Architecture

This is a two-year program that culminates in a thesis based on research in the student’s area of concentration. Students are required to focus their work on a specific academic area or professional issue. Students conduct original scholarly and critical research in topics of importance to the field of architecture and urbanism today.

M.A. students work in a variety of intellectual and programmatic milieus including new forms of historical research, cultural studies, and interdisciplinary studies with particular emphasis on connections with geography, design, art history, archaeology and literary studies, as well as studio and design based research. In addition to their course work and individual research, students participate in collective project based activities, including publications, symposia and exhibitions.

The program is distinguished by its engagement with contemporary design and historical techniques as well by the unusual balance it offers between fostering in students great independence and freedom in their courses of study and providing fundamental training in the various aspects of architectural scholarship. Students in the M.A. program often work with faculty on research projects and teaching, particularly in relation to CityLAB, Hi-C, and the Experiential Technology Center.

A minimum of 126 units of coursework is required of which at least 114 units must be taken at the graduate level (200 and 400 series). Students must take at least eight units per quarter and may take up to 16 units in a quarter. The remaining 12 units of required coursework may include upper division undergraduate courses but these must be courses offered by departments other than Architecture and Urban Design, or no more than eight units of 596 (independent study) courses that may be taken campuswide.

Applicants to the Master of Arts (M.A.) program are required to hold a Bachelor's degree (or its equivalent) comparable in standard and content to a Bachelor's degree from the University of California.M.A. application dossier must include:A short biographical résuméAcademic transcripts (two official copies)Examples of written research workThree letters of recommendationA statement of purpose and a proposed program of studiesGraduate Record Examination (GRE) scores English Language Requirements IELTS band: 7 TOEFL paper-based test score : 560 TOEFL iBT® test: 87