Director: Laurie Hawkinson, Advanced Studios
Director: Michael Bell, Core Studios

The Master of Architecture Program is a three-year first professional degree program that examines the importance of architectural design concepts in relation to historic and contemporary issues in an evolving culture.

Being part of a great university located in a major metropolis has determined much of what is unique about the Architecture Program. The School is not only able to attract excellent faculty members, but it is also able to draw upon the large and diverse community of architects, theorists, practitioners, and scholars in New York. Thus the program is able to expose student architects to architecture as a complex and pluralistic cultural endeavor.

At the same time that it explores the richness of architecture culture, the program seeks to provide an orderly system for integrating the various aspects of architectural study. Therefore, the curriculum is broadly divided into the study of history and theory, technology, methods, visual studies, and design. Learning about architecture involves, on the one hand, examining those historical, social, cultural, technical, and economic forces that shape buildings; on the other hand, it means mastering these forces with means traditionally available to the architect. The design studio is the main focus of the curriculum in that it offers the opportunity to integrate and synthesize what is being studied.

In general, the program seeks to impart basic principles and knowledge, to develop visual and analytical skills, and to relate creativity to given cultural situations. It is hoped that architects, thus trained, will be able to use their knowledge and insight by responding to and improving the built environment.