Graduate studies in architecture

Graduate studies in architecture at Georgia Tech are comprised of two distinct degree-granting programs: the Master of Architecture (M Arch) and the Master of Science (MS).

The M Arch Program is the professional program in architecture leading to the NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture degree. This program accommodates both a two-year curriculum for those students with a four-year, preprofessional degree in architecture and a three-and-a-half-year curriculum for those students without a preprofessional degree in architecture.

The MS Program is a nonprofessional, research-oriented degree program that requires a minimum of 30 hours of coursework. The Master of Science is administered through the PhD Program.

Together, these programs are linked through a rich array of studios and courses that engage both theoretical discourse and design speculation about architecture. Topical offerings in the areas of design, theory, history, technology, professional and social practice, culture and behavior, visual arts, and design computing comprise the five fields of study available within the graduate program:

  1. The program emphasizes the city and its many manifestations as a context for architectural and urban speculation and explores solutions to urban problems through direct engagement with Atlanta and other environs as working design laboratories.
  2. The program promotes the knowledge of architectural and urban history as a basis for theoretical discourse and as an impetus for both critical reflection and design speculation upon the social, economic, and political dimensions of a diverse cultural landscape.
  3. The program stresses the central engagement of technology as both philosophical framework and constructional means for the generation of culturally responsible form that accommodates and integrates human, functional, and environmental concerns.
  4. The program engages the intertwined contexts of both professional and social practice as fertile realms of inquiry across a wide range of issues - from the legal, financial, and business aspects of professional action to the cultural, behavioral, and experiential dimensions of everyday life.
  5. The program cultivates the relationship between architecture and art and encourages the critical exploration of representational means in design ranging from traditional techniques to electronic media for purposes of both speculation about and production of architecture.