Architecture and Design

Program | Faculty | Master's | Courses

The Master of Architecture degree, the first to be offered at a public institution in New England, is required for obtaining a license to practice architecture in most states in the country.

The course of study consists of four main components: Core Requirements, Area of Knowledge concentration, Professional Experience, and a culminating degree project. Course offerings are organized around an interdisciplinary curriculum involving faculty and students from architecture, interior design, studio art, art history, public history, landscape architecture and regional planning, building materials and wood technology, civil engineering, environmental engineering, environmental sciences, computer science, and management. Students may also take classes through the Five College consortium, also including Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges.

Requirements

Prerequisites for admission to the three-year program are college physics, calculus, and an introduction to architectural history. Applicants who hold a bachelor of architecture degree from another institution or who have graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst B.F.A. in Design / Architectural Studies degree program may be admitted with advanced standing and may be able to graduate in two years. The minimum requirement for graduation is 84 credits or 54 credits with advanced standing.

Core Requirements

Students who enter the three-year program are required to satisfactorily complete a 51- credit core sequence in three areas: Studio, Technical, and History and Theory. Students who enter with advanced standing must satisfactorily complete the three-area core of 27 credits. All students must also complete a Professional/Off Campus semester and a 9- credit Master's Project.

Studio Sequence

Studio, Analysis, and Representation courses are required. A total of 21 credits can be earned in this area.

Technical Sequence

Technical courses in Building Physics, Tectonics, and Architectural Integration are required. A total of 21 credits can be earned in this area.

History and Theory Sequence

A minimum of 6 credits is required in the Architectural History sequence.

Professional/Off Campus Semester

One professional practicum or off-campus semester is required. The practicum is coordinated as a component of the Internship Development Program required for professional licensure. Students receive a minimum of 3 credits for this experience.

Areas of Knowledge

Each student in the Master of Architecture program is also required to assemble a coherent, faculty-approved study plan in an Area of Knowledge. The study plan comprises three electives for a total of at least 9 credits, the Research Forum, and the Master's Project Architecture in which this knowledge is developed and integrated. The following interdependent groupings contribute to each Area, which is defined by a viewpoint of interiority and/or architecture.

Agency: Anthropology and Cultural Studies, Archeology, Assistive Technology, Economics, Gender Studies, Legal Studies, Resource Economics.

Inhabitation: Anthropology and Cultural Studies, Assistive Technology, Economics, Gender Studies, History, Mechanical Engineering, Performance Arts, Physics of Sound, Planning, Psychology, Sociology.

Legacy: Archeology, Art/Architectural History, History, Legal Studies, Public History, Politics, Religion.

Material: Visual Arts, Construction, Building Materials and Wood Technology, Materials Science, Structural Engineering, Resource Economics.

Sustainability: Anthropology and Cultural Studies, Building Materials and Wood Technology, Environmental History, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geosciences, Landscape Architecture, Legal Studies, Resource Economics.

Terrain: Landscape Architecture, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geosciences, Urban and Regional Planning.

Students have access to rich and diverse course selections to design their Area of Knowledge through a network of courses and resources across the University and the Five College consortium, also consisting of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges.

Master of Science (in Design)

This master's degree program, emphasizing interior and environmental design, provides a professional education to candidates with strong backgrounds in art, architecture and/or design who wish to develop special interests and research in building interiors. The interdisciplinary program requires each student to develop a research focus that draws from disciplines and departments across the University and Five Colleges. Students develop the research skills to explore ideas relating to both the art and technology of design. They are required to analyze design precedents, interior materials, building technologies, and codes and regulations and to develop skill sets critical to successful interior research and design. Multiple practical issues are embedded within the design studio sequence and supplemented by specific courses covering presentation, formation of space with light, the design and use of furniture, basic structures, history and theory, detailing as a consequence of concept, sustainable design, and the pragmatics of professional practice.

Additionally, Master of Science students address the ways in which interior architecture relates to social issues. These include the relation of the formation of a space to the nature of human relations within it and how design and building provide opportunities to consider such issues as individuality, human diversity, social density, and handicapped accessibility. Students are encouraged to develop an understanding of the potential that comes through analysis and problem solving, firmly grounded in social ethics, as the basis for design.

Requirements

The Master of Science is primarily a two-year program for applicants who hold a prior degree in design. Applicants without a design background may apply for provisional status and take designated undergraduate courses as preparation for graduate studies. Minimum graduation requirements are 45 credits.

Core Requirements include a three-semester Studio Sequence that may include a practicum; a two-course Technical Sequence, a Research Forum, and Master's Project in Design.

In addition to core requirements, all students in the Master Science degree program are required to assemble a coherent research plan to further their individual development. The courses that form the basis of individual research are selected from a list of approved courses offered on campus or by other members of the Five College consortium.

For more information on course offerings for Architecture and Design, visit www.umass.edu/art/design.