Lucas Boyd Section
Section drawing by Lucas Boyd (M.Arch ‘17)

The Master of Architecture I curriculum provides a disciplined approach to the fundamentals of architecture in a setting that ensures the flexibility and latitude necessary for students to develop their individual talents and skills.

The School believes that the educational experience of its program is enriched by students who have diverse educational backgrounds and, therefore, embraces students who in their undergraduate education have majored in a wide spectrum of disciplines, from architecture to any of the arts, sciences, or humanities. This program, leading to a degree of Master of Architecture (M.Arch.), is for students holding undergraduate liberal arts degrees, such as a B.A. or B.S., who seek their first professional architectural degree. It typically requires three years of full-time residency to complete the degree requirements.

Entering students, with a sound liberal arts background assumed, are required to follow a curriculum in which their creative powers are stimulated through a sequence of problem-solving exercises involving basic and architectural design, building technology, freehand and computer-assisted drawing, and an introduction to design methodologies, as well as courses in architectural theory and the planning, design, and development of the urban landscape. Architectural design problems in the first year start in the fall term at limited scale and by the spring term progress to an investigation of dwelling. During the spring term of first year and until mid-June, a community building project is undertaken, which provides an opportunity for the design of an affordable house as well as the experience of carrying the design through the building process when the class builds a final design. The fall term of second year undertakes the design of a public building, and the spring term of second year is devoted to urbanism. During the fall and spring terms of third year, students, through a lottery system, are at liberty to choose from a variety of advanced design studios, many of which are led by the profession’s leading practitioners and theoreticians. A number of support courses are required during the three-year curriculum. Required courses in design and visualization, technology and practice, history and theory, urban studies, and visual studies support the studios.

Within the limits of certain required credit distributions, students are encouraged to explore elective course options. Courses—falling into the broad categories of design and visualization, technology and practice, history and theory, and urbanism and landscape—support and augment the pivotal studio offerings. Courses offered by other schools and departments within the University may be taken for credit. mphasis throughout the program is on architectural design, critical thinking, and decision-making.

Course of study

In course titles, a designates fall term, b designates spring term, and c designates summer. The School reserves the right to change the prescribed course of study as necessary.

M.Arch I total requirement: 114 credits

Pre-First Year (Mid-Summer)

1000c, Architectural Foundations* 0
Total 0

First Year (Fall)

1011a, Architectural Design 9
Visualization elective†† 3
2011a, Structures I 3
3011a, Architecture and Modernity: Sites and Spaces 3
Total 18

First Year (Spring)

1012b, Architectural Design 9
2012b, Structures II 3
2016b, Building Project I 3
3012b, Architecture and Modernity: Theories and Projects 3
Total 18

First Year (Early Summer)

2017c, Building Project II† 3
1019c, Visualization and Computation† 3
Total 6

Second Year (Fall)

1021a, Architectural Design 9
2021a, Environmental Design 3
4011a, Intro. to Urban Design 3
Elective‡ 3
Total 18

Second Year (Spring)

1022b, Architectural Design 9
2022b, Systems Integration 3
Elective‡ 3
Elective‡ 3
Total 18

Third Year (Fall)

Advanced Design Studio 9
2031a, Arch. Practice & Management 3
Elective‡ 3
Elective‡ 3
Total 18**

Third Year (Spring)

Advanced Design Studio 9
Elective‡ 3
Elective‡ 3
Elective‡ 3
Total 18**

If an entering student can demonstrate competence and passing grades, from an accredited school, in the material covered in any of the program’s required support courses (except for 2031a), that student may request a waiver of those courses. A waiver of any required course, however, does not reduce the number of course credits required to fulfill the program’s degree requirements. Support course waivers are granted by the Curriculum and Rules Committees based upon the recommendations of the course’s study area coordinators. Requests for a waiver must be submitted to one of the course’s study area coordinators within one week of the start of the first term of the student’s enrollment. A transcript, course syllabus, and a notebook or examples of work accomplished must be presented to the study area coordinators.

*This course is required for those students so designated by the Admissions Committee. Typically, this course will be required for students who do not have significant pre-architectural training. This five-week course begins mid-July and concludes mid-August.

†This course concludes in late June.

††Students are offered a selection of course options in the fall term of their first year that satisfy the first-term visualization requirement. Selection is made through a student-run lottery.

‡One elective must be a qualified Visualization elective (in addition to the required Visualization elective taken during the first year of study), one elective must be in the History and Theory study area and must require one or more research papers totaling at least 5,000 words, one elective must be in the Urbanism and Landscape study area, and one elective must be in the Technology and Practice study area. These required electives must be taken within the School of Architecture and may be taken in any term. Students may not substitute independent elective course work to fulfill these requirements.

Program Requirements

Summer Preparation Courses for Incoming M.Arch. I Students

In the six weeks before the beginning of the fall term, the School offers four summer preparation courses that are required for incoming M.Arch. I students. In fall 2020, these courses will be offered online and/or during the fall semester.

  1. Architectural Fundamentals (1000c). This five-week course is offered at no charge for those newly admitted students who do not have significant pre-architectural training. This course is required only for those students who have been informed in their acceptance letter that they must take this course. Students required to take the summer session must satisfactorily pass this course before being admitted to the School’s first-year M.Arch I program in the fall. Classes are held each day, Monday through Friday. The average day is broken into morning and afternoon sessions. Students are expected to complete assignments outside of class.
  2. Summer Shops Techniques Course. This one-week course introduces incoming students to the School’s fabrication equipment and shops. The course stresses good and safe shop techniques. Students are not allowed to use the School’s shops unless they have satisfactorily completed this course.
  3. Summer Digital Media Orientation Course. This two-part course, which occurs during the same week as the Summer Shops Techniques Course, covers accessing the School’s servers, the use of the School’s equipment, and the School’s digital media policies and procedures. This course is required only for those M.Arch. I students who did not take Architectural Fundamentals (1000c); see paragraph 1 above.
  4. Arts Library Research Methods Session. This ninety-minute session covers various strategies to answer research questions pertaining to course curricula and topics by using tools such as the Yale University online catalog, architecture databases, image resources, print resources, and archival resources.

School Portfolio

In addition to the 114 satisfactorily completed course credits, a student must satisfactorily complete the portfolio requirement in order to receive an M.Arch. degree. The portfolio requirement is administered and periodically reviewed by the Design Committee.

Academic Rules and Regulations

Procedures and restrictions for the M.Arch. I program can be found in the School’s Academic Rules and Regulations section of the School of Architecture Handbook.

National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)

Design and Visualization 15

1012
Spring 2024
Architectural Design 2
Annie Barrett, Andrew Benner, Laura Briggs, Joeb Moore, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Lexi Tsien-Shiang
1022
Spring 2024
Architectural Design 4
Anthony Acciavatti, Iñaqui Carnicero, Tei Carpenter, Alicia Imperiale, David Eugin Moon, Justin Garrett Moore, Elihu Rubin
1111
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: RAI Reimagined
Isaäc Kalisvaart, Bjarne Mastenbroek, Andrei Harwell
1112
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Miami Made
Adib Cúre, Carie Penabad, Deborah Garcia
1113
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Spaces of Care
Sara Caples, Everardo Jefferson, Jordan H. Carver
1114
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: A School for Children in Ho Chi Minh City
Vo Trong Nghia, Can Vu Bui
1115
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Lazy Sunday Morning
Tatiana Bilbao, Karolina Czeczek
1116
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Provenance & Possibility
Alan Ricks, Abigail Chang
1117
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Reconsidering Representation
Nader Tehrani, Ghazal Abbasy-Asbagh, Beom Jun Kim
1118
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Castle Howard
George Knight, Bryan Fuermann
1213b
Spring 2024
Books and Architecture
Luke Bulman
1224
Spring 2024
The Chair
Timothy Newton, Alyse Guild
1256b
Spring 2024
The Black Box: Architecture in an Age of Opacity
Brennan Buck
1257
Spring 2024
Trash
Trattie Davies
1260
Spring 2024
Beauty, Wonder & Awe
Mark Foster Gage

Technology and Practice 11

2012
Spring 2024
Structures II
Erleen Hatfield
2016
Spring 2024
Building Project I: Research, Analysis, Design
Adam Hopfner, Alexander Kruhly, Beka Sturges, Ming Thompson
2022
Spring 2024
Systems Integration and Development in Design
Martin Finio, Victoria Arbitrio, Anibal Bellomio, Kristen Butts, Alastair Elliott, Robert Haughney, Kristin Hawkins, John D. Jacobson, Larry Jones, Erleen Hatfield, Aaron Martin, Gina Narracci, Laura Pirie, Victoria Ponce de Leon, Craig Razza, Matthew Rosen, Hermona Tamrat, Celia Toche, Adam Trojanowski, Julie Zink, Danei Cesario, Robert Hedman, Rebecca Jones
2031
Spring 2024
Architectural Practice and Management
Susana La Porta Drago, Dov Feinmesser, Heather Kim, Cristian Oncescu, Melinda Agron, Danielle Davis
2226
Spring 2024
Design Computation
Michael Szivos
2230
Spring 2024
Exploring New Value in Design Practice
Phillip Bernstein
2238
Spring 2024
The Mechanical Artifact
Dana Karwas, Ariel Ekblaw
2240
Spring 2024
The Architect As: Recasting the Role of the Architect in the Development Lifecycle
Antonia Devine
2241
Spring 2024
Building Disasters: When Things Go Wrong
John D. Jacobson
2247
Spring 2024
Soil Sisters
Mae-ling Lokko
2252
Spring 2024
Advanced Robotics
Hakim Hasan

History and Theory 11

3011
Spring 2024
Architecture and Modernity I: Sites and Spaces
Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen
3220
Spring 2024
Contemporary Architectural Discourse
Keller Easterling
3300
Spring 2024
History, Historiography, Avant-Garde: Reading Manfredo Tafuri’s The Sphere and the Labyrinth
Joan Ockman
3302
Spring 2024
Tall Tales
Ife Vanable
3306
Spring 2024
Making History
David Sadighian
3315
Spring 2024
Challenging the Classical
Kyle Dugdale
3319
Spring 2024
Space/State/Race
Jordan H. Carver
3323
Spring 2024
Architecture and Machine Intelligence in Theory & Practice
Phillip Bernstein, Sam Omans
3328
Spring 2024
Latin American Modernity: Architecture, Art & Utopia
Luis E. Carranza
3329
Spring 2024
Writing and Criticism: Architect as Author, Architect as Subject
Christopher Hawthorne
3330
Spring 2024
Feral Surfaces and Multi-Species Architecture: Rethinking Posthuman Territory
Ariane Lourie Harrison

Urbanism and Landscape 9

4216
Spring 2024
Globalization Space
Keller Easterling
4220
Spring 2024
Port Cities: Transformations of Urban Networks
Alan Plattus
4221
Spring 2024
Introduction to Commercial Real Estate
Kevin Gray
4223
Spring 2024
Introduction to British Landscape and Architectural History: 1500 to 1900
Bryan Fuermann
4253
Spring 2024
Labs and Landscapes of the Green Revolution
Anthony Acciavatti
4254
Spring 2024
The Environmental Project: Research, Methods & Discourse
Jen Shin
4297
Spring 2024
Historic Preservation in the 21st Century
Norma Barbacci
4298
Spring 2024
Agro-ecological and Interconnected Urban Constellations
Ana María Durán Calisto
4304
Spring 2024
Architecture for a World After…
Joyce Hsiang