Students who have a bachelor’s degree and who have completed all or most of Rensselaer’s requirements in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences may apply for the Master of Architecture as a first professional degree (M.Arch. I). This degree takes 3 1/2 years (one summer plus three academic years) to earn and is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).

The professional M.Arch. program provides a balanced education in architectural design, history, theory, and technology. At its center is the design studio where projects are given that address the issue of design at all scales through a multiplicity of strategies and that range from the design of carefully crafted objects to architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.

Admission   Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, should have earned a 3.0 cumulative average (on a 4.0 scale) and have, within their undergraduate studies a course in free-hand or life-study drawing. They must also have eight to ten courses in humanities and social sciences, one year of mathematics with at least one course in calculus, one course in physics, and additional courses in the sciences. Course work in the arts and art history is also desirable. A portfolio of creative works and critical commentary on those works is required for admission. Application is made to Rensselaer Admissions. Students with previous architecture courses will be considered for advanced standing in this program. Enrollment in the initial summer studio is usually necessary to determine placement in the design sequence.

Tuition and Financial Aid   Students in the professional M.Arch. program pay tuition by the semester. Departmental financial aid is available in the form of tuition scholarship based on merit.

Master of Architecture Curriculum

1. Design Explorations 2 and 3 address a variety of significant theoretical issues and are taught together. Topics alternate each year.
2. Taken in the same semester as Design Development studio.

GENERAL NOTES:

Studios are sequential. The Design Development studio should be taken after the completion of the Urban studio (Design 4) and before Thesis.

Technology courses: ARCH-2330 is sequential and prerequisite to ARCH-4330; ARCH-2360 is sequential and prerequisite to ARCH-4740. Design 1 and Design 2 are prerequisites to ARCH-2330 Structures 1.

Design Studio 1, Architectural Design 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and the ARCH-2330, ARCH-2360, and ARCH-4330 series are prerequisites to the Design Development studio. ARCH-4740 may be taken concurrently with the Design Development studio.

A plan of study is required for all graduate students. The degree requires 112 credit hours. Admission with advanced standing can fulfill a significant number of these credits, especially for students who have been enrolled in undergraduate prearchitecture programs or nonaccredited professional programs.

Introductory Summer Session   The program begins with a 12-week summer session that provides full immersion in architectural design. The summer studio is small and is characterized by intense and highly-individualized student-faculty interaction. The graduate professional student uses the summer session to prepare for entry into design at the second-year level in the fall; it also provides an opportunity to evaluate his or her design capacity.

Design   Students are enrolled in design each semester and begin intensive design work in the initial summer session. The design studios present a wide range of project situations; the emphasis is on exploration, on uncovering the critical aspects of the project, and then on developing appropriate design responses. Most studio situations are contextually complete, and students are expected to address cultural, social, economic, political, and technological issues in design. Most projects are set in communal situations; the earlier projects are set in the immediate Albany-Troy-Schenectady region and, as the design sequence unfolds, projects are located in a variety of places, including major urban centers in the northeastern United States and Canada.

The first four studios (Design 1-4) introduce students to the full range of issues encountered in design; they initiate and reinforce design as critical inquiry. The remaining studios focus on significant concerns in architecture. They are “vertical” in that they include upper-division undergraduate and graduate students; they present choices of studio and faculty. Among the vertical studios is a required Design Development studio, in which a prior design project is advanced through significant structural, mechanical, and construction materials detailing.

History and Theory   A required four-semester sequence explores and raises questions about architectural works and ideas, to the contexts within which we build, and to the historical and theoretical bases for the field. Following this sequence, students may take additional architectural history/theory electives.

Design Explorations   Design Explorations is a series of three graduate courses that explore significant theoretical issues in relation to architecture and urban design.

Technology   Technological issues are introduced in the first design studio as essential to the conception and making of architecture. A series of required technology courses covers both qualitative and quantitative views of the technologies of building, including statics and strength of materials; basic structures and framing; design of wood, steel, and concrete structures; criteria for selecting building materials and systems; environmental systems, including heating, ventilating, and air conditioning; plumbing and electrical systems; and sensory environment, including the luminous, acoustical, and tactile environments.

Computing   Computer competency is central to the future of the professional practice of architecture. From the first year, students are able to expand their knowledge and skill through course work with key computing concepts and applications—in some cases integrated within the design studios—and through independent experimentation in the many computer labs at the school and Institute. Apart from well supported general purpose labs, the school is installing high-end multimedia environments within the many design studios. Students have access to the latest in 3-dimensional design software, virtual reality programming tools, and video and multimedia production hardware and software to investigate the value of these technologies to critical design practice. Students may experiment with immersive 3-D, VR collaboration, or video and animation based investigations of architectural and urban form. The most advanced software from film production and VR-based manufacturing has been incorporated in an environment designed for digital collaboration.

M.Arch. Thesis   The M.Arch program of study concludes with an individually initiated, planned, and developed comprehensive thesis project. Planning begins in the second year and is developed in an exchange of ideas with and a critique by a faculty adviser and review committee. This program begins with a short competition project in which all take part followed by an integrated design research phase lasting the remainder of the first and throughout the second semester. Student proposals are developed in the context of published statements of interest from the faculty. The thesis is an opportunity to bring together the student’s experiences to date. This may be approached as a synthesis of previous work, emphasizing application of gained knowledge at a level significantly beyond that already reached by the student. Alternatively, experiences to date may be used as a base from which to explore and to innovate. The thesis is an opportunity to develop one’s point of view about architecture and its place in the world; to question conventions, habitual responses, and routine approaches in architectural design; and to investigate issues that the student sees as significant to architecture.

Degree   The Master of Architecture degree, accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board, is awarded upon successful completion of this program.