Director: Felicity D. Scott

The Masters of Science in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture (CCCPArch) is designed to offer advanced training in the fields of architectural criticism, publishing, curating, exhibiting, writing, and research through a two-year, full-time course of intensive academic study and independent research. The program recognizes that architectural production is multi-faceted and that careers in architecture often extend beyond traditional modes of professional practice and academic scholarship, while at the same time reflecting and building upon them.

The CCCPArch program includes a mixture of required core classes, elective lectures, and seminars, and it culminates in the preparation of an independent thesis under the supervision of an advisor from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). This could take the form of a written thesis or other sustained demonstration of rigorous, original research or it could involve the conceptualization, design, and even production of an exhibition, publication, or detailed prospectus thereof. The GSAPP faculty is unparalleled in offering a wide-range of expertise in the history, theory, and criticism of architecture, urban design, landscape, preservation, and spatial politics as well as in the conceptualization and production of publications and exhibitions.

The CCCPArch program's emphasis is on forging new critical, theoretical, and historical tools, and producing new concepts and strategies for researching, displaying, and disseminating modern and contemporary architecture and closely related fields. The program is aimed at those with a background in architecture who wish to advance and expand their critical and research skills in order to pursue professional and leadership careers as architectural critics, theorists, journalists, historians, editors, publishers, curators, gallerists, teachers, and research-based practitioners. Applicants might be seeking further academic training or specialization after a professional degree or years of teaching, or even at mid-career. They might also have worked in a related field and be seeking an academic forum to develop additional specializations in architecture. The program also provides the highest level of preparatory training for application to Ph.D. programs in architectural history and theory.

Admissions

Applications are due January 15. All applicants for admission to the program must have a minimum of a four year bachelor degree or equivalent, including no less than 4 classes in architecture, architectural history, or a related form of aesthetic or cultural practice. Applicants who do not hold a B.Arch or M.Arch degree or the equivalent should demonstrate a substantive interest in architecture and/or urbanism through providing evidence of work in either history, theory, criticism, research, design, or curatorial practice. This can take the form of written documents or a visual portfolio. Visual acuity and interest in undertaking independent research and original projects are crucial for all applicants and submission of a portfolio of writing or visual material is strongly encouraged. The portfolio should not exceed 8.51 by 11 inches, should not measure more than .5 inch in thickness, and should be submitted with the application. The portfolio will be returned by mail only if sufficient postage and packaging are included and if the return address is indicated on the portfolio. Submission of a CV is also optional with the application.

Applicants for this program enter in the fall term; they must attend on a full-time basis for four consecutive semesters.

Degree Requirements

The M.S. degree requires 48 points of credit (10, three point classes plus the completion of two semesters of 9 credit M.S. thesis). Students must enroll in 12 points min. each semester.

Coursework

Required courses: In their first year, students are required to take both semesters of the specialized CCCPArch Colloquium. The Fall Colloquium addresses the critical formulation, history, and legacy of a range of seminal architectural writings, publications, conferences, and exhibitions as well as investigating their institutional, social, and political context. The Spring Colloquium is an advanced methods course focused on contemporary modes of theoretical, critical, and historical research and scholarship and their relation to practice. Its primary aim is to provide students with an understanding of the contemporary state of the discipline of architecture and its modes of interrogation as well as with further intellectual tools through which to situate their own research. While both colloquia are under the direction of an individual faculty member, they may also include guest speakers addressing aspects of their own practice. Together these colloquia provide a focused forum for the critical examination of a range of architectural practices and debates and for ongoing discussion regarding the students' own development of strategies of research, writing, publication, and exhibition.

In the second year students are required to enroll in CCCPArch Thesis I (Research) in the Fall and CCCPArch Thesis II (Writing/Production) in the Spring. These are the primary forums for development of and feedback on the students' independent research and are under the direction of a primary advisor, with whom students should meet at regular intervals during both semesters to discuss progress on their work.

Elective courses: In addition to required classes, students take a mixture of lecture and seminar courses offered by the GSAPP. Students who do not have extensive background in architecture may be advised or even required to enroll in specific lecture classes. Up to two elective classes can be taken in departments outside the GSAPP and up to two can be taken as independent studies. Electives can also be satisfied by working on a project with the Department of Publications or Department of Exhibitions, with the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for American Architecture, or with one of the many Labs and Experimental Units at the GSAPP, subject to project approval both by those directors and the director of the CCCPArch program.

Of the ten courses required to complete the degree, students usually complete eight courses in the first year, including the two colloquia, four seminars, and two lectures. The second year typically includes two additional elective courses, either lectures or seminars, in addition to registering for the two CCCPArch Thesis courses.

Thesis

The thesis is typically undertaken under the supervision of a GSAPP faculty member. In special cases, and subject to approval by the program director, a student's thesis can be supervised by an appropriate outside specialist relevant to their project, such as a curator or editor. Second year students make a presentation of their thesis research to GSAPP faculty and invited guests at the end of the Fall semester and defend their Thesis in a public review format at the end of the Spring semester.

Typical Course of Study

Semester 1 (Fall)

A4032 CCCPArch Colloquium I:
Operating Platforms: Publications, Exhibitions, Research 3 pts.
Elective lecture 3 pts.
Elective seminar 3 pts.
Elective seminar 3 pts.

Semester 2 (Spring)

A4033 CCCPArch Colloquium II:
Contemporary Critical Discourse 3 pts.
Elective lecture 3 pts.
Elective seminar 3 pts.
Elective seminar 3 pts.

Semester 3 (Fall)

A4040 CCCPArch Thesis I (Research) 9 pts.
Elective seminar 3 pts.

Semester 4 (Spring)

A4041 CCCPArch Thesis II (Writing/Production) 9 pts.
Elective seminar 3 pts.   

Total: 48 pts.   

Resources

Students are able to draw on the remarkable faculty, research, publication, public programming, and exhibition resources at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. The Avery Library is one of the premier architectural libraries in the world and the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery has been forging an important paradigm of archive-based exhibitions under the school's "Living Archive" project. Other primary resources include the Department of Publications, the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, and the many Labs and Experimental Units associated with the school that are working in fields as diverse as experimental publication, spatial information design, responsive systems, infrastructure and poverty action, landscape, networks, memory, and more. Students are expected to take advantage of the extensive programs of lectures, panel discussions, symposia, exhibitions, and other events that form a key part of the curriculum at the school. Visiting workshops will also be led by leading practitioners in the fields of the publication, criticism, and exhibition of architecture, urbanism, and landscape.

In addition to course offerings at the GSAPP, students are able to enroll in classes in other parts of the university including the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts, and the School of International and Public Affairs, subject to approval by the professor. There are, for instance, many opportunities for collaborative exchange with the M.A. in Modern Art: Curatorial Studies Program of the Department of Art History and Archaeology. Other schools also have extensive public programs. Beyond this, New York City offers unequalled resources for the study of architecture, museums, galleries, and the urban environment, including: the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Storefront for Art and Architecture, The Van Alen Institute, Artists Space, Max Protetch Gallery, Common Room, Ludlow 38, the Center for Urban Pedagogy, The Architects Newspaper, and other museums, galleries, and publishing houses in New York. The GSAPP also has close relations with a national and international network of affiliated museums, galleries and publications including the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, Centres Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Center for Land Use Interpretation in Los Angles, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, ACTAR Editorial, Domus, Abitare, and others.

Other

This is a non-professional degree, and does not satisfy requirements for the professional licensing exam.