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The Master of Architecture first professional degree is for students committed to developing - with our faculty and their fellow students - the attitudes, skill and methods needed to work as architects in support of a sustainable built environment of the highest quality.

We see the built field – and architecture as part of it - as an embodiment of culture in all its diversity and complexity. It is in constant flux while nevertheless adhering to an underlying coherence. It consists of both ordinary and special buildings and spaces found in built fields that span time and space from dense urban agglomerations to the most rural settlements. The evolution of the built field - depending on both convention and invention for its sustenance - is guided by professionals from a wide range of disciplines, including architects, as well as by public officials, corporate leaders, and everyday users.

In light of these realities, and because we expect our graduates to engage in diverse forms of local and global practice over their careers, we challenge them with knowledge both new and old. We stress how to learn and how to design, incorporating the methods that constitute the profession's shared body of knowledge. Because we respect the lessons practice offers, we emphasize the idea of the reflective practitioner as a conceptual framework linking the required internship to our teaching in the classroom and studios and in our varied field experiences.

Because of this viewpoint, a distinct part of our program is the required internships. Students enrolled in the Master of Architecture program work in architecture firms all over the country and the world, in internships organized in a variety of patterns. (See Degree Options) These professional internships always relate to academic work through seminars that draw lessons from the practice experience. Some options require detailed case studies of projects in the offices where students work, studies supported by a mentor in the firm, but guided by a faculty member of the Department of Architecture.

Another distinct component of our program is the concentrations, which presently include landscape architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, sustainability, and fabrication. We also allow students to define independent areas of concentration with the approval of the Director of the Master of Architecture Program. These concentrations help connect our students to other disciplines and fields, and to deepen their knowledge in a particular area of interest. In selecting a concentration, our students have direct access to faculty in the Departments of Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Development, and to faculty associated with the Center for Energy Research, Education and Service; the Institute for Digital Fabrication; the Building Futures Institute; the Land Design Institute; and the Community Based Projects program. Dual degrees in Business, Urban Planning and Historic Preservation are also under development.

We welcome to our university community students from around the world, of all ages, races and backgrounds, who wish to work with us on the vital issues and opportunities that face the profession as it seeks to contribute to improving our man-made environment.