Here in the multicultural heart of the Sonoran Desert, your education will be inflected by place and materials and expressive of the ethos of our time.
We see architecture as the intertwining of sensible, technical, historical, intellectual and aesthetic activities—a research-based creative practice. At the core of the M.Arch program is a carefully orchestrated series of studios and synthesized support courses that foster mastery of fundamentals and advanced processes with the experimentation required for critical practice. Before advancing to the final year, students develop a portfolio for the M.Arch Milestone. The curriculum culminates in a master’s project, which includes future-oriented research that informs a design project.
Master of Architecture Pathways
The Master of Architecture is available via one of two pathways, according to your prior preparation:
Advanced Standing Pathway
For students with an undergraduate studio-based architecture degree, the Advanced Standing pathway (two years) develops prior design fundamentals into a critical practice education. The curriculum is particularly attuned to sustainable practice and the understanding of sensible relationships between the natural and built environments. The program imparts a design sensibility appropriate to the impending environmental crises facing this generation. Applicants who have a previous accredited architecture degree are eligible for advanced placement.
Standard Pathway
For students with little or no design background, the Standard Pathway (three years plus summer) starts with a summer immersion in our rich, regional design culture. Beginning with fundamental architectonic problems and an orientation to the desert, the first year brings students quickly up to competence in basic environmental design issues and skills. This program is available to students with a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution, in any discipline—no previous architecture or design experience is required.
Curriculum
The M.Arch program fosters the development of architects who are both scholars and makers via the integration of passive and active building technologies, theory and history, digital fabrication, design communications, materials and assembly and methodologies of practice. This rigorous and comprehensive curriculum provides graduates with the skills necessary to enter a diverse range of leadership positions in the field of architecture, design and construction.
The M.Arch program consists of 101 units. Students admitted to the M.Arch program start in Year 1 (including Summer Immersion). Students admitted with advanced standing, given undergraduate studio-based architecture degrees, start in Year 2.
Summer 1 - Immersion | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course | Units | ||||
| ARC 510A Design Studio I: Architect's Mind | 4 | ||||
| ARC 540A Design Communication I: Architect's Hand | 3 | ||||
Total Units | 7 | ||||
Fall 1 | Spring 1 | ||||
| Course | Units | Course | Units | ||
| ARC 510B Design Studio II: Poetics | 6 | ARC 510C Design Studio III: Ethics | Material + Land | 6 | ||
| ARC 521A Architectural Technology I: Introduction | 3 | ARC 526 Professional Practice I: Pre-Design | 3 | ||
| ARC 531 History & Theory I: Ancient + Medieval | 4 | ARC 521B Architectural Technology II: Materials + Methods | 3 | ||
| ARC 540B Design Communication II | 3 | ARC 532 History and Theory II: 1350 to early 20th century | 4 | ||
Total Units | 16 | Total Units | 16 | ||
Fall 2
| Course | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| ARC 510D Design Studio IV: Urban | 6 | |
| ARC 521C Architectural Technology III: Structures | 3 | |
| ARC 533 History and Theory III: Modern and Contemporary Architecture | 4 | |
| ARC 540C Design Communication III | 3 | |
Total Units | 16 | |
Spring 2
| Course | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| ARC 510E Design Studio V: Community | Indigenous Design Studio | 6 | |
| ARC 521D Architectural Technology IV: Environmental Systems + Wellbeing | 3 | |
| ARC 541 Professional Practice II: Contract Documents | 3 | |
| ARC 599 Milestone | 3 | |
Total Units | 15 | |
Fall 3
| Course | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| ARC 510F Design Studio VI: Civic | 6 | |
| ARC 909 Master's Project Prep: Collaborative Pre-Design Research Course | 3 | |
| ARC 597A Architectural Research Methods | 3 | |
| Elective | 3 | |
Total Units | 15 | |
Spring 3
| Course | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| ARC 909 Master's Project: Collaborative Performance-Driven Design Studio | 6 | |
| ARC 536 Professional Practice III: Ethics & Practice | 4 | |
| ARC 5XX Architectural Technology V: Advanced Technical Elective | 3 | |
| Elective | 3 | |
Total Units | 16 | |
Course Descriptions
The course descriptions listed here align with the M.Arch curriculum above, and are subject to change. View all Architecture courses, including electives, on the University of Arizona Course Catalog. For more information, contact an academic advisor.
| Course | Description |
|---|---|
| ARC 510A | Design Studio I: Architect's Mind Introduction to essential methods of visual communication, spatial design and material manipulation. 4 units. |
| ARC 510B | Design Studio II: Poetics Design of buildings with emphasis on fundamental design and visual communication skills, spatial integration and tectonic assembly. 6 units. |
| ARC 510C | Design Studio III: Ethics | Material + Land Formulation of architectural proposals informed by and embodying ethical relationships with the land, based upon observation and analysis of phenomena in the Sonoran Desert region. 6 units. |
| ARC 510D | Design Studio IV: Design of medium scale public buildings accommodating varying spatial, structural and environmental characteristics, with emphasis on site ~ building interface, accessibility and sustainability. 6 units. |
| ARC 510E | Design Studio V: Comprehensive design of buildings with emphasis on systems logic, efficient utilization of resources, and rigorous definition of appropriate interface between site, program and technical systems. 6 units. |
| ARC 510F | Design Studio VI: Application of previously learned core skills to design research, foreign contexts, collaborative methods, multi-disciplinary work, design/build problems, or urban design outreach. 6 units. |
| ARC 909 | Master's Project: Collaborative Performance-Driven Design Studio
|
| Course | Description |
|---|---|
| ARC 521A | Architectural Technology I: Introduction. Introduction to principles of structures, materials and methods of construction, and environmentally adaptive systems as integrated technologies. 3 units. |
| ARC 521B | Architectural Technology II: Materials + Methods. This course introduces fundamentals of small to medium building structures, materials and methods, and environmentally adaptive architectural design. 3 units. |
| ARC 521C | Architectural Technology III: Structures. Advanced structures, materials and methods of construction, and environmentally adaptive systems as integrated technologies. 3 units. |
| ARC 521D | Architectural Technology IV: Environmental Systems + Wellbeing. This course covers advanced concepts of medium to large scale building structures, materials and methods of construction, and environmentally adaptive systems designs. 3 units. |
| ARC 540A | Design Communication I. This course emphasizes the development of digital communication techniques for the analysis and presentation of architectural ideas. Essential methods of digital drawing are investigated through a series of interrelated exercises. Material exploration of the design research case studies will be developed and interrogated concurrently with our digital production. 3 units. |
| ARC 540B | Design Communication II. This course promotes the further development of communication techniques for the study and presentation of architectural ideas. Advances in digital modeling, animation and rapid prototyping allow architects to investigate, test and assemble their designs in the computer. This data can then be used to generate drawings, presentation images, analytical information, as well as a direct export to fabricate an output. This course will be an overview of all these methodologies culminating in an architectural assembly. 3 units. |
| ARC 540C | Design Communication III. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to advanced digital technologies in architecture with a specific focus on parametric modeling for design applications. Graduate students will be required to include a more extensive research component with their project and complete more in-depth exercises. 3 units. |
| Course | Description |
|---|---|
| ARC 531 | History and Theory I: Ancient + Medieval. Considers the creation, use and interpretation of ancient and medieval architecture from a variety of perspectives, including environmental, functional, material, structural, formal, socio-political and cultural. 4 units. |
| ARC 532 | History and Theory II: 1350 to early 20th century. Explores cultural, social, technological and ideological influences on the built environments of global cultures, from the earliest habitations through the Renaissance. 4 units. |
| ARC 533 | History and Theory III: Modern and Contemporary Architecture. The study of modern, postmodern and contemporary architecture through examination of works and theories and their impact on the discipline of architecture. 4 units. |
| Course | Description |
|---|---|
| ARC 526 | Pre-Design. This course introduces students to the study of context in which architecture is to be developed. 3 units. |
| ARC 541 | Contract Documents. Introduces students to the technical drawings and supporting documentation needed to convey design intent to the various parties involved in realizing built work. 3 units. |
| ARC 536 | Ethics + Practice. Introduces students to contracts, office practices, and ethical issues facing the profession, with focus on pre-design and programming methodologies, including problem seeking and goal identification. 4 units. |
| ARC 597A | Architectural Research Methods. 3 units. |
| ARC 599 | Milestone. 3 units. |
Master's Project
The master’s project is a vehicle for students to reflect on contemporary, emerging and future conditions as they employ their values and optimize their skills and knowledge. The projects vary each year and are conceived through student-faculty collaboration. The projects strive to serve as springboards to the profession with the objective of preparing students to maximize their impact on the world through the discipline of architecture