the Knoll Textile Division.”
• Gustave Heully, “Moldy Assumptions.”
• Brigid McManama, “Interventions on Pacoima Wash: Repurposing Linear Infrastructure into Park Spaces.”

MA Typical Study Program

Phd in architecture.

This program prepares students to enter the academic professions, either in architectural history, architectural design, or other allied fields. PhD students are trained to teach courses in the history and theory of architecture while also engaging in studio pedagogy and curatorial work. In addition to the colloquium, PhD students take a series of approved courses both at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design and across campus. They select these courses in relation to their own research interests and in consultation with their primary advisor. The priorities for selection are breadth of knowledge and interdisciplinary experience that retains a focused area of expertise. To this end, the students identify Major and Minor Fields of study. The Minor Field is generally fulfilled by satisfactorily completing three courses given by another department and the Major Field by five courses offered by UCLA Architecture and Urban Design.

Once coursework is completed, PhD students move to the Comprehensive Exam, Qualifying Exam, and the writing of a dissertation, and final defense, if deemed appropriate by the doctoral committee. In the transition from coursework to exams, PhD students work on one paper beyond its original submission as coursework. The paper begins in the context of a departmental seminar, but often continues either in the context of an independent study, summer mentorship, or a second seminar with faculty consent. Upon the research paper’s acceptance, students begin preparing for their comprehensive exam. Before their third year, students must also satisfactorily complete three quarters of language study or its equivalent according to University standards. The particular language will be determined in consultation with the Standing Committee. The Comprehensive Exam is administered by at least two members of the Standing Committee and at most one faculty member from another Department at UCLA, also a member of the Academic Senate.

The Comprehensive Exam tests two fields: the first covers a breadth of historical knowledge—300 years at minimum—and the second focuses on in-depth knowledge of a specialization that is historically and thematically circumscribed. Students submit an abstract on each of these fields, provide a substantial bibliography, and prepare additional documentation requested by their primary advisor. These materials are submitted to the committee no less than two weeks before the exam, which occurs as early as the end of the second year. Students are encouraged to complete the Comprehensive Exam no later than the end of their third year of study.

The Comprehensive Exam itself consists of two parts: an oral component that takes place first, and then a written component. The oral component is comprised of questions posed by the committee based on the student’s submitted materials. The goal of the exam is for students to demonstrate their comprehensive knowledge of their chosen field. The written component of the exam (which may or may not be waived by the committee) consists of a written response to a choice of questions posed by the committee. The goal of this portion of the exam is for students to demonstrate their research skills, their ability to develop and substantiate an argument, and to show promise of original contribution to the field. Students have two weeks to write the exam. After the committee has read the exam, the advisor notifies the student of the committee’s decision. Upon the student’s successful completion of the Comprehensive Exam, they continue to the Qualifying Exam.

Students are expected to take the Qualifying Exam before the beginning of the fourth year. The exam focuses on a dissertation prospectus that a student develops with their primary advisor and in consultation with their PhD committee. Each student’s PhD committee consists of at least two members of the Standing Committee and one outside member from another department at the University (and a member of the Faculty Senate). Committees can also include faculty from another institution. All committees are comprised of at least three members of UCLA Academic Senate. The prospectus includes an argument with broad implications, demonstrates that the dissertation will make a contribution of knowledge and ideas to the field, demonstrates mastery of existing literature and discourses, and includes a plan and schedule for completion.

The PhD dissertation is written after the student passes the qualifying exam, at which point the student has entered PhD candidacy. The dissertation is defended around the sixth year of study. Students graduating from the program have taken posts in a wide range of universities, both in the United States and internationally.

Recent PhD Dissertations

• Marko Icev, "Building Solidarity: Architecture After Disaster and The Skopje 1963 Post-Earthquake Reconstruction." ( Read )
• Anas Alomaim, "Nation Building in Kuwait, 1961-1991."
• Tulay Atak, “Byzantine Modern: Displacements of Modernism in Istanbul.”
• Ewan Branda, “Virtual Machines: Culture, telematique, and the architecture of information at Centre Beaubourg, 1968–1977.”
• Aaron Cayer, "Design and Profit: Architectural Practice in the Age of Accumulation"
• Per-Johan Dahl, “Code Manipulation, Architecture In-Between Universal and Specific Urban Spaces.”
• Penelope Dean, “Delivery without Discipline: Architecture in the Age of Design.”
• Miriam Engler, “Gordon Cullen and the ‘Cut-and-Paste’ Urban Landscape.”
• Dora Epstein-Jones, “Architecture on the Move: Modernism and Mobility in the Postwar.”
• Sergio Figueiredo, “The Nai Effect: Museological Institutions and the Construction of Architectural Discourse.”
• Jose Gamez, “Contested Terrains: Space, Place, and Identity in Postcolonial Los Angeles.”
• Todd Gannon, “Dissipations, Accumulations, and Intermediations: Architecture, Media and the Archigrams, 1961–1974.”
• Whitney Moon, "The Architectural Happening: Diller and Scofidio, 1979-89"
• Eran Neuman, “Oblique Discourses: Claude Parent and Paul Virilio’s Oblique Function Theory and Postwar Architectural Modernity.”
• Alexander Ortenberg, “Drawing Practices: The Art and Craft of Architectural Representation.”
• Brian Sahotsky, "The Roman Construction Process: Building the Basilica of Maxentius"
• Marie Saldana, “A Procedural Reconstruction of the Urban Topography of Magnesia on The Maeander.”
• David Salomon, “One Thing or Another: The World Trade Center and the Implosion of Modernism.”
• Ari Seligmann, “Architectural Publicity in the Age of Globalization.”
• Zheng Tan, “Conditions of The Hong Kong Section: Spatial History and Regulatory Environment of Vertically Integrated Developments.”
• Jon Yoder, “Sight Design: The Immersive Visuality of John Lautner.”

A Sampling of PhD Alumni and Their Pedagogy

Iman Ansari , Assistant Professor of Architecture, the Knowlton School, Ohio State University

Tulay Atak , Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt School of Architecture

Shannon Starkey , Associate Professor of Architecture, University of San Diego

Ece Okay , Affiliate Research, Université De Pau Et Des Pays De L'adour

Zheng Tan , Department of Architecture, Tongji University

Pelin Yoncaci , Assistant Professor, Department Of Architecture, Middle East Technical University

José L.S. Gámez , Interim Dean, College of Arts + Architecture, UNC Charlotte

Eran Neuman , Professor, School of Architecture, Tel Aviv University

Marie Saldana , Assistant Professor, School of Interior Architecture, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Sergio M. Figueiredo , Assistant Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology

Rebecca Choi , Assistant Professor of Architecture History, School of Architecture, Tulane University

Will Davis , Lecturer in History, Theory and Criticism, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore

Maura Lucking , Faculty, School of Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Kyle Stover , Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Montana State University

Alex Maymind , Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Architecture, University of Minnesota

Gary Riichirō Fox , visiting faculty member at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and lecturer at USC School of Architecture

Randy Nakamura , Adjunct Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Francisco

Aaron Cayer , Assistant Professor of Architecture History, School of Architecture + Planning, University of New Mexico

Whitney Moon , Associate Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Todd Gannon , Professor of Architecture, the Knowlton School, Ohio State University

Dora Epstein Jones , Professor of Practice, School of Architecture, the University of Texas at Austin

Sarah Hearne , Assistant Professor, College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado Denver

PhD Typical Study Program

*The choice of language to fulfill this requirement must be discussed with the Ph.D. Standing Committee

Our Current PhD Cohort

AUD's cohort of PhD candidates are leaders in their fields of study, deepening their scholarship at AUD and at UCLA while sharing their knowledge with the community.

Adam Boggs is a sixth year Ph.D candidate and interdisciplinary artist, scholar, educator and Urban Humanist. His research and teaching interests include the tension between creativity and automation, craft-based epistemologies, and the social and material history of architecture at the U.S.-Mexico border. He holds a BFA in Sculpture Cum Laude from the Ohio State University, and an MFA in Visual Art from the State University of New York at Purchase College. Prior to joining the doctoral program at UCLA he participated in courses in Architecture (studio and history) at Princeton University and Cornell University. His dissertation analyzes the history of indigenous labor during the Mexican baroque period to form a comparative analysis with the 20th century Spanish revival architecture movement in Southern California and how the implementation of the style along the U.S.-Mexico border might function as a Lefebvrian “thirdspace” that disrupts binary thinking. In Spring 2024 he will teach an undergraduate seminar course at AUD on the history of architecture at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the CUTF program.

Hanyu Chen is a second-year doctoral student at UCLA AUD. Her research focuses on the intersection between (sub)urban studies, heritage conservation, and the genders of the space. Specifically, it concerns the dynamics of genders in (sub)urban areas and how these dynamics are conserved as heritage. Born and raised in China for her first 18 years, Hanyu chose the conservation of comfort stations in China as her master's thesis at the University of Southern California, where she earned her master’s degree in Heritage Conservation and officially started her journey in architecture. Her thesis discusses the fluidity and genders of comfort stations and how they survive in contemporary China’s heritage conservation policies.

Hanyu also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in AMS (Applied Mathematics and Statistics) and Art History from Stony Brook University.

Yixuan Chen

Yixuan Chen is an architectural designer and a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA. Driven by an impulse to demystify both the grand promises and trivial familiarities of architecture, her research embarks on the notion of everydayness to elucidate the power dynamics it reveals. She investigates the conflicts between these two ends and focuses on modernization across different times and places.

Prior to joining UCLA AUD, she was trained as an architect and graduated from the University of Nottingham's China Campus with a first-class honors degree. Her graduation project “Local Culture Preservation Centre,” which questioned the validity of monumental architecture in the climate crisis, was nominated for the RIBA President's Medal in 2016.

She also holds a Master of Arts degree with distinction in Architectural History from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. Her dissertation, “Shijing, on the Debris of Shijing,” explores the vanishing shijing places, or urban villages, where rural migrant workers negotiate their urban identity in Chinese cities, revealing shifting power relations. Additionally, she authored an article in Prospectives Journal titled "Architectural Authorship in ‘the Last Mile,’" advocating for a change to relational architectural authorship in response to the digital revolution in architecture.

Pritam Dey is an urban designer and second-year doctoral student at UCLA AUD. His research interest lies at the intersection of colonial urbanism, sensorial history, and somatic inquiries. His architecture thesis investigated the crematorium and temple as sensorial infrastructure, and was presented at World Architecture Congress at Seoul in 2017. Previously Dey worked in the domain of urban design, specifically informal markets, as a shaper of urbanism in Indian cities. Prior to joining the AUD doctoral program, his past research focused on investigating the role of informal and wholesale markets in shaping up urbanity in the Indian city cores and co-mentored workshops on Urbanity of Chitpur Road, Kolkata with ENSAPLV, Paris which was both exhibited at Kolkata and Paris. He also co-mentored the documentation of the retrospective landscape of Hampi with the support of ENSAPLV and French Embassy. His investigations on the slums of Dharavi title ‘The tabooed city’ was published in the McGill University GLSA Research series 2021 under the theme: the city an object or subject of law?

An urban designer and architect, Pritam Dey pursued his post graduation from School of planning and Architecture, Delhi. During his academic tenure at SPA, he was the recipient of 2018 Design Innovation Center Fellowship for Habitat design allowing him to work on the social infrastructure for less catered communities in the Sub Himalayan Villages. In 2022 He mentored a series of exhibitions on the theme of Water, Mountains and Bodies at Ahmadabad.

He was the 2022-23 Urban Humanities Initiatives Fellow at UCLA and recipient of 2023 UCLA Center for India and South Asia fellowship for his summer research.

Carrie Gammell

Carrie Gammell is a doctoral candidate working at the intersection of architectural history, property law, and political economy. Her research focuses on claims, investments, and intermediary organizations in the United States, from the Homestead Act of 1862 to the Housing Act of 1934.

Carrie is also a Senior Research Associate at cityLAB UCLA, where she studies state appropriations for California community college student housing. In the past, she contributed to Education Workforce Housing in California: Developing the 21st Century Campus, a report and companion handbook that provides a comprehensive overview of the potential for land owned by school districts to be designed and developed for teachers and other employees.

Prior to joining AUD, Carrie worked as an architectural designer in Colombia and the United States, where she built a portfolio of affordable housing, multi-family residential, and single-family residential projects as well as civic and cultural renovations and additions. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University and a Master in Design Studies (Critical Conservation) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Anirudh Gurumoorthy

Anirudh Gurumoorthy is a PhD candidate at UCLA AUD. His dissertation, tentatively titled (Un)Certain Tropics and the Architecture of Certain Commodities, 1803-1926, focuses on the spatial and environmental histories of natural history/sciences in the long-nineteenth century as it related to the political economy of empire within South Asia. He is interested in the ways the materiality of commodity extraction and production contends with how, where, and why certain ‘tropical’ animals, vegetables, and minerals are attributed with a metropolitan sense of ‘value’. Moving from the United States to Britain (and back) through various parts of the Indian Ocean world as markets for singular forms of ice, rubber, and cattle form, peak, and collapse, the dissertation ultimately aims to reveal interconnected spatial settings of knowledge, control, regulation, display, and labor where knowledge systems, technical limits, human and nonhuman action/inaction, differentiated senses of environments and value continually contend with each other to uphold the fetishes of the world market. Gurumoorthy holds a B.Arch. from R.V. College of Architecture, Bangalore, and an M.Des in the History and Philosophy of Design and Media from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Chi-Chia Hou

Chi-Chia Hou is a doctoral candidate in his sixth year at UCLA AUD. His working dissertation, “New Frontier: Architecture and Service 1893-1960,” explores his interest in architecture and wealth, changing ideas of profit and management, and social scientific discourses for measuring work and worker, self and others, and values of landed property.

His research locates moments of theorizing methodologies to manage income-generating properties in schools of agriculture, home economics, and hotel studies. The schools taught their students theories, while instilling the imminence of faithful direction of oneself, of self-as-property. The pedagogies, existing beyond the purview of Architecture, were of immense architectural consideration.

Chi-Chia Hou took a break from school in the previous academic year to learn from his daughter and has now returned to school to learn from his brilliant cohorts.

Adam Lubitz

Adam Lubitz is an urban planner, heritage conservationist, and doctoral student. His research engages the intersection of critical heritage studies and migration studies, with an emphasis on how archival information can inform reparations. His community-based research has been most recently supported by the Columbia GSAPP Incubator Prize as well as the Ziman Center for Real Estate and Leve Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA.

Prior to joining AUD, Adam worked at World Monuments Fund within their Jewish Heritage Program, and taught GIS coursework at Barnard College. His master's thesis applied field research with experimental mapping techniques in the old town of a municipality in Palestine. Adam holds MS degrees in Historic Preservation and Urban Planning from Columbia University and a BA in Urban Studies from New College of Florida.

José Monge is a PhD candidate in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design. His dissertation, titled Maritime Labor, Candles, and the Architecture of the Enlightenment (1750-1872) , focuses on the role that whale-originated illuminants, specifically spermaceti candles and oil, played in the American Enlightenment as an intellectual project and the U.S. as a country. By unravelling the tension between binaries such as intellectual and manual labor–the consumers that bought these commodities and the producers that were not able to afford them–the project understands architecture as a history of activities that moved from sea to land and land to sea, challenging assumptions about the static “nature” of architecture.

Kurt Pelzer

Kurt Pelzer is a fourth-year PhD candidate at UCLA AUD. Their research explores the relational histories, material flows, and politics of land in and beyond California in the long nineteenth century during the United States parks, public lands, and conservation movements.

Their current scholarship traces the settler possession and exhibitionary display of a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in the 1850s; an act that contested the ways Miwok peoples ancestral to California's Sierra Nevada knew and related to life and land. Their broader interests include histories of colonialism and capitalism in the Americas, environmental history, and Blackness and Indigeneity as a methodological analytic for political solidarities and possibilities.

Prior to arriving at UCLA, Pelzer worked at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the Architecture and Design Curatorial Department participating in exhibitions, programming, and collections work. Pelzer completed a Master of Advanced Architectural Design in the History, Theory, and Experiments program from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and earned their Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture from the College of Design at Iowa State University.

Shota Vashakmadze

Email Shota Vashakmadze

Shota Vashakmadze is a sixth-year PhD candidate at UCLA AUD. His dissertation traces the conjoined histories of architectural computing, environmental design, and professional practice in the late 20th century, adopting critical approaches to architecture’s technical substrates—the algorithms, softwares, and user protocols of computation—to examine their social and political dispositions. In his scholarship and pedagogy, he aims to situate forms of architectural labor within the profession’s ongoing acculturation to environmental crisis. Most recently, he has been leading the development of the interdisciplinary “Building Climates” cluster, a year-long course sequence at UCLA, and co-organizing an initiative dedicated to fostering discourse on climate change and architecture, including a two-day conference entitled “Architecture After a Green New Deal.”

His research has been supported by the Canadian Centre for Architecture and appeared in journals including Architectural Theory Review , The Avery Review, and Pidgin Magazine. He is currently completing a contribution to a collection on landscape representation and a chapter for an edited volume on architecture, labor, and political economy.

Shota holds an MArch from Princeton University and has a professional background in architecture, landscape, and software development. Before coming to UCLA, he researched methods for designing with point cloud data and wrote Bison, a software plugin for landscape modeling.

Alexa Vaughn

Alexa Vaughn (ASLA, FAAR) is a first year PhD student in Architecture + Urban Design and a Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow , from Long Beach, California. She is a Deaf landscape designer, accessibility specialist, consultant, and recent Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (2022-23). She is a visionary speaker, thought leader, prolific writer and researcher, and the author of “ DeafScape : Applying DeafSpace to Landscape,” which has been featured in numerous publications.

Her professional work is centered upon designing public landscapes with and for the Deaf and disabled communities, applying legal standards and Universal Design principles alongside lived experience and direct participation in the design process. She is an expert in designing landscapes for the Deaf community (DeafScape) and in facilitation of disabled community engagement. Prior to joining the A+UD program, Alexa worked for several landscape architecture firms over the course of six years, including OLIN and MIG, Inc.

Through a disability justice lens, her dissertation will seek to formally explore the historical exclusionary and inaccessible design of American urban landscapes and public spaces, as well as the response (activism, policy, and design) to this history through the present and speculative future. She will also actively take part in activist- and practice-based research with cityLAB and the Urban Humanities Institute .

Alexa holds both a BA in Landscape Architecture (with a minor in Conservation and Resource Studies) and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture (MLA) from the University of California, Berkeley, with specialization in accessible and inclusive design. Much of her work can be found at www.designwithdisabledpeoplenow.com and on Instagram: @DeafScape.

Yashada Wagle

Yashada Wagle is a third year PhD student in Critical Studies at UCLA AUD, and a recipient of the department's Moss Scholarship. Her research focuses on imperial environmental-legislative regimes in British colonial India in the late nineteenth century. She is interested in exploring questions around the histories of spaces of extraction and production as they network between the metropole and the colony, and their relationship with the conceptions of laboring bodies therein. Her master's thesis focused on the Indian Forest Act of 1865, and elucidated the conceptualization of the space of the ‘forest’ through the lenses of its literary, legislative, and biopolitical trajectories, highlighting how these have informed its contemporary lived materiality.

Wagle holds a Bachelor in Architecture (BArch) from the Savitribai Phule Pune University in India, and a Master in Design Studies (History and Philosophy of Design and Media) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was previously a Research Fellow at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA) in Mumbai, India.

In her spare time, Wagle enjoys illustrating and writing poetry, some of which can be found here .

Dexter Walcott

Dexter Walcott is a registered architect currently in his fifth year with the Critical Studies of Architecture program at UCLA. His research focuses on the Latrobe family and early nineteenth century builders in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. He is interested in the role of the built environment in histories of labor, capitalism, steam-power, and industry.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Joy is a fifth-year PhD student in architecture history. Her research explores geology as antiquity from early 19th – 20th century British colonial Hong Kong and China. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature with a focus in German from Middlebury College in 2017, and is a graduate of The New Normal program at Strelka Institute, Moscow in 2018. Previously, she has taught in the Department of Architecture at University of Hong Kong, as well as the Department of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

After working as a curatorial assistant at Tai Kwun Contemporary in 2019, she has continued the practice of art writing and translation, collaborating with many local Hong Kong artists as well as international curators such as Raimundas Malašauskas. In her spare time, she practices long-distance open water swimming. In 2022, she completed a 30km course at the South of Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

The MA and PhD programs welcome and accept applications from students with a diverse range of backgrounds. These programs are designed to help those interested in academic work in architecture develop those skills, so we strongly encourage that you become familiar with fundamental, celebrated works in the history and theory of architecture before entering the program.

Applicants to the academic graduate programs must hold a Bachelor’s degree, or the foreign equivalent. All new students must enter in the fall quarter. The program is full-time and does not accept part-time students.

Applications for the MA and PhD programs (Fall 2024 matriculation) will be available in Fall 2023, with application deadline of January 6, 2024; please revisit this page for updates. Accepted candidates who wish to enroll must file an online Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) by April 15, 2024.

How to Apply

Applying to the MA and PhD programs is an online process via the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission (AGA).

Completing the requirements will take some time, so we strongly recommend logging in to the AGA in advance to familiarize yourself with the site and downloading the documents and forms you will need to complete your application.

You can also download this checklist to make sure you have prepared and submitted all the relevant documents to complete your application.

Your Statement of Purpose is a critical part of your application to the MA and PhD programs. It is your opportunity to introduce yourself and tell us about your specific academic background, interests, achievements, and goals. Our selection committee use it to evaluate your aptitude for study, as well as consideration for merit-based financial support.

Your statement can be up to 1500 words in length. Below are some questions you might want to consider. You don’t need to answer every question; just focus on the elements that are most relevant to you.

• What is your purpose in applying to the MA or PhD program? Describe your area(s) of research interest, including any areas of concentration and specialization.
• What experiences have prepared you for this program? What relevant skills have you gained from these experiences? Have your experiences led to specific or tangible outcomes that would support your potential to contribute to this field (e.g. performances, publications, presentations, awards or recognitions)?
• What other information about your past experience might help the selection committee in evaluating your suitability for this program? E.g. research, employment, teaching, service, artistic or international experiences through which you have developed skills in leadership, communication, project management, teamwork, or other areas.
• Why is UCLA Architecture and Urban Design the best place for you to pursue your academic goals?
• What are your plans for your career after earning this degree?

Your Personal Statement is your opportunity to provide additional information to help the selection committee evaluate your aptitude for study. It will also be used to consider candidates for UCLA Graduate Division fellowships related to diversity. You can read more about the University of California Diversity Statement here .

Your statement can be up to 500 words in length. Below are some questions you might want to consider. You don’t need to answer every question; just focus on the elements that are most relevant to you.

• Are there educational, personal, cultural, economic, or social experiences, not described in your Statement of Purpose, that have shaped your academic journey? If so, how? Have any of these experiences provided unique perspective(s) that you would contribute to your program, field or profession?
• Describe challenge(s) or barriers that you have faced in your pursuit of higher education. What motivated you to persist, and how did you overcome them? What is the evidence of your persistence, progress or success?
• How have your life experiences and educational background informed your understanding of the barriers facing groups that are underrepresented in higher education?
• How have you been actively engaged (e.g., through participation, employment, service, teaching or other activities) in programs or activities focused on increasing participation by groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education?
• How do you intend to engage in scholarly discourse, research, teaching, creative efforts, and/or community engagement during your graduate program that have the potential to advance diversity and equal opportunity in higher education?
• How do you see yourself contributing to diversity in your profession after you complete your academic degree at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design?

A Curriculum Vitae (résumé of your academic and professional experience) is recommended but not required.

Applicants must upload a scanned copy of the official transcripts from each college or university you have attended both in the U.S. and abroad. If you are accepted into the program you will be required to submit hard copies. These can either be sent directly from each institution or hand-delivered as long as they remain in the official, signed, sealed envelopes from your college or university. As a general rule, UCLA Graduate Division sets a minimum required overall grade-point average of 3.0 (B), or the foreign equivalent.

As of this Fall 2023 cycle, the GRE is NOT required as part of your application to UCLA AUD. No preference will be given to those who choose to submit GRE scores as part of their application.

However, if you do take the GRE exam and wish to include it as part of your application: More information on this standardized exam can be found at www.ets.org/gre . In addition to uploading your GRE scores, please direct ETS to send us your official score sheets. Our ETS codes for the GRE are below:

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Institution Code: 4837 Department Code: 4401

We recommend you take the exam at least three weeks before the application deadline as it usually takes 2-3 weeks for ETS to send us the test scores.

If you have received a Bachelor’s degree in a country where the official language of instruction and primary spoken language of daily life is not English, you must submit either a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Exempt countries include Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This is a requirement that is regardless of your visa or citizenship status in the United States.

To be considered for admission to the M.Arch. program, international students must score at least a 92 on the TOEFL or a 7 on the IELTS exam. Because processing, sending, and receiving TOEFL and IELTS scores can take several weeks, international students must schedule their exam no later than October 31 in order to meet UCLA deadlines. TOEFL scores must be sent to us directly and uploaded as part of the online submission. Our ETS codes for the TOEFL are below:

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Institution Code: 4837 Department Code: 12

If your score is less than 100 on the TOEFL or 7.5 on the IELTS, you are also required to take the English as a Second Language Placement Examination (ESLPE) on arrival at UCLA. The results of this test will determine any English as a Second Language (ESL) courses you need to take in your first term of residence. These courses cannot be applied towards your minimum course requirements. As such, you should expect to have a higher course load than students not required to take ESL courses.

If you have earned a degree or completed two years of full-time college-level coursework in the following countries, your TOEFL / IELTS and ESLPE requirements will be waived: U.S., U.K., Canada (other than Quebec), Australia, and New Zealand. Please provide official transcripts to demonstrate course completion. Unfortunately, we cannot accept any other documentation to demonstrate language proficiency.

Three (3) letters of recommendation are required. These letters should be from individuals who are familiar with your academic and professional experiences and can evaluate your capacity to successfully undertake graduate studies at UCLA. If you do not have an architecture background please note that we are looking for letters that evaluate your potential as a graduate student, not necessarily your architecture experience.

Letters of recommendation must be sent electronically directly to UCLA by the recommender. When logged in, you can enter the name and email address of each of your recommenders. They will be contacted by email with a request to submit a letter on your behalf. You can track which letters have and have not been received. You can also send reminders to your recommenders to send their letters.

Writing samples should illustrate an applicant’s capacities for research, analytical writing and scholarly citation. Texts may include seminar papers, theses, and/or professional writing.

Please complete and submit the Department Supplement Form to confirm your intention to apply to the MA or PhD program.

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Phd in architecture.

The Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture is for those who wish to make significant scholarly contributions to the discipline, discourse, and research of architecture. The Program trains individuals for productive academic careers in the teaching of architecture as well as with educational institutions, research centers, cultural and governmental organizations, and professional practices engaged in research that seek to benefit from advanced scholarship and creative research.  

*The name of this course will be updated in syllabi for Fall 2024

Curriculum overview

• required and elective courses, 
• required examinations, and 
• written texts that conclude course work, examinations and which are used to present a student’s research work and acquired writing skills.

Ph.D. students must complete a minimum of 20 course units, pass a Qualifying examination, a Candidacy examination, two Language examinations, complete two Teaching Fellow requirements, and complete and defend a Dissertation.  

During the first year of course work, all Ph.D. students are required to enroll in the following courses: 

• ARCH 8110: Architectural Theory and Techniques is a course that explores the current state of architectural scholarship, with an emphasis on primary materials in architectural theory and history, and technology.  
• ARCH 8120: Architectural Research Methods explores research methods across historical, technological, and design discourse as they relate to advanced projects in the field. 
• ARCH 8130: Qualifying Research is a ‘designated elective’ whereby the student pursues a graduate course, or Independent Study in ARCH or across the university, that relates to or expands on their specific subject matter. The course that will ‘count’ for 8130 is chosen in consultation with the Chair of the Graduate Group or the student’s advisor, if already chosen.

During the second year of course work, students are required to take the following courses: 

• ARCH 8510: Field Bibliography consists of an Independent Study course with a chosen faculty member of the Graduate Group (the student’s advisor, future committee member, or approved faculty member), focused on the preparation of the student’s Field Bibliography in the context of the Candidacy Exam.
• ARCH 8520: Dissertation Proposal consists of an Independent Study course with a chosen faculty member of the Graduate Group (the student’s advisor, future committee member, or approved faculty member), focused on the completion of the student’s Dissertation Proposal, in preparation for the Candidacy Exam.

Franca Trubiano    Associate Professor of Architecture Chair, Graduate Group in Architecture [email protected]

Architecture PhD

The department offers an accredited professional Master of Architecture (MArch), a post-professional Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD), Master of Science (MS) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees.

Master of Architecture (MArch)

The Master of Architecture program is designed to provide students seeking their first accredited professional degree with a comprehensive and challenging education leading to the practice of architecture. Graduate students have the flexibility to choose a variety of paths within a two-to-three-year rigorous program, depending upon previous education and experience. The department makes no restriction as to the field of undergraduate preparation. However, the length of the required residence period, the number of required semester course units, and the specific list of required courses may vary depending upon undergraduate major, professional and other work experience, and previous graduate study, if any. The placement into the program will be decided by the Master of Architecture Committee upon reviewing the application.

Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)

STUDIO ONE is a one-year post-professional design studio intended for those who have a professional (Bachelor or Master of Architecture) degree, and who wish to continue to explore current design issues in a stimulating, rigorous, and experimental studio setting. Students who complete the program will receive a non-accredited Master of Advanced Architectural Design degree. The two-semester studio course is at the core of the program and is integrated with required seminars, lectures, and workshops in design theory, history, urbanism, digital applications, and building technology.

Master of Science (MS)

This researched-based, non-professional degree program offers the opportunity for advanced research in specialized areas within the increasingly complex subfields within architecture, preparing students for a range of careers. The degree emphasizes coursework and supervised independent research in one of the following areas of study: Building Science, Technology and Sustainability or History, Theory and Society . The undergraduate degrees of our entering M.S. students are diverse, including architecture, history, engineering, environmental sciences, or a range of other disciplines related to the built environment.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This advanced research-based degree prepares students with outstanding academic records for careers in teaching and scholarship in architecture and its related areas, or in roles in government or private companies and organizations that require specialization and experience in research. The program emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach of both depth and breadth as part of the students formal coursework and original research. The student defines their specialty (the basis for the dissertation), in one of the following areas of study: Building Science, Technology and Sustainability or History, Theory and Society .

Contact Info

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Department(s)

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January 5, 2024

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Doctoral / PhD

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Architecture, Ph.D.

Ph.D. in Architecture (+Dual Ph.D.)

TODO FIXME : DRAFT : WORK IN PROGRESS

Contemporary. transdisciplinary. rethink and redefine the architectural fields..

The doctoral program in architecture is a research-based degree concentrating on a number of areas of inquiry. Hone the degree via research clusters, program focus, or dual-title options.

Program Application Deadline

The deadline for applications for AY 2024–25 is Jan. 15, 2024.

To be assured full consideration, please review all details on program and admission requirements, and ensure that you apply by this deadline.

Earn a Ph.D. in Architecture at Penn State

Penn State’s Ph.D. in Architecture program trains individuals for independent research that will produce knowledge that is new, original, and valuable, and prepares them for independent thinking and leadership in the field. The program’s transdisciplinary nature encourages new exchanges that rethink and redefine the architectural fields. Its distinguishing quality is its broad-based research core, grounded in contemporary theory and methods.

The architecture program faculty include scholars with expertise in architectural theory, building construction and technology, cultural and environmental behavior, the design process, digital design and fabrication, housing, sustainability, landscape architecture, and urban design. Visiting scholars further enhance the program and course offerings. Doctoral candidates are encouraged to draw upon the enormous resources of other Penn State graduate programs for electives that will enrich and broaden their scholarship.

Prospective students must be prepared to articulate their area of proposed specialization and research and their intended research theme and topic. The program accepts applicants holding a post-professional master’s degree in architecture, landscape architecture, or a related field.

All applicants must hold either (1) a professionally accredited baccalaureate degree in architecture or landscape architecture from a regionally accredited U.S. institution and a master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture or related field or (2) a tertiary (postsecondary) degree that is deemed comparable to a professionally accredited bachelor’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture from a regionally accredited U.S. institution and a master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture or related field; both degrees must be from an officially recognized degree-granting institution in the country in which they operate. Alternatively, the applicant can hold (3) a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution plus a professionally accredited master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture or (4) a tertiary (postsecondary) degree that is deemed comparable to a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution plus a professionally accredited master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture; these degrees must be from officially recognized degree-granting institutions in the country in which they operate. Outstanding candidates who do not hold a professional architecture or landscape architecture degree but who satisfy all other entrance requirements may be admitted at the discretion of the program.

An overall minimum grade-point average of 3.20 for graduate and undergraduate degrees is required for admission. Exceptions to the minimum 3.20 grade-point average may be made for students with special backgrounds, abilities, and interests at the discretion of the program.

All applicants for admission to the Ph.D. degree program must submit the following:

• a completed Graduate School application and payment of the application fee
• official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
• names of three faculty members or professionals acquainted with the applicant’s academic history who can be contacted and invited to provide reference letters
• a Ph.D. Essay that (1) articulates the reasons for pursuing graduate training; (2) demonstrates that the Ph.D. program has been carefully considered and a relevant faculty member has been identified; (3) presents a clear research focus; and (4) highlights how previous education, academic background, and/or professional experience provide a foundation for pursuing graduate training in this research field
• a Curriculum Vitae

https://bulletins.psu.edu

Graduate courses carry numbers from 500 to 699 and 800 to 899. Advanced undergraduate courses numbered between 400 and 499 may be used to meet some graduate degree requirements when taken by graduate students. Courses below the 400 level may not. A graduate student may register for or audit these courses in order to make up deficiencies or to fill in gaps in previous education but not to meet requirements for an advanced degree.

Architecture (ARCH) Course List

Graduate assistantships available to students in this program and other forms of student aid are described in the Tuition & Funding section of The Graduate School’s website. Students on graduate assistantships must adhere to the course load limits set by The Graduate School.

All applicants who are accepted are considered for departmental financial aid.

Contact the Program Administrator

Nina Bumgarner

• Stuckeman School Graduate Programs Staff Assistant
• Administrative Contact, Graphic Design

[email protected]

814-865-0991

Research Clusters

The Ph.D. program offers concentrated inquiry, research, study and pedagogy in the following major areas of focus:

Culture, Society, Space (CSS) - Penn State Architecture

The Culture, Society, Space (CSS) research cluster examines how built spaces – from the artifact to the urban – affect those who interact with them and, conversely, how cultural, societal and disciplinary values shape the spaces we create.

Design Computing (DC) - Penn State Architecture

The Design Computing (DC) research cluster offers students critical knowledge and advanced skills in the use of digital technologies in architecture and related design fields, especially in the areas of visualization, generative systems, and fabrication.

Material Matters (MM) - Penn State Architecture

The Material Matters (MM) research cluster provides students with opportunities to delve into the interaction of materials and processes.

Sustainability (SUS) - Penn State Architecture

The Sustainability (SUS) research cluster investigates architecture’s potential to improve the quality of life for current and future societies around the globe, addressing issues of natural resource consumption, pollution prevention, and organizational dependencies.

Degree Options

In addition to the integrated research concentrations, the Ph.D. in Architecture degree can be further oriented to your scholarship and research. The Ph.D can be undertaken with a focus in Landscape Architecture, or as a dual-title Ph.D. in Architecture and Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society degree.

The Department of Architecture and the College of Health and Human Development offer a dual-title graduate degree program in Architecture and Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society (TREES), both at the M.S. and Ph.D. levels. The TREES program is a transdisciplinary, intercollege program at the intersection of natural resources and societal challenges, which exposes students to issues including, but not limited to global climate change; sustainable energy, food, and fiber supplies; threats to biodiversity; water pollution and availability; genetic modification; and sustainable design.

The purpose of this dual-title degree is to provide architecture graduate students with the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct architecture research in relationship to socio-environmental challenges that revolve around managing ecosystems and natural resources in ways that continue to promote human well-being.

Once admitted in the Ph.D. in Architecture degree program, a student can apply for admission to TREES. Admission process and requirements can be found here . Doctoral students must be admitted into the dual-title degree program in TREES no later than the end of the fourth semester (not counting summer semesters) of entry into the graduate major program.

The Qualifying Examination, Dissertation Committee formation, coursework selection, Comprehensive Examination, Dissertation, and Final Oral Examination (dissertation defense) must be carefully planned to satisfy the requirements of the dual-title degree in Architecture and TREES. To complete the dual-title degree, students must satisfy the minimum requirements of the Ph.D. in Architecture degree program and, in addition, the minimum requirements of the dual-title intercollege degree program .

More information

• University Policy on Dual-Title Graduate Degree Programs GCAC-208
• College of Health and Human Development TREES
• Graduate Bulletin TREES
• Graduate Bulletin Dual-Title Ph.D. in Architecture + TREES

This Ph.D. focuses on the opportunities afforded by interdisciplinary collaboration through the Stuckeman School’s Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The curriculum is highly individualized: students first must complete the requirements of the M.S. in Landscape Architecture (or equivalent); then they undertake one year of required resident coursework, after which they complete dissertation research as required.

This curriculum benefits from potential alliance with award-winning faculty University-wide. Opportunities include our Hamer Center for Community Design, the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, and E+D: Ecology plus Design, which merges ecology and design in ways that improve the ecological function of the designed world. Students may also pursue a dual-title degree Ph.D. in Architecture with a focus in Landscape Architecture + Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society (TREES).

Ph.D. Students

Students currently enrolled in the Ph.D. in Architecture program.

Dima Abu-Aridah Research Focus: Refugee camps and socio-spatial dimensions Research Clusters: Culture, Society, Space and Design Computing Academic Adviser: Rebecca Henn [email protected]

Mahsa Adib Landscape Architecture Focus Research Focus: Community engagement for green stormwater infrastructure development Research Cluster: Sustainability Academic Adviser: Hong Wu [email protected]

Sana Ahrar Research Focus: Mixed-income informal settlements in the global south Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Alexandra Staub [email protected]

Maryam Aman Research Focus: Energy-efficient building design Research Cluster: Sustainability Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Academic Advisers: Ute Poerschke and José Pinto Duarte [email protected]

Elizabeth Andrzejewski Research Focus: Konrad Wachsmann, prefabrication, building technology, automation, robotics Research Cluster: Material Matters Academic Adviser: Marcus Shaffer [email protected]

Ali Baghi Research Focus: Digital fabrication, concrete printing Research Cluster: Design Computing Academic Adviser: José Duarte [email protected]

Abhinandan Bera Landscape Architecture Focus Research Focus: Colonial urban history, urban morphology, socio-economic development, neoliberalism, globalization, urban planning Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Andy Cole [email protected]

Özgüç Bertuğ Çapunaman Research Focus: Interactive and adaptive fabrication, computational making, tool development Research Cluster: Design Computing Academic Adviser: Benay Gürsoy Personal website | [email protected]

Yuxiang Dong Research Focus: Landscape Architecture Research Cluster: Hong Wu [email protected]

Paniz Farrokhsiar Research Focus: Computational design, the role of making in the design process Research Cluster: Design Computing Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Academic Adviser: Benay Gürsoy Personal website | [email protected]

Lara Garcia Research Focus: The role of human spatial and thermal perception in extreme heat events and urban heat island effect adaptation Research Cluster: Sustainability Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Academic Advisers: Travis Flohr and Stephen Mainzer [email protected]

Amir Ghasemi Research Focus: Digital fabrication Research Cluster: Design Computing Academic Adviser: José Duarte [email protected]

Elnaz Ghasemi Research Focus: Urban energy use, carbon emissions Research Cluster: Sustainability Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari [email protected]

Keerthana Govindarazan Research Focus: Virtual reality, spatial cognition and perception, performance art Research Cluster: Design Computing Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Academic Advisers: Yasmine Abbas and José Pinto Duarte [email protected]

Ankita Karmakar Landscape Architecture Focus Research Focus: Globalization and neo-liberalization, women and culture, global feminism, right to the city, everyday city, peri-urban cultural-resilience across global south, gender equity, current practice of design, planning and policy framework Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Mallika Bose [email protected]

Tiffanie Leung Research Focus: Earthbag construction Research Cluster: Material Matters Academic Adviser: Marcus Shaffer [email protected]

Jie Li Research Focus: How to close the performance gap in sustainable buildings Research Cluster: Sustainability Academic Adviser: Lisa Iulo [email protected]

Eric Mainzer Research Focus: Virtual reality, design education, spatial cognition Research Cluster: Design Computing Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Academic Adviser: José Pinto Duarte [email protected]

Zia Mohajerzadeh Research Focus: Dynamic façade configurations for reduced energy consumption and improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality Research Cluster: Sustainability Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari [email protected]

Alale Mohseni Research Cluster: Design Computing Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing [email protected]

Mahan Motalebi Research Focus: Material aging Research Cluster: Material Matters Academic Adviser: Marcus Shaffer [email protected]

Michael Nowak Research Focus: Security in architectural space Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Ute Poerschke Personal website | [email protected]

Hanin Othman Research Focus: Monitoring indoor environment quality and controlling building façade operations using assistive robots Research Cluster: Sustainability Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari [email protected]

Houman Riazi Jorshari Research Focus: Moving images, media studies, and architectural theory Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Pep Avíles [email protected]

Krista Schneider Research Focus: Land grant university and place-based economic development Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Mallika Bose [email protected]

Nusrat Tabassum Research Focus: Additive manufacturing with concrete in extreme climatic conditions Research Cluster: Material Matters Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Academic Adviser: José Pinto Duarte [email protected]

Tasneem Tariq Research Focus: Thermal environment, urban heat island, green infrastructures, thermal comfort, sustainable cities Research Cluster: Sustainability Academic Advisers: Ute Poerschke and Lisa Domenica Iulo [email protected]

Nicolás Verdejo Bravo Research Focus: Architecture education, 20th Century authoritarianisms, politics Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Denise Costanzo [email protected]

Nan Yang Landscape Architecture Focus Research Focus: Social-spatial dimension of the garment industry in China Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space Academic Adviser: Mallika Bose [email protected]

Jingshi Zhang Research Focus: Artificial leaf-based cladding system performance evaluation Research Cluster: Sustainability Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari [email protected]

Yuhan Zhou Research Focus: Landscape Architecture Academic Adviser: Hong Wu [email protected]

Guides and Resources

• Graduate Handbook in Architecture
• The Graduate School at Penn State

Ph.D. Student Awards

• Dima Abu-Aridah: Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award
• Chowdhury Ali Imam: Distinguished Master's Thesis Award
• Sana Ahrar: https://www.psu.edu/news/gradu...
• Kimberly Cunningham: Professional Master’s Excellence Award
• Farzad Hashemi: Architectural Research Centers Consortium Dissertation Award
• Arjun Kizhakkemarakkattil Janardhanan: Distinguished Master's Thesis Award
• Dima Abu-Aridah: Graduate Student International Research Award
• Ali Ghazvinian: Alumni Association Dissertation Award , College of Arts and Architecture Sustainability Graduate Student Award
• Tasneem Tariq: Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award
• Rui Wang: Alumni Association Dissertation Award
• Elena Vazquez: Architectural Research Centers Consortium Dissertation Award
• Sana Ahrar: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, Third Place
• Özgüç Bertuğ Çapunaman: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, Third Place
• Ali Ghazvinian: College of Arts and Architecture Sustainability Teaching Fellow
• Farzad Hashemi: Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award
• Jie Li: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, Second Place
• Farzaneh Oghazian: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, First Place
• Nastaran Tebyanian: Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture Scientific Excellence Award
• Elena Vazquez: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, First Place
• Dima Abu-Aridah: Engineering for Change Research Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Sana Ahrar: Architectural Research Centers Consortium King Student Medal
• Ali Ghazvinian: Engineering for Change Research Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Naveen Kumar Muthamanickam: Thomas and June Beaver Fund Award
• Michael Nowak: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, First Place
• Elizabeth Andrzejewski: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, Third Place
• Julio Diarte: Engineering for Change Research Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Eric Mainzer: Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award
• Debora Verniz: Alumni Association Dissertation Award
• Negar Ashrafi: Thomas and June Beaver Fund Award
• Sohrab Rahimi: Alumni Association Dissertation Award
• Clarissa Ferreira: Architectural Rearch Centers Consortium Dissertation Award Honorable Mention
• Stephen Mainzer: Architectural Research Centers Consortium Dissertation Award
• Mahyar Hadighi: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, First Place
• Irem Öz: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, Third Place
• Stephen Mainzer: Alumni Association Dissertation Award
• Julio Diarte: Penn State Graduate Exhibition, First Place
• Meher Bhagia: University Graduate Fellowship
• Irem Öz: University Graduate Fellowship

Legal Statements

• Non-Discrimination
• Equal Opportunity
• Accessibility
• The Pennsylvania State University © 2024

Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture and Design Research, Architecture Track

Ph.D., based at Main Campus + WAAC

Degree Tracks within the Ph.D. in Architecture and Design Research program

There are two major tracks within the Ph.D. in Architecture and Design Research degree program, each of which has topical areas. The requirements for the tracks vary slightly, but both provide significant flexibility for each student to develop a plan of study consistent with his or her academic goals. The two tracks are Architecture and Design Research.

Architecture Track

The Architecture track within the Ph.D program in Architecture and Design Research includes research topics in Architectural Representation and Education, Architectural History and Theory, Historic Preservation, and Computing and Representation.

The Architecture track will share resources on the Blacksburg Campus and the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center in the National Capital Region (NCR). At the latter location, students can make use of the many research libraries available in the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, National Building Museum library, American Institute of Architects Library, CASVA, Smithsonian Institution, the Dumbarton Oaks Library and many privately-owned architectural archives to develop their topics in architectural representation.

Design Research Track

The Design Research track within the Ph.D. program in Architecture and Design Research primarily operates on the Blacksburg campus. Principal focus areas within the Design Research track are Building Science, Interior Design, Industrial Design, and Landscape Architecture. Other areas of study include those outlined in the  MS degree , History/Theory/Criticism, Health and Wellness Design, Social Impact Design, Biodesign, and Design Technology. Over the past fifteen years, the number of students and diversity of research activities in the Design Research track has steadily grown resulting in an internationally recognized program. Admission to the program is highly competitive with only a few admissions offered each year.

Architectural Acoustics focus

The Architectural Acoustics focus within the architecture program at Virginia Tech engages acoustics under the umbrella of design. The program encourages students to bring issues of room acoustics, speech privacy, and noise control into their design studios and into their careers, and involves students in individually-tailored rigorous research in the field.

Architectural Acoustics students are encouraged to integrate their class work with their design studio work. Academic study centers around understanding the relationship between the built world and sound, calculating and predicting acoustic performance of spaces, and executing acoustic measurements (impulse response, reverberation time, background noise, and sound transmission loss). The College’s Architectural Acoustics Laboratory houses equipment capable of taking acoustic measurements in rooms, simulating acoustic environments and analyzing the acoustic character of computer-modeled and scale-modeled rooms.

Those interested in learning more about the curriculum, discussing the body of research investigated, or speaking with students who have completed their study in architectural acoustics are encouraged to contact Prof. Michael Ermann by email or at 540.231.1225.

The faculty are seeking to admit a highly selective group of students who have master’s degrees in closely allied fields, such as Architecture, Environmental Design, Building Science, Landscape Architecture, Architecture History and Theory, Interior Design, and Industrial Design. In addition to the application requirements of the Virginia Tech Graduate School and those pertaining to all graduate programs within the School of Architecture and School of Design, applicants to the Ph.D. degree in Architecture and Design Research must submit a portfolio and a 2,500-word statement of research focus. Students are encouraged to contact members of the faculty with whom their interests and research focus area align.

Degree Requirements for the Ph.D. in Architecture and Design Research:

The Graduate School requires each Ph.D. student to complete 90 semester hours of graduate study and dissertation.

All students, regardless of area of specialization, are required to complete a sequence of specific Architecture and Design Seminars. A two-semester sequence seminar will focus primarily on epistemology and the nature of discipline and practice of architecture, viewed in the context of architecture and the allied fields. Students will also enroll in a continuing seminar course required every semester of residence. In these seminars, Ph.D. students, the School faculty involved with the graduate program, and possible guests present their own research for critical review and feedback. The Ph.D. students in the Architecture track must also pass a test of reading ability in a foreign language related to their selected topics (native languages and English do not fulfill this requirement).

In addition, all students must complete a special Research Methods course organized by area of specialization. At the approval of the student’s advisory committee, the course may be also taken in the other area of specialization or outside of the school.

Related links

Information regarding admission to Graduate Programs in Architecture

Graduate Architecture Program Policies

How to get a PhD in Architecture

Whether you’re at a crossroad in your professional career as an architect or in the middle of your BArch or MArch with some doubts on whether you want to practice architecture, pursuing a doctoral program in architecture might be an opportunity to still be involved with the world of architecture albeit not by practicing professionally. Pursuing a PhD in Architecture can easily be seen as a career shift since the point of getting a degree in architecture is to become an architect, however, there is another side to architecture that is less concerned with creating buildings and more on research, a route that can be as important and fulfilling. Nowadays, this can come in different forms of non-professional degrees, one of which is a Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture. In this article, I hope to provide some insight to those who are interested in doing research work in architecture.

A Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture is a relatively new addition to doctoral studies when put next to other fields in the humanities and sciences. At least in the United States, PhD’s in Architecture didn’t emerge until the 1970s. For example, Taubman College in Michigan , one of the first to offer a Doctor of Architecture, only started offering the degree in 1969 while Harvard did not introduce its degree until 1987. This delay shouldn’t come as a surprise since practicing architects have always been able to work in academia with a professional degree alone, leading to a discussion of whether the field of architecture even needed to have this degree. In fact, even the first generation who pursued these degrees continued to practice throughout their time in school. The PhD, however, did allow for architects and designers to more directly involve themselves in academia and have an impact there.

Ultimately, offering a non-professional degree in Architecture as high as a PhD birthed other non-professional degrees that we see today in schools. Alongside the MArch and BArch degrees, there are the MS degrees which are non-accredited degrees that provide studies on a specific research topic. For example, several schools around the United States, including USC , UPenn , and GSAPP , offer master's in historic conservation degrees that focus on historic architecture conservation research. Other concentrations include sustainable design, urban design, architectural history, and even real estate development. Although not required for accreditation, it’s a great opportunity for individuals who are passionate about a specific subject in architecture.

A prerequisite to start your PhD is to have a Master of Arts. This is typically already built into the PhD program itself and could take up to two years to complete. The Master of Arts degree is seen as a preparation for a PhD degree. Although built-in, you may still need to apply to enter the PhD degree once completed. Once you do enter, your years pursuing a PhD will depend on your chosen research. In architecture specifically, this can last between four to seven years. A second language (some institutions even require a third) is often a requirement while pursuing a PhD to be able to understand historical documents on a deeper level. The language depends on your chosen research, but typically they must fall within the modern languages.

The Application

Just like applying to your previous degrees, you’ll want to consider location since you’re expecting to be in school for several years. Most importantly, however, it’s vital to really dive into the school, the department where your PhD lies, and the faculty that is part of that department. In this level of academia within architecture, schools can define their architecture differently. Some schools don’t have a sole architecture department but rather, are integrated within another department such as arts and urban planning. Schools that do have an independent architecture department will also typically present specific tracks for studies. MIT for example has a History and Theory of Architecture track along with a History and Theory of Art. At UC Berkeley , they provide a PhD track of Building, Science, Technology, and Sustainability as a collective, also known as BSTS, and a track of History, Theory, and Society as a collective, also known as an HTS.

Furthermore, looking into faculty who are working on the same interest and passion as you are will be an important consideration as they essentially serve as advisors throughout your research. On top of these, you will have to take the GRE (a good amount of schools are waiving this even for PhD applications), an essay talking about what you're interested in researching and why, and recommendations from previous employers, faculty and so forth. PhD applications are typically due by the end of the year, but each school will vary in its specific dates.

Compared to paying a tuition fee in a professional degree such as BArch and MArch, pursuing a PhD relies on funding from grants and scholarship as research work can be seen as work in itself. The initial funding and conditions will vary from each school. The common thread, however, is that becoming a TA or even teaching a full course at the institution is a way to receive money while doing your research. Because PhD’s are primarily seen as a route towards academia (not always exclusively), this will serve as a great opportunity for those who are interested in practicing their skills in teaching. Just like any degree, outside scholarships and grants are opportunities for more funding and typically, this is seen as a way to avoid doing teaching jobs to focus on doing your research and writing a dissertation.

The Dissertation

If you have a BArch or MArch, you might already be familiar with the idea of a thesis. The dissertation is essentially going to be your thesis that you’ll be working on pretty much your whole time in your PhD. A dissertation is the main requirement for you to obtain your Doctor of Philosophy degree, typically a book-length research project which you would defend to a committee. Schools will go about this differently but nonetheless, expect to do a lot of reading and writing within your PhD degree to cultivate your research work.

Job Prospects

A Doctor in Philosophy is the main way to get into academia. There is still a lot of debate on what kind of professionals should be teaching studios and seminars in architecture schools, nonetheless, you will find an array of schools that provide some sort of architectural study to students, lying in different places within the spectrum of the built work and the historical theory work. Another route to consider would be a job at a research institution focusing on the arts and culture such as museums as they can also provide openings due to architecture falling within the humanities. Ultimately, the point of a PhD is to be able to have the space and time for an individual to research a topic which that individual feels passionate about and believes to be an important topic. This specificity can lead towards a more specialized workforce, whether that is in academia, the arts, or even urban planning.

Because architecture is mainly a practicing profession, doing research work can be an anomaly. However, this is not to say that the work cannot have value in the world of architecture. Architecture can live through different mediums — from living in the built environment to existing in a piece of writing. Regardless of which medium you resonate the most with, it’s important to remember that executing your interests and passions can spark and inspire ideas, and architecture should continue cultivating a diverse set of thoughts. So if you have a passion for a certain topic, find ways to cultivate it. Whether it be by building something or writing about it.

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About the Author

Lance Arevalo

22 Comments

APRIL 6, 2021 | 3:00PM ET / 12:00PM PT

"Expanding the View into Post-Professional Degree Programs"

https://www.acsa-arch.org/webi...

great and awesome idea !

   I see more unplayable student loans in someone future.    Focus on helping current professionals make more money.  Creating more elite intellectuals does not help. 

thisisnotmyname

"Typical funding for the doctoral degree includes four years of full funding (tuition fellowship, benefits, and stipend based on a Graduate Student Instructorship or a Graduate Student Research Assistantship) and two additional years of tuition only fellowship (TOF) with benefits, if required. "

I knew a few PHDs from UMich, they didn't have to pay anything. You might be projecting. 

phd programs are almost always 100% funded, with a stipend on top.

now, is a phd in architecture a necessary degree? still debatable- i wasn't aware how new this type of degree is in architecture.

It's a jumping off point to get deep into research or academia. People aren't doing this to go do the same thing as all the MArchs and BArchs. With that in mind, I would say it's a great approach if that is your intent.

Nam Henderson

i'm speaking more about the broader philosophical debate about the nature of the degree.. i think prior to the 70's, what was common was an art history phd with a focus in architecture, which i think there is plenty of argument in it being sufficient enough.

A PhD in architecture is great, but only if there are available teaching slots open. Though it goes back to the larger point where architecture expertise should be valued more in media, government, etc. Biden's about to pass a 3 trillion dollar infrastructure bill with no apparent design vision -- just a lot of economist BS. Meanwhile there are no popular critics left, and the few venues left are keen to pretend like the McMansion lady has something interesting to say.

JJArchitect

PhD acronym 'piled high and deep'

DesignGnome

One of the offices I worked at has an office in Honolulu, many of my co-workers there have PHDs in arch 

Context is key. University of Hawaii has a professional DArch degree. It is very different than the other Arch PHDs as far as I understand.

Yea, don't do this unless you want to struggle to find a middling academic job. Even if the doctorate is heavily subsidized, this is a complete waste and will no way help you in your architectural business. On top of it, they put the most bizarre, out of touch professors in this sector - or you are learning on you're own / in thesis mode - which you could do without being a PHD student.

Just a reminder to those in college thinking about pursuing this degree path - a PhD in Architecture - if you bypass getting licensed (per NCARB and State Board requirements) to obtain your PhD and take a career path in academia, it is illegal to call yourself an 'Architect' in the U.S. Please don't confuse the two.

I mean, if you just don't get licensed regardless of what you do in academia technically it's illegal... Unless you work in IT ;D Anyway, the two things are entirely unrelated, you can get a PHD and conceivably still get licensed, you could get a MArch and not get licensed. I know there are a lot more unlicensed MArchs out there calling themselves Architects than PHDs calling themselves architects. This seems like a rather non-problem. 

My comment was directed more to those in the age bracket I often mentor (high school students and college students) looking to become licensed Architects. Many of them are always looking for the least path of resistance to become licensed Architects - merely providing clarity the article did not address. Designers/people misrepresenting themselves as or doing work as 'Architects' is an issue - Google how state Architecture boards are cracking down on people misrepresenting themselves as 'Architects'. One of the states I'm licensed in issues rulings and legal cases each month the State brought against designers/people working as or misrepresenting themselves as 'Architects'. The cases often end in hefty fines and/or in extreme cases more punitive legal ramifications for the individuals.

Am curious as to how the profession protects the term 'Architect' but doesn't really work to heighten the terms standing in the world. Most clients are happy with a designer, developer, planner or interest to do most of the work, perhaps getting an architect to stamp when necessary. All of this does little for the 'Architect' as it was understood by Frank Lloyd Wright or anyone else.

J D J... That's fair. Getting a doctorate is definitely not least path of resistance though. As for the legal actions. I also see that in the state I am licenced in, but it's almost exclusively for people who have represented themselves as architects for the purpose of performing architectural services. Which, is of course illegal and the main point. However, I have also know hundreds of recent grads and young professionals who refer to themselves as "architectural designers" or something like that, which is illegal and they technically know it.

My favorite is the Honorary Doctorate. 

Dr. Sean "P. Diddy" Combs

Dr. Aiec Baldwin

Dr. Robert DeNiro

Dr. Conan O'Brien

Dr. Usain Bolt

Dr. L.L. Cool J

Dr. William Shatner

Odd, nothing in the alphabet letter salad following J Daniels Jenkins name above indicates that he is an architect. 

wrong- aia indicates licensure vs assoc aia.

By the way, Harvard began its Ph.D. in Architecture program in the 1900s. 

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Visit the program website to browse a list of dissertations completed in the PhD in Architecture Program at Columbia GSAPP.

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DArch Committee Composition

Student work.

The School of Architecture at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is proud to offer the only Doctor of Architecture degree that is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board  (NAAB).

The DArch program focuses on guiding students through critical interrogations of architectural approaches, concepts, application, and practicum. This includes asking students to:

• frame architectural inquiries within social, cultural, and interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis on Asia and the Pacific;
• investigate local/global relations evidenced in theory and practice with an emphasis on the quality of the built and natural environment;
• critically test and expand the definitions of and relationships between the academy and the profession;
• use research as a basis for the grounding of design and as a primary means of expanding knowledge in the discipline; and
• participate with local and international partners in applied design research and community outreach projects.

The program integrates coursework with professional office practice ( Practicum ), culminating with a capstone project based on research and design ( DArch Project ). A specific Asia-Pacific requirement is built into the curriculum that is reflected in the studio, architectural history, and elective courses. This effectively prepares the future professionals that emerge from this program to address architectural issues specific to the Asia-Pacific region.

DArch Mission

The School of Architecture responds to our unique tropical location in the Asia Pacific Region and practices its kuleana [“the right or value to a virtuous purpose, responsibility, duty, or obligation”] to advocate cultural, environmental, and social diversity.

Program Information

The NAAB-accredited DArch degree integrates professional education with advanced research (DArch  projects) and onsite practical experience (Practicum). The DArch degree prepares students for active and critical engagement to advance the quality of the built environment, including design and professional practice, teaching, research, and civic leadership.

This graduate professional architecture program integrates clear comprehension of advanced queries and emphasizes high quality student research presented in the final year as a singled authored DArch project. Students demonstrate expertise in a recognized body of knowledge, through innovative design, research and advance inquiry addressing global challenges in the world today.

To accommodate candidates’ varying levels of preparedness through their undergraduate education, the DArch program includes two closely intertwined tracks * .

Students entering the track who hold a four-year pre-professional baccalaureate degree (e.g., BS architecture studies, BA architecture studies, BA environmental design) enter the 3-year, 90-credit professional DArch track. (Fall semester start date is recommended).

DArch PROGRAM CHART with Pre-Professional Undergraduate Degree * Admission to the 108-credit professional DArch track is suspended for academic year 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.

Students entering the track who hold a baccalaureate degree in a field unrelated to architecture or environmental design (non-pre-professional degree) enter the 108-credit professional DArch track. (Summer semester start date recommended) * .

STEM Designation

The DArch is a STEM-designated 04.0902 Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology degree. This STEM-designation allows international student graduates to apply for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Optional Practical Training (OPT) program for international students holding F-1 visas. It allows the extension of the OPT period from the regular one year to three years, gives eligibility for STEM specific scholarships, and offers expanded GI Bill benefits for U.S. veterans.

DArch Program Admissions

Graduate admissions procedures for the Doctor of Architecture (DArch) degree program is handled by the UHM Graduate Division.

All applicants to the professional Doctor of Architecture (DArch) program must hold a baccalaureate degree or higher in order to be considered for acceptance.  Based on their degree, the students will enter one of two tracks.

National Architectural Accreditating Board (NAAB) Accreditation

In the U.S., most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the

Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards. Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

The School of Architecture offers the following NAAB-accredited degree program: Doctor of Architecture

• Track I: (preprofessional degree in architecture [126/120 credits] + 90 graduate credits)
• Track II: (non-professional degree [120 credits min.] + 108 graduate credits)*

Next accreditation visit: 2026

Student Financial Support Information

Various forms of merit-based financial support are available to graduate students at UHM, including Graduate Division Achievement Scholarships , intramural graduate fellowships, extramural funding, and graduate assistantships.  Questions on need-based financial aid should be addressed to the Financial Aid Services Office.

The University of Hawaiʻi System Common Scholarship Application is available online in the fall semester for the following academic year.  For example, in order to be considered for a scholarship in the 2021-2022 academic year, you must apply in the Fall 2020 semester.  Typically, the timeframe for the open application period is between October and March.  Students attending any University of Hawaiʻi campus are encouraged to apply in order to be considered for system and campus scholarship.

UHM participates in the Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP), a Student Access Program administered by the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education WICHE).  This program enables legal residents of WICHE member states to enroll in selected out-of-state graduate programs at a reduced tuition of 150 percent of the institution’s regular resident tuition. Eligible applicants may qualify for reduced tuition rates through WRGP/WICHE programs.

Career Development Information

The UH Mānoa Career Center partners with both on-campus and off-campus employers to empower UH Mānoa student to engage in career life planning through awareness, exploration, experience, and reflection. Career Counselors are available to assist in achieving academic and career goals, and in exploring career options and opportunities.

University Employment :  There are nearly 4,000 students working on the UHM campus in a variety of positions, at convenient on-campus locations and with flexible hours.  The Student Employment Office maintains a database of jobs that can meet your needs.

Federal Work Study Program : The Federal Work Study is a financial-aid based program offering employment in career or community service positions in the community and at the university.  It is a form of federal financial aid awarded to students who demonstrate financial need.  Opportunities are available in various UH Mānoa on-campus departments or off-campus in a private non-profit or public agency on the island of O‘ahu, based on availability of funds.

DArch Projects

The University of Hawaiʻi School of Architecture has the only NAAB professionally accredited Doctor of Architecture Program in the country. The program prepares future architects skillful to practice in global settings and reflective as practitioners of their profession. The program, among other unique curricular requirements, has a year-long self-directed, comprehensive Architecture Doctoral Project. These projects incorporate a research component aim to focus the students’ interests and prepare a path to the making of contributions in their future practice and the profession.

The collection of doctoral projects from the UH Mānoa School of Architecture are saved at ScholarSpace at the University of Hawaiʻi, which is an open-access, digital resource for intellectual research and publications. It allows students to discover any project through the author’s name, subject/key terms, and year.  Additionally, each one contains the document for view/download, faculty advisor’s name, and full abstract.

At least 3 committee members including its CHAIR .

CHAIR Regular DArch Graduate Faculty

Member Regular DArch Graduate Faculty OR Cooperating Graduate Faculty OR Affiliate Graduate Faculty

Member Graduate Faculty (University Representative) https://manoa.hawaii.edu/graduate/select-committee-member/   OR Professional/Community Expert

Regular Graduate Faculty (RGF) RGF are SOA Graduate Faculty and are eligible to serve as DArch Committee Chair.

• William Chapman, DPhil, Assoc AIA, Interim Dean, School of Architecture, Professor, American Studies
• Simon Bussiere, ASLA, AILA; Assistant Professor
• Martin Despang, Professor
• Daniel Friedman, FAIA; Professor
• Bundit Kanisthakhon, Assistant Professor
• Clark Llewellyn, FAIA; Professor and Director, Global Track
• Laura McGuire, PhD; Assistant Professor and Director, Undergraduate Studies
• Wendy Meguro, AIA, LEED AP BD+C; Assistant Professor
• Kevin Nute, PhD; Assistant Professor
• Hyoung-June Park, PhD; Associate Professor and Director, DArch Program
• David Rockwood, Professor
• Karla Sierralta, AIA; Assistant Professor
• Judith Stilgenbauer, ASLA; Professor and Director, MLA Program
• Lance Walters, Associate Professor
• Phoebe White, Assistant Professor

Affiliate Graduate Faculty (AGF) AGF has a specific expertise or background that may contribute to a students’ work, but are not employed by UH.

• Sean Baumes, AIA, LEED GA
• Fiske Crowell, FAIA
• Jason DeMarco, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C; Partner, CFO/COO+Director of Sustainability
• Chris Hong, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP
• Kyung Hoon Hyun, PhD, MS in Industrial Design; Assistant Professor
• Kody Kato, DArch
• Karen Lee, AIA
• Geoffrey S. Lewis, AIA
• Purmina McCutcheon, AIA,LEED AP BD+C, CSI
• Dwight Mitsunaga, FAIA, ArchD, NCARB
• Kevin Miyamura, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
• Daniel M. Sandomire, AIA, RIBA, LEED AP
• Linda Schatz, DArch
• Andrew Tang, AIA, SBA; Partner and Design Principal
• Grace Zheng, ASLA; Lecturer
• Hongtao Zhou, PhD, MFA; Professor

Cooperating Graduate Faculty (CGF) Faculty with a primary appointment outside the SOA, but inside UH, who are eligible to serve on doctoral committees.

• Roger Chen, PhD, MS; Assistant Professor
• Priyam Das, PhD, MLA, BArch; Associate Professor
• Antoinette Konia Freitas, PhD, MA; Special Project Coordinator, Program Chair
• Philip M.D. Garboden, PhD, MSE, MA; Assistant Professor
• Andrew Kaufman, Associate Specialist
• Paul Lavy, PhD, MA; Associate Professor
• Chae Ho Lee, MFA; Associate Professor
• Daniel Harris McCoy, PhD; Associate Professor
• Scott Robertson, PhD, MA; Professor
• Jeffrey Allen Trip, PhD, MA; Instructor

Practicum is a hybrid educational studio module combining paid employment in a commercial or non-profit office with unpaid independent research on topics relevant to contemporary practice and the profession. This required studio course in the DArch curriculum—ARCH 747—serves as a bridge between preparatory coursework and the two-semester design dissertation, the capstone of our professional degree program.

In this context, internship provides invaluable experience that strengthens student understanding and awareness of the conditions and requirements for practice; at the same time, it provides a rich laboratory for research and the advancement of architectural knowledge of benefit to both the firm and profession.

Practicum Firms: The Practicum program is a scholarly and research activity integrated into a professional office environment occurring in an off-campus location. Practicum integrates theory, practice, and research in the comprehensive context of paid internship in a professional office environment. We define the term “professional” broadly; it is a goal of this studio to critically engage the ways professional design and building production may be conceived and practiced now and in the future. In addition to technical knowledge, Practicum emphasizes the cultivation of core responsibilities—leadership, professional ethics, critical thinking, and cultural understanding.

For additional DArch information, please contact:

David Rockwood Graduate Chair and Director of Graduate Architecture Programs and Professor [email protected]

Professional Fee

In addition to UHM graduate tuition and fees, all UHM School of Architecture students, including MLA students, are assessed a professional fee in the amount of $500 per semester at the time tuition is paid. These fees help pay for the operational costs of the school’s IT Lab and Fabrication Lab. Students pay additionally for materials which are provided at cost.

Urban Design for an Edge City Site, Da Nang, Vietnam

Micha axalan, mickey chacon, kendal leonard, aleksandra torres, laura wahmann, da nang worker housing, logan aruga, kenneth guillen, bryson tabaniag, austin tse, keilii kapali, mitchell moses, jonathan quach, calvin bulan, erin chow, kris jugueta, john quindara, nicholas civitano, priscilla nogueira, duc tran, wetland exhibition/recreational facility, michael honyak, diane moore, akira ishikawa, elliot lazo.

Architecture

DAAP » Academic Programs » School of Architecture and Interior Design » PhD in Architecture

Why study Architecture?

University of Cincinnati’s Ph.D. Program in Architecture is a post-professional degree program of advanced theoretical studies in architecture with a focus on the acquisition of critical skills related to architectural production, both built and theoretical. It is intended primarily for students already in possession of a graduate degree in architecture or a related field such as interior design, planning, or landscape architecture. The Ph.D. program is an outgrowth of the university’s longstanding MS Program in Architecture, whose focus has traditionally been on architectural history, theories, and criticism as they relate to architectural practice. The program exposes students to a range of concepts in the field and fosters the ability to question and assess the built environment and the documents that relate to it.

In addition to a common core consisting of coursework in architectural theories and research methods, students complete courses in a minor field, demonstrate mastery of a major with the qualifying exam, and successfully defend a dissertation proposal in the third year, qualifying for candidacy and achieving ABD (“all but dissertation”) status. Students research, write and defend the dissertation in the final years of the program. With faculty members with technical expertise in human and environmental factors, computation, parametric design, and robotics in addition to the program’s traditional strengths in history, theory, and criticism,  the program can accommodate a range of student interests. The major exam is a multi-day written examination based on a reading list agreed upon among the committee members.

To fulfill the minor requirement, students may propose an individual course of study, supervised by a professor other than the dissertation chair, or they may choose from among a number of approved graduate certificates offered by the university. Popular options include Historic Preservation; Urban Design; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Data Analytics. 

Admission Requirements

Students applying to the Ph.D. Program in Architecture should have completed a Master's degree in architecture or a related field prior to matriculation. Students with an undergraduate degree or with an unrelated graduate degree must instead apply for the MS Program in Architecture. Some students enter the Ph.D. program directly from the MS program. These students retain their credits from their MS studies and enter the Ph.D. program at an advanced phase commensurate with their completed studies.

Unofficial transcript(s) from all colleges/universities attended are required. Official transcripts are not required during the admissions process, and only unofficial transcripts are required for the application. Applicants should not send official transcripts until they are offered admission and confirm enrollment to the university. For complete transcript requirements, please view the Transcript Submission Policy webpage.

A portfolio of design, art, or other graphic work is optional. The portfolio is an opportunity to demonstrate your design abilities, artistic talents, or other information you deem pertinent to your application. The content does not have to be architectural if your background is in another discipline. Written project statements to accompany visual work are helpful. Portfolios are submitted online.  We do not accept hard copies of portfolios.

Three letters of recommendation from persons who are in a position to evaluate your abilities and your potential for success as a graduate student are required. There is no standard form to fill out; instead, based on the information you provide in your application, recommenders will be emailed instructions on the process for submitting letters of recommendation. 

A summary of your academic and professional experiences is required.

A two-page statement of your interest in graduate study in architecture is required. This should be a concise, articulate presentation of your academic and career goals, and any specific interests you have in architectural topics for graduate research and design. It should reflect your prior intellectual and professional engagement with these issues, and may also provide some additional perspective on the work illustrated in the portfolio.

Students applying to the Ph.D. program must submit one or two writing samples demonstrating the ability to conduct scholarly research and examine theoretical concepts. The essays can expand on the areas of research interest or on any topic.

Applicants to the Ph.D. Program in Architecture must demonstrate a commitment to the critical study of architecture and related design fields, including interior design, urban design, and landscape architecture. Prior education or working experience in architecture or a related field is desirable. Excellent writing skills and an interest in theoretical research are essential. Students whose English writing or speaking skills are not adequate for the demands of the curriculum must enroll in advanced, graduate-level English as a Second Language coursework prior to, and sometimes in tandem, with program coursework.

The Ph.D. Program in Architecture prepares researchers, educators, and practitioners for advanced scholarly, pedagogic, and professional work in architecture and related fields. Most graduates of the program become full-time professors or practitioners of architecture. Other career opportunities include historic preservation, public policy, curating, journalism, and institutional administration.

Because UC’s Ph.D. Program in Architecture has a small number of students, we are able to facilitate one-on-one student and faculty advising and collaboration. Students work with their faculty to develop their research and writing skills and they publish and present their work in national and international venues. While the program does not have separate tracks for students pursuing technical research, program faculty members assist students in identifying coursework and campus resources to develop the necessary competencies. All entering students have the opportunity to consult with multiple members of the Ph.D. Program faculty and with the program coordinator to determine appropriate elective coursework and dissertation committee composition.

• The city of Cincinnati, once called the "Queen City of the West" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, provides an excellent array of cultural resources for students who intend to pursue a degree in the visual arts. It offers the energy and assets of a larger city, along with quiet neighborhoods steeped in rich traditions. Cincinnati offers live music venues that range from top-notch symphony and opera companies to a growing pop and rock community. Home to the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Taft Museum and the Contemporary Arts Center, the city also enjoys the presence of numerous art galleries and a strong support system among practicing artists. Cincinnati is situated within driving distance of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and New York City, allowing DAAP students to take advantage of the rich cultural resources of these cities as well.
• UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) is one of the most comprehensive colleges of its type in the country. A collection of nationally respected design and art programs is housed in a unique and educationally stimulating architectural setting. Architecture students have opportunities to enroll in courses in a range of related disciplines and to participate in interdisciplinary studios or special projects.
• UC’s emphasis on interdisciplinary studies facilitates interaction with counterparts in other schools of the College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning as well as other colleges such as the Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Medicine, and the College Conservatory of Music. Such interdisciplinary studies should be planned in consultation with PhD Program faculty members and approved by the Ph.D. Program coordinator.
• Eligible students accepted to the Ph.D. Program in Architecture may compete for a limited number of scholarships and assistantships. All students are required to participate in a teaching practicum as part of the program, and many are chosen for paid teaching assistantships in the latter years of the program. Students are also eligible to work in campus jobs for up to 20 hours per week when classes are in session and 40 hours during vacations.
• The DAAP college library has an outstanding collection of books, periodicals and visual resources supporting architecture, planning, design, art history and related subjects. Access to library holdings is provided by an automated online catalog, UCLID, which provides access to the University of Cincinnati Library information database, and through OhioLINK, the holdings of other academic libraries throughout Ohio.
• The Computer Graphics Center is a state-of-the-art university facility with hardware that includes PCs, Macs, and peripherals such as scanners, plotters and digital video-editing suites. Students have access to sophisticated graphics equipment and receive hands-on instruction to augment the use of laptops in the classroom.
• The college supports a Rapid Prototyping Center, which is the home of state-of-the-art equipment that allows students to create communication aids for their work. Using CAD (computer-aided design) models, students are able to create physical models using three basic methods: 3-D printing, large format laser-cutting and CNC (computer numeric control) devices.

For applicants whose native language is not English, a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of at least 100 iBT (600 paper) or an IELTS score of at least 7.0 is common and is typically our minimum. The university requires minimum scores of 80 on the TOEFL and 6.5 on the IELTS. Applicants with scores below the campus minimums will not reach the Ph.D. in Architecture admissions committee for review. Students whose scores are above the campus minimum but below the Ph.D. in Architecture Program standards, or students whose English writing or speaking ability does not meet program expectations, will be considered on a case-by-case basis, however, they must agree to take graduate-level ELS coursework and possibly other courses as a condition of acceptance.

• Guide: Ph.D 2019
• Guide: Ph.D 2018
• Guide: Ph.D 2017

Application Deadlines

Early Admission

General Admission

ALL applicants must apply by January 10th . 

The application process begins with an online UC Graduate Application . Supplemental materials are to be submitted online through the application process.

New students are admitted for the fall semester. We will notify successful candidates by April 15. An offer of admission may be withdrawn if a candidate does not accept within six weeks of our offer.

In general, the program offers neither deferrals nor admission in semesters other than fall, however individual requests for admission deferrals and for spring semester admission may be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific nature of the request and the ability of the program administration to accommodate it.

The architecture program of the University of Cincinnati has been accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) continuously since 1948, and its courses satisfy requirements maintained by various state architectural registration boards.

In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The NAAB, which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the bachelor of architecture, the master of architecture, and the doctor of architecture. A program may be granted a 8-year, 3-year, or 2-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards. University of Cincinnati’s Ph.D. program in Architecture is not an accredited professional degree.

Contact Information

Find related programs in the following interest areas:.

• Architecture, Construction and Building Trade

Program Code: 23DOC-ARCH-PHD

Architecture Graduate Programs in America

1-25 of 107 results

MIT School of Architecture and Planning

Cambridge, MA •

Massachusetts Institute of Technology •

Graduate School

Massachusetts Institute of Technology ,

Graduate School ,

CAMBRIDGE, MA ,

Yale School of Architecture

New Haven, CT •

Yale University •

Yale University ,

NEW HAVEN, CT ,

Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Harvard University •

• • Rating 4.56 out of 5   9 reviews

Other: I am Harvard Extension School student pursuing a master degree, ALM, in sustainability. I have achieved a 3.89 in this program so far and have qualified, applied, and accepted as a 'Special Student' in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Through this School, I will be focusing my time at the John A. Paulson school of Engineering & Applied Sciences. Looking forward to wrapping up my final year on campus! ... Read 9 reviews

Harvard University ,

9 Niche users give it an average review of 4.6 stars.

Featured Review: Other says I am Harvard Extension School student pursuing a master degree, ALM, in sustainability. I have achieved a 3.89 in this program so far and have qualified, applied, and accepted as a 'Special Student'... .

Read 9 reviews.

Suffolk University

Graduate School •

• • Rating 4.56 out of 5   16

University of Hartford

WEST HARTFORD, CT

• • Rating 4.55 out of 5   38

School of Building Arts - Savannah College of Art and Design

Savannah College of Art and Design •

SAVANNAH, GA

Harvard Graduate School of Design

• • Rating 4.29 out of 5   7 reviews

Master's Student: Great survey of urban planning if you have no prior background in architecture or urban studies; cohort skews younger (early to mid twenties) so might be an adjustment for older students with more experience ... Read 7 reviews

7 Niche users give it an average review of 4.3 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says Great survey of urban planning if you have no prior background in architecture or urban studies; cohort skews younger (early to mid twenties) so might be an adjustment for older students with more... .

Read 7 reviews.

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ •

• • Rating 4.33 out of 5   3 reviews

Master's Student: The best part of the Princeton University mechanical engineering graduate degree is the excellent faculty that teach the courses. They are incredibly knowledgeable and also very willing to help students in office hours or in sponsorship of projects. The worst part of the Princeton University mechanical engineering graduate degree is the lack of structure for the graduate research program which can leave you feeling unsure on the direction of your research. ... Read 3 reviews

PRINCETON, NJ ,

3 Niche users give it an average review of 4.3 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says The best part of the Princeton University mechanical engineering graduate degree is the excellent faculty that teach the courses. They are incredibly knowledgeable and also very willing to help... .

Read 3 reviews.

School of Design - University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA •

University of Pennsylvania •

University of Pennsylvania ,

PHILADELPHIA, PA ,

• Find college scholarships

Rice University School of Architecture

Houston, TX •

Rice University •

Blue checkmark.

Rice University ,

HOUSTON, TX ,

School of Architecture - University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN •

University of Notre Dame •

• • Rating 5 out of 5   1 review

Niche User: I will be attending the MArch program starting fall of 2023. Every person who I have spoken to about this program has said it is life changing. Every alumni has been enthusiastic about the education the gained and the experience they had at Notre Dame. Their love of and regard for the program is palpable. I am looking forward to my experience at Notre Dame. ... Read 1 review

University of Notre Dame ,

NOTRE DAME, IN ,

1 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Niche User says I will be attending the MArch program starting fall of 2023. Every person who I have spoken to about this program has said it is life changing. Every alumni has been enthusiastic about the education... .

Read 1 reviews.

USC School of Architecture

Los Angeles, CA •

University of Southern California •

• • Rating 5 out of 5   4 reviews

Faculty: The MLA+U program emphasizes design research based on a solid foundation of urban ecology, history and theory and technical topics. This is a program that asks students to be bold and courageous in visioning a more equitable future while at the same time preparing them for professional practice. ... Read 4 reviews

University of Southern California ,

LOS ANGELES, CA ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Faculty says The MLA+U program emphasizes design research based on a solid foundation of urban ecology, history and theory and technical topics. This is a program that asks students to be bold and courageous in... .

Read 4 reviews.

Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning

Ithaca, NY •

Cornell University •

Cornell University ,

ITHACA, NY ,

A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Ann Arbor, MI •

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor •

• • Rating 4.5 out of 5   6 reviews

Master's Student: Taubman College (and a lot of architecture grad schools) is whatever you make of it. Make sure to plan out at least what you want to explore. Research specific professors and take the classes from the ones that you are interested in. Don't walk in with a vague plan and wander. This degree and many Masters Degrees cost a significant amount of money. I have put myself into considerable debt to go to a school where I have felt lost and miserable. It gets better and is worth it - but only if you have a plan. ... Read 6 reviews

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor ,

ANN ARBOR, MI ,

6 Niche users give it an average review of 4.5 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says Taubman College (and a lot of architecture grad schools) is whatever you make of it. Make sure to plan out at least what you want to explore. Research specific professors and take the classes from... .

Read 6 reviews.

UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture

University of California - Los Angeles •

• • Rating 4 out of 5   1 review

Master's Student: Its a very good program that really encourages students to explore their artistic capabilities. The instructors are very experienced and are very good at teaching the students. The program is great, but could also use some improvements in the facilities, as well as overall teaching etiquette. Some instructors would be late to class, while expecting students to stay longer. Others would show little, to no enthusiasm about certain things or events. ... Read 1 review

University of California - Los Angeles ,

1 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says Its a very good program that really encourages students to explore their artistic capabilities. The instructors are very experienced and are very good at teaching the students. The program is great,... .

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Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts

Pittsburgh, PA •

Carnegie Mellon University •

Master's Student: I graduated from the School of Design at the College of Fine Arts. This is one best design program at a major research university. The cross disciplinary approach, and ability to take courses at other schools like business, engineering, and public policy makes the CMU experience truly unique. It’s been said that the hardest part about Harvard is getting in, and the hardest part about CMU is graduating. This very is true. ... Read 4 reviews

Carnegie Mellon University ,

PITTSBURGH, PA ,

Featured Review: Master's Student says I graduated from the School of Design at the College of Fine Arts. This is one best design program at a major research university. The cross disciplinary approach, and ability to take courses at... .

The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences - University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA •

University of Virginia •

Alum: Very good in some areas, excellent in other areas, many academic choices available in all areas of study ... Read 1 review

University of Virginia ,

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA ,

Featured Review: Alum says Very good in some areas, excellent in other areas, many academic choices available in all areas of study .

University of Virginia School of Architecture

Master's Student: As of now the school of architecture has been an extremely supportive environment filled with students that encourage each other to try their best. While assistance from the larger administration and financial aid office needs improvement, I knew that my department and cohort will make it a worthwhile endeavor that will prepare me for real life applications. ... Read 3 reviews

Featured Review: Master's Student says As of now the school of architecture has been an extremely supportive environment filled with students that encourage each other to try their best. While assistance from the larger administration and... .

Georgia Tech College of Design

Atlanta, GA •

Georgia Institute of Technology •

• • Rating 4 out of 5   2 reviews

Master's Student: Great class choices with faculty always available for advising and help. I had a number of bad professors who did not deliver the material well but they, too, were available to help during office hours and beyond. ... Read 2 reviews

Georgia Institute of Technology ,

ATLANTA, GA ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says Great class choices with faculty always available for advising and help. I had a number of bad professors who did not deliver the material well but they, too, were available to help during office... .

Read 2 reviews.

UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design

Berkeley, CA •

University of California - Berkeley •

University of California - Berkeley ,

BERKELEY, CA ,

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences - New York University

New York, NY •

New York University •

• • Rating 4.8 out of 5   10 reviews

Master's Student: I am enrolled specifically in the Magazine concentration. My professors have all been helpful with helping me succeed and are willing to stay back to go over something I don't understand. There are multiple points of resources at this program. A director is your main academic advisor. Aside from that, there is a pitch specialist to assist with freelancing and two wonderful career advisors. They help with setting up mingle sessions, job fairs, and internship talks. As of now, I haven't had bad experiences, however, I will say that the program is expensive and is an awkward three semesters. Those two things aren't ideal, however, its not too much of a dealbreaker. ... Read 10 reviews

New York University ,

NEW YORK, NY ,

10 Niche users give it an average review of 4.8 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says I am enrolled specifically in the Magazine concentration. My professors have all been helpful with helping me succeed and are willing to stay back to go over something I don't understand. There are... .

Read 10 reviews.

School of Architecture - University of Texas - Austin

Austin, TX •

University of Texas - Austin •

University of Texas - Austin ,

AUSTIN, TX ,

College of Architecture and Urban Studies

Blacksburg, VA •

Virginia Tech •

Master's Student: Professors are very knowledgeable about what they teach and the elective courses offered are diverse. ... Read 1 review

Virginia Tech ,

BLACKSBURG, VA ,

Featured Review: Master's Student says Professors are very knowledgeable about what they teach and the elective courses offered are diverse. .

College of Design, Construction & Planning - University of Florida

Gainesville, FL •

University of Florida •

University of Florida ,

GAINESVILLE, FL ,

Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art •

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art ,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute •

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ,

College of Engineering - Purdue University

West Lafayette, IN •

Purdue University •

Purdue University ,

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The 5 Best Doctor of Architecture (D.Arch.) Degree Programs

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There are limited schools in the US that offer the Doctor of Architecture (D.Arch.) degree, and 100% online programs are not available. Architectural school can be demanding in that your actual presence is needed to experience 3D art forms. While a D.Arch degree is not a prerequisite to becoming an architect, it can help you grab a higher position.

The common stereotype says “Architects are engineers who can’t do math”. However, architects are more than structural artists and surely, they are not ignorant of math. An architect is the one you need to build your dream house.

______________________________

5 BEST DOCTOR ARCHITECTURE (D.ARCH.) DEGREE PROGRAMS

University of hawai’i at mānoa.

DOCTOR OF ARCHITECTURE

School Highlights: According to the program website, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Architecture offers the only doctoral degree accredited by the NAAB. The curriculum provides a strong focus on the critical interrogations of architectural approaches, as well as significant applications, concepts, and praxis.

There are numerous tracks available for students with varying levels of education, such as a bachelor’s or a master’s in architecture, or a baccalaureate degree in a separate area.

Due to its location, this school also includes extensive educational components in Asian and Pacific architecture and subsequent cultural, social, and interdisciplinary studies. Graduates go on to work as architects and professional consultants internationally and have a strong understanding of current architectural issues affecting the globe today.

Coursework Sample:

• Asia-Pacific Architecture History and Theory
• Environmental Technology, Sustainability, and Analysis
• Design Research Studio

Campus Location: Honolulu, HI

Accreditation:

• Western Association of Schools and Colleges 533 Airport Boulevard, Suite 200 Burlingame, California 94010 www.ascwasc.org, (650) 696-1060
• National Architectural Accrediting Board

Acceptance Rate: 70% Retention Rate: 79% Graduation Rate: 60%

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MĀNOA’S DOCTOR OF ARCHITECTURE DEGREE

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

PH.D. IN ARCHITECTURE

School Highlights: The Doctor of Philosophy degree offered through the University of Illinois includes a unique focus on Landscape Architecture. Students can choose to specialize in one discipline or work collaboratively in both architecture and landscape architecture to fulfill the requirements for the Ph.D.

The Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois are two of the oldest in the entire country. Each is maintained by faculty members with international acclaim and fabulous connections.

This excellent school also has one of the most impressive libraries of architecture, with over ten million volumes available in print and electronically. This degree is perfect for students seeking careers in teaching and research or roles in government agencies and consultants.

Concentration Options:

• History and Theory
• Social and Cultural Factors in Design
• Technology and Environment

Campus Location: Champaign, IL

• Higher Learning Commission 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500 Chicago, Illinois 60604 www.hlcommission.org, (800) 621-7440

Acceptance Rate: 60% Retention Rate: 95% Graduation Rate: 84%

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS’ PH.D. IN ARCHITECTUR E

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

School Highlights: The Ph.D. in Architecture curriculum at UC Berkeley provides a vast breadth of course topics in design, sustainability, environmental history, resource management, behavioral sciences, design theory, and cultural processes.

Students choose coursework from these seven areas and personalize their class lineup to meet their professional goals. They do so in coordination with individual academic advisers who help develop the perfect degree.

There is also an independent research component that requires students to conduct a project in either Building Science, Technology, and Sustainability, or in History, Theory, and Society. UC Berkeley also offers numerous master’s programs in architecture and landscape architecture for those who are still on their journey toward a doctor of philosophy.

• Design Thinking and Innovation
• The Social and Cultural Processes in Architecture and Urban Design
• Daylighting in Architecture

Campus Location: Berkeley, CA

• American Society of Landscape Architects

Acceptance Rate: 11% Retention Rate: 96% Graduation Rate: 93%

LEARN MORE ABOUT UC BERKELEY’S PH.D. IN ARCHITECTURE DEGREE PROGRAM

YALE UNIVERSITY

School Highlights: Given that Yale University is one of the most renowned, well-endowed, and prestigious schools in the country, it is no surprise that it also provides one of the best Schools of Architecture.

This program offers two concentration options, each of which leads to vastly different areas of the profession. Despite students’ specializations of choice, this is an excellent degree for future researchers, educators, and government experts.

Both tracks include an enormous amount of flexibility when selecting coursework, and students can align their personal goals with relevant topics. Graduates from the Yale School of Architecture have gone on to achieve amazing professional goals, and many have published their findings in prominent publications, journals, and books!

• Ecosystems in Architectural Sciences

Campus Location: New Haven, CT

• New England Association of Schools and Colleges 3 Burlington Woods Drive, Suite 100 Burlington, MA 01803 www.neasc.org, (781) 425-7700

Acceptance Rate: 5% Retention Rate: 97% Graduation Rate: 97%

LEARN MORE ABOUT YALE UNIVERSITY’S DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

School Highlights: The Weitzman School of Design’s Ph.D. in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania has a strong focus on the development of knowledge in landscape architecture and historic preservation. Coursework pulls from multiple departments to create an in-depth curriculum that has educated students for more than five decades.

This doctoral program is an excellent choice for students interested in an interdisciplinary approach to architecture and is quite flexible and allows students to explore various relevant topics.

Students generally finish this on-campus program in about four to five years, depending on their master’s degree and transfer credits. Graduates go on to produce fascinating research in history and theory and find connections all across the world through outstanding faculty members.

• Theories of Architecture
• Methods in Architectural Design
• Qualifying Research

Campus Location: Philadelphia, PA

• Middle States Commission on Higher Education 3624 Market Street, Suite 2 West Philadelphia, PA 19104 www.msche.org, (267) 284-5000

Acceptance Rate: 6% Retention Rate: 97% Graduation Rate: 96%

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA’S PH.D. PROGRAM IN ARCHITECTURE

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What does an architect do.

Architects design buildings, houses, lawns, and other real properties. They initially draw concepts on paper and then make 3D representations in plastic, cardboard, or virtual software. Aside from the structures themselves, architects pay much attention to how the interior looks.

They divide space into rooms and compartments and suggest appropriate furniture that fits the overlying theme. Sometimes, they work in teams to provide the best service for their clients.

The construction team is not only composed of architects but also engineers and other professionals. During a project, the architects decide what materials to use in construction. They heed the advice of clients regarding cost limitations. They rely on engineers on matters of wiring, plumbing, and piping. Thus, they work hand in hand with engineers to formulate the blueprint.

Apart from the lighting, painting, and finishing, architects also pay close attention to the surrounding structures and areas. For instance, in designing a condominium complex, they take into account a lot of natural factors such as shadows, sunrise, sunset, airflow, water presence, and disaster risks like fault lines and coastal hazards. Recent architectural trends emphasize sustainability, wherein designs aim to minimize pollution and public disturbance.

Contemporary architects not only conceptualize stand-alone buildings but communities that function as a single organism. Here, architects venture into urban planning. An urban planner classifies districts in a city or town into residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, institutional, or a mixture of these classifications.

They look at the grand design of a city from above, connecting public and private spaces through transportation routes and mobility facilities. Moreover, architect participates further in societal transformations by drafting laws and policies that govern the establishment of buildings.

What sort of accreditation should I look for in a school?

The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accredited architecture schools in the US. The accreditation body oversees quality education for undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate programs in architecture. In 2018, only one school in the US is accredited to open a Doctor of Architecture (D.Arch.) degree.

How do I earn my D.Arch. Degree?

After finishing your 5-year undergraduate program in architecture, you may proceed to take a licensure exam and enroll in architecture school. The D.Arch program lasts for three to four years. It might be shorter if you have a master’s degree. For beginners in architecture, pre-requisite subjects from undergraduate architecture can be taken in one semester. Another semester will be added for the boot camp.

The D.Arch program requires a capstone project under the supervision of an adviser from the institution. The capstone project might be an actual design for a specific project somewhere. It could also be an avant-garde endeavor that may advance current architectural practices.

In contrast to the “Ph.D. in Architecture” degree, the D.Arch program does not require a dissertation. Ph.D. in Architecture programs are more research-oriented and aim to formulate a new theory or criticize existing theories in the field. Nonetheless, both titles belong to the doctorate level – Ph.D. learning more in the academic sphere and D.Arch in the professional sphere.

What type of degree do I need to pursue research or educate others in Architecture?

To teach in architecture, the professor must at least have a Ph.D. in Architecture or a D.Arch degree. To teach in an undergrad school, a master’s degree may suffice. In some cases, a bachelor’s degree holder may teach in colleges given that the architect has proficient achievements in his/her field.

Research architects work on enriching architectural knowledge. They study the history of designs from ancient civilizations to modern megalopolises. Also, many architects share their work in academic journals, magazines, and fancy coffee table books.

How do I earn a transitional or bridge D.Arch. Degree?

Unfortunately, no online program at the moment is available for a D.Arch degree. Also, architectural coursework requires so many hands-on activities that an online setting is not conducive to learning.

What kind of career and salary can I expect with my D.Arch. Degree?

As mentioned before, architects work along with engineers on the technical aspects of construction. Most especially, they work closely with clients. In special cases, architects work on the preservation of old structures and heritage monuments. They can also work as urban planners employed by either private corporations or government institutions.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US, the median salary of an architect is $82,840 per year, but that is with just a bachelor’s degree. Architects with more credentials can easily earn six figures. Prices may vary depending on the client and the project.

Do I need a license to be an Architect?

A D.Arch degree is not required to have a license in the US. After passing a 5-year architecture program in an accredited school by the NAAB, the graduate will take the Architectural Registration Examinations (ARE) sponsored by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

What is the highest-paying field in Architecture?

The highest-paying field in Architecture is likely high-end residential or commercial projects. These projects often pay the highest wages due to the complexity of the design and the long production process. Other high-paying fields in Architecture include urban planning, interior design, landscape design, and product design.

What schools offer Doctor of Architect degrees?

The University of Hawaii at Manoa offers a D.Arch program. They require students to be on campus and have an accredited program for overseas students. You may also take advantage of their “Global Track Dual Degree” with Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Planning (Shanghai, China). The D.Arch. program of the University of Manoa exposes its students to the latest architectural practices, particularly in the Asia Pacific Region.

Currently, most schools offer a “Ph.D. in Architecture” as a doctorate-level title for architects. Examples of these schools are the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL: University of California Berkeley in Berkeley, CA;  Yale University in New Haven, CT; and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. These schools adopt traditional classroom learning with a touch of online communication with professors.

Do you want to build your own dream house, or make others’ dream houses a reality? Be an architect and earn your D.Arch degree now!

Additional Resources:

• Art and Design: Art Student’s Glossary
• Best Doctor of Applied Science (D.A.S.) Degree Programs: Salary and Information
• Fastest Online Doctoral (Ph.D. and Ed.D.) Degree Programs

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Course type

Qualification, university name, phd degrees in architecture.

43 degrees at 33 universities in the UK.

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Select the start date, qualification, and how you want to study

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• PhD Architecture
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PhD in Art, Design and Architecture

Manchester metropolitan university.

Do you want to advance or change your career, deepen your expertise in a topic, or expand your research and practical skills With a PhD Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,850 per year (UK)
• 6 years Part time degree

Architecture, Construction and Environment PhD

University of gloucestershire.

What is Architecture, Construction and Environment A Landscape Architecture research degree offers you the opportunity to explore Read more...

• 4 years Full time degree: £5,100 per year (UK)
• 6 years Part time degree: £3,400 per year (UK)

PhD Research Degrees

Arts university bournemouth.

Research degrees are awarded in recognition of significant contributions to knowledge and scholarship produced through the development of Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £6,000 per year (UK)
• 5 years Part time degree: £3,000 per year (UK)

Architecture research degree MPhil/PhD

De montfort university.

With internationally renowned researchers, state-of-the-art facilities, a passion for interdisciplinary working and a focus on real-world Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,712 per year (UK)
• 5 years Part time degree: £2,356 per year (UK)

Architecture (Social Science) PhD

University of nottingham.

Research in architecture at Nottingham covers a diverse multidisciplinary field including architectural history, theory and criticism; Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £5,100 per year (UK)

University of Plymouth

Join an active research area that explores the urban condition from a range of critical perspectives, through a focus on the nature of Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,500 per year (UK)
• 4 years Part time degree: £3,030 per year (UK)

PhD/ MPhil/ MRes Architecture

University of strathclyde.

Research opportunities The Department of Architecture's research portfolio is varied, covering the vast area between buildings and cities Read more...

Architecture - PhD

University of kent.

Architects and the designers of our surroundings are the driving force behind the design of our built environment. Whether they are Read more...

Architecture PhD

London south bank university.

Research in the area of architecture is carried out by specialist centres. The majority of academic staff belong to one or more of these Read more...

• 6 years Distance without attendance degree: £4,820 per year (UK)
• 3 years Full time degree: £4,820 per year (UK)
• 5 years Part time degree: £2,892 per year (UK)

University of Bath

Study a PhD in a department that integrates architecture and civil engineering research to take on the complex challenges of creating a Read more...

• 2 years Full time degree: £4,800 per year (UK)
• 3 years Part time degree: £2,400 per year (UK)

Architectural Space and Computation MPhil/PhD

Ucl (university college london).

About this degree The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) consists of a piece of supervised research, normally undertaken over a period of three Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £6,035 per year (UK)
• 5 years Part time degree: £2,930 per year (UK)

Architecture, Interiors & Urbanism PhDs and Mphil

University of portsmouth.

If you want to take your expertise in Architecture, Interiors and Urbanism into a postgraduate research degree, Portsmouth is the perfect Read more...

• 6 years Part time degree: £2,356 per year (UK)

University of Brighton

For over 30 years, the University of Brighton has brought innovation and impact through research in built environment, architecture and Read more...

• 7 years Part time degree: £2,356 per year (UK)

Doctor of Philosophy - MPhil / Phd

London metropolitan university.

A PhD at London Met is conducted purely by research. Each PhD is the unique development of a student’s individual research project, Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £6,500 per year (UK)
• 4 years Part time degree: £3,250 per year (UK)

Architecture Design (Social Science) PhD

While the design-based component of the project may be drawn, modelled, filmed, built, etc, candidates will be required to incorporate Read more...

Architectural Design MPhil/PhD

Architecture, interiors & urbanism phds and mphil (distance learning).

• 6 years Distance without attendance degree: £2,356 per year (UK)

Architecture (Science) PhD

This PhD addresses the core of architecture including design as research, and research that supports and stimulates design. Research is Read more...

Architecture and Digital Theory MPhil/PhD

This programme allows students to produce original research in areas related to computational tools applied to design, regardless of scale, Read more...

Architectural and Urban History and Theory MPhil/PhD

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• University of Suffolk
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• University of Oxford
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• Queen's University Belfast
• Architectural Association School Of Architecture
• Robert Gordon University
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• Goldsmiths, University of London

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• B.A. in Environmental Design

Environmental Design

http://arch.montana.edu/

School of Architecture

The School of Architecture offers a four year Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design undergraduate program which, when combined with our three-semester graduate program, leads to a fully accredited Master of Architecture degree. The Master of Architecture degree is a first-professional degree.

In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year term, an eight-year term with conditions, or a two-year term of continuing accreditation, or a three-year term of initial accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established education standards.

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a non-accredited undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the non-accredited degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

Montana State University, School of Architecture offers the following NAAB-accredited degree program:

Master of Architecture (pre-professional degree [126 credits] + 42 graduate credits)

The next scheduled NAAB-accreditation visit for Montana State University’s Master of Architecture degree program will take place in 2023.

The Montana State University School of Architecture received a full 8 year accreditation standard in Summer 2014.  

The School of Architecture seeks to prepare students for a lifelong critical engagement in the arts and science of architecture. Located in "the last best place" of the Northern Rockies, we are in an extraordinary position to engage questions regarding the relationship between the natural and built environments. As architects, we strive to play an essential and innovative role in enhancing the human condition. To that end, we teach and practice a moral, ethical and aesthetic responsibility to society and the natural world in the design of the built environment. The School of Architecture empowers students to critically engage the complexities of society and the natural environment by instilling the fundamental principles of design and inspiring a spirit of exploration and creative experimentation in shaping the built environment.

It is in our design studios that this philosophy is most clearly demonstrated. Each studio is conceived to build upon the previous studio in a manner that develops a student's mastery of the science of architecture while at the same time exposing the student to the rich diversity of our faculty's philosophical beliefs. Within a structured sequence of increasingly complex problems, emphasis is placed on teaching both an iterative design process and the visualization skills necessary to demonstrate the resultant design proposals. The science of architecture is continuously evolving and will do so over the life of every architect. We are committed to preparing our students to enter the profession with both contemporary scientific knowledge and emerging technical expertise to further this evolution while at the same time ensuring that our graduates are grounded in the fundamental drawing design thinking, investigative and communication skills that have been central to architecture throughout its history. In addition to the science of architecture, we are equally committed to ensuring that our graduates acquire a critical philosophy with which they can engage the design of the built environment.

Knowing how to build is a matter of science and technology but knowing what to build is a question of morality, ethics, and aesthetic responsibility. In this regard the faculty shares a commitment to the stewardship of our environment. This is particularly important in the Northern Rockies where our historic fabric of cities, rural communities and the natural landscape coexist in a tenuous balance. Focusing on the broad principles of creating a sustainable social, cultural, economic and physical environment we utilize the region, from its major cities to its national parks, as the canvas for our teaching, research and creative activities.

Architecture

Briefly defined, architecture is the art and science of designing buildings that provide appropriate accommodation for human activities. Professional practice requires a person with the unique combination of creative ability, technical knowledge, human understanding, and administrative skill. The undergraduate Environmental Design curriculum, which leads to the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design degree, prepares students to enter the graduate program in Architecture at Montana State University  or serves as a basis for application to other graduate programs or for employment as a non-architect in environmental design fields. However, the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design degree by itself does not qualify students to become registered architects. Students wishing to become registered architects must complete the graduate program of study and receive the accredited Master of Architecture degree.

Once admitted to the Environmental Design program, and after completing their fourth year design studios, students with an acceptable academic record may apply to the Master of Architecture professional program. Specific dates for graduate applications can be obtained from the main office of the School of Architecture. The program offers a professional education as well as exposure to other academic disciplines, and provides the foundation for an internship with a practicing architect.

In most states, a graduate with a professional degree in architecture needs to complete the requirements of the Architecture Experience Program (AXP)  developed by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) in which students gain varied experience in an architectural office. Graduates of the Master of Architecture program are qualified to take the Architectural Registration Exam in order to obtain a professional license. A person is not authorized to practice architecture until the architectural licensing examination is passed and a license is issued. Other areas of employment open to the architecture graduate include construction, government service, industry, and education.

In addition to the college preparatory curriculum, high school students planning on enrolling in architecture are especially encouraged to take art courses such as basic design and drawing.

Students begin the undergraduate program in the fall semester because the first course of the design studio sequence is offered fall semester only. Students that have completed their university core requirements or have completed a previous degree may enroll in an accelerated first year design sequence offered in the summer semester.

Admission to the Environmental Design Program

Admission to the first year of the Environmental Design Program is open. At the end of the spring semester of the first year of the Environmental Design Program, students will undergo a substantive portfolio review to assess their preparedness for the subsequent three years of the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design degree program.  All portfolio reviews will be undertaken by the Second Year Admissions Committee. Total enrollment in the program shall be limited by the teaching resources and space capacities of the School of Architecture.

To continue into the second year of the environmental design program first year Environmental Design students must:

• Be in good scholastic standing with a cumulative GPA of 2.7 or higher.
• Have received at least a 3.0 Architecture Studio GPA (ARCH 151RA Design Fundamentals I & ARCH 152IA Design Fundamentals II)
• Have satisfactorily completed all required course work of the first year of the Environmental Design Program.
• Have a design portfolio that indicates creative potential. The design portfolio will be evaluated by faculty in the School of Architecture to assess a student’s preparedness for the subsequent three years of the program. Transfer students from other architecture or environmental design programs must have, prior to acceptance to an advanced design year placement, an overall grade-point average of 3.0 or above and a high quality, creative portfolio. Transfer students planning to attend the fall semester must submit their application and portfolio to the Environmental Design Program by May 1. Applications received after that date will be considered on a space-available basis only.

Formal Admission Process for  the Environmental Design Program:

• Application instructions and portfolio information will be provide to First year Environmental Design students each spring semester by approximately March 31st. The completed application form, plus portfolio of design and graphic work, are to be submitted to the School of Architecture by May 1.
• First year students are required to submit a portfolio including examples of their design and graphic work.
• An applicant who has previously undergone the portfolio review and was found to not be prepared for the subsequent years of the Environmental Design program must re-apply  for the portfolio review in the regular manner.
• First year Environmental Design students who are found to not be prepared for the subsequent years of the program have the right to meet with the School of Architecture Director for a review of their materials.

Students who are found to not be prepared for the subsequent years of the Environmental Design program may not take ARCH 253, ARCH 254, ARCH 261, or ARCH 262 or any upper division courses in the curriculum. Former students who have withdrawn after being admitted to the program must be in good scholastic standing for re-admission and will be readmitted on a space available basis only. Former students must contact the School in writing, stating their intent to return, at least two months prior to their return so that a decision can be made regarding space availability.

Architecture Residency Internship Program

This is an optional enrichment program for students who, for a short period in their education, would benefit at least as much from professional experience as academic experience. The goals of the program are those of the required architecture courses plus those which can be sought only in the office context, such as familiarization with the relationship of all aspects of professional practice.

Students must obtain their own employment in an architecture firm for a continuous period of not less than 6 months.

Students must apply to the program by the end of Spring semester of their 3rd year. The Architecture Residency Internship  will take place during the Summer and Fall of the student's fourth year in Environmental Design curriculum. The Residency Internship Studio Coordinator reviews all applications and makes decisions concerning acceptance into the program. The criteria for admission are:

• A minimum 2.75 overall cumulative grade point average and a minimum 3.0 in all architecture courses.
• Completion of all required courses as tabulated through the third year.

Foreign Study Program

This is an optional enrichment program which allows qualified students to participate in an intensive semester of foreign study. Students pay the additional costs of travel, lodging, and administration related to this program in addition to normal tuition and fees. The program is typically offered  Summer semester, subject to funding constraints and student demand, and is organized and directed by a faculty member(s) from the School of Architecture.

The criteria for participation in the Foreign Study Program are as follows:

• A high degree of self-motivation and self-discipline as demonstrated by performance in required course work.
• A minimum 3.0 overall cumulative grade point average and a minimum 3.0 in all architecture courses.
• Completion of ARCH 121IA , ARCH 322IA and ARCH 323IA .

A program application must be submitted by  December 1st of the third year of the Environmental Design program. A cash deposit will be required at this time. 

Standard of Work in Architecture Courses

Any student receiving two consecutive grades of C- or lower in any design sequence course will be required to repeat the last course in which a C- or lower was received.

Costs for an architectural education are similar to, though somewhat higher than, other programs in the university. An academic exposure to both rural and urban settings through class field trips, the integration of computer technology, networking, digital fabrication, printing as well as other program enhancements are an important part of an architect's education. In order to meet this need and help defer costs of the field trips, computer integration, lecture series and program enhancements, a Program Fee is assessed to each student in the environmental design and architectural programs that reflects the student's degree status in the program. For current Program Fee costs, students may contact the School of Architecture.  Students are required to purchase their own personal notebook computer, which meets the specifications of the School of Architecture, during the second year of the Environmental Design undergraduate program. The computer will be an essential tool for use throughout the Professional Program.

Beyond normal tuition, fees, room, board, and supplies, an architectural student requires drawing equipment and materials for drawing and models during the school year. This can be expected to add at least another $600 per year to the cost. Inquiries for financial aid or assistance should be sent directly to the Office of Financial Aid Services at Montana State University.

Curriculum in Environmental Design

ARCH 414 , ARCH 428 and ARCH 450 are offered both Summer and Fall semesters in the Senior year  to provide diverse options. 

A minimum of 126 credits is required for graduation; 42 of these credits must be in courses numbered 300 and above.

The School of Architecture reserves the right to retain student work for exhibition and instructional purposes.

Graduate Programs

• Master of Architecture

Montana State University

P.O. Box 172220

Bozeman, MT 59717-2220

Telephone: (406) 994-6650

Fax: (406) 994-1972

Email: [email protected]

Location: 101 Montana Hall

Antoni Campeau

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Voiland College names 2024 outstanding students

Washington State University Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture recognized outstanding students at its annual convocation ceremony on April 11. The event was sponsored by the Boeing Company. Honored award winners included:

• Outstanding Sophomore: Rylee Gannon A chemical engineering major with a 3.8 GPA, Rylee Gannon is a research assistant for Professor Steve Saunders, where she synthesizes and characterizes nanomaterials for use as catalysts in oxidation reactions Gannon also works in the Frank Innovation Zone and is an active member of the Society of Women Engineers.
• Outstanding Junior: Ethan Villalovoz Ethan Villalovoz is a computer science student with a GPA of 3.99, specializing in data mining, machine learning, and data science. Some of his more notable achievements include being a CS Research Mentorship Program Scholar, a Generation Google Scholarship Recipient, and a Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar. He has also engaged in extensive extracurricular activities, including internships at Google and a research position at Carnegie Mellon University.
• Outstanding Senior: Katy Ayers A Fulbright Fellowship Award and Marshall Scholarship Semifinalist, Katy Ayers is the first WSU student to win the Udall Scholar in Environment award. Her thirst for knowledge has given her robust research experience around the country and the world. One of Ayers’ nominators said, “Although I have worked with many outstanding students in my 20 years of teaching at the undergraduate level, I don’t think I have met anyone with Katy’s experiences, accomplishments and passion. She is motivated, demonstrates curiosity and critical thinking and communicates incredibly well.”
• Outstanding Teaching Assistant for grading/office hours: Kutay Sesli Kutay Sesli’s nominators were impressed by his innovative approaches and genuine care for students this past year. Kutay recognized that that conventional ways to grade assignments might not provide a full picture of where students need improvement, so he took the initiative to develop an innovative, consistent, fair, and detailed grading system that helped students develop trust in the grading process and a better understanding of how to improve their performance throughout the semester. He approaches each task with the mindset of a true engineer, and the results left no doubt that his grading was done with meticulous attention to detail and with the best outcomes for students in mind. Among the feedback students have given include: “Kutay is the best TA all semester, excellent job!” and “Kutay is dope!”
• Outstanding Teaching Assistant — Teaching/Instruction: Chris Pereyda Chris Pereyda has served as teaching assistant in several courses, including Introduction to Computer Programming. In one of his courses there were more than 500 students. One of those students said of Chris: “He is one of the best TAs I have ever had the pleasure of learning from. Being a Computer Science student can be difficult, but his explanations and knowledge of the source material helped me grasp some of the concepts better and persevere.” One of his faculty members said, “Chris was one of my most reliable, impactful, and effective TAs during my twenty years of teaching at WSU. Chris is the ideal example of a lead teaching assistant. He is knowledgeable in the area, patient with TAs and students, flexible and adaptive to different TAs’ and students’ styles and paces. There is not a better example of a TA than Chris.
• Outstanding Research Assistant: Ali Mahmoodigahrouei As a PhD candidate at WSU, Ali Mahmoodigahrouei has shown an exceptional academic record and research skills. Since joining WSU in 2022, he has published 14 impactful papers with over 300 citations, earning several prestigious awards, including the David C. Goss Scholarship and the “UTC Outstanding Student of the Year Award.” His nominators feel he consistently goes above and beyond expectations, managing multiple projects simultaneously and with great success. He also excels as a mentor, effectively supervising undergraduate students while providing valuable assistance to other PhD students in his research group.
• Outstanding Dissertation: Lin Shao Lin Shao’s nominators say that he is a truly exceptional graduate student and has done excellent research on chemical recycling of plastic waste by aminolysis and utilization of the recycled compounds for preparation of new polymer materials. His thesis research has received a broad interest from researchers around the world. Shao, as one of guest speakers, was invited to give a seminar at the Royal Society of Chemistry and Chemistry World. His research was also featured by “The Voice of America.”

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