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M.S. Historic Preservation

Overview

The M.S. in Historic Preservation Program curriculum educates students to create new, future-oriented roles for built heritage that promote inclusive and resilient communities. With a particular focus on adapting to climate change and promoting social justice, the curriculum integrates humanist, scientific, and technological approaches necessary for students to shape the future of the profession: including the reuse of buildings, the design of adaptation technologies, planning and policy innovations, social and historical research, materials science and digital computation applied to the 3D scanning, documentation, assessment, monitoring, and care of built heritage. The program frames preservation both as an experimental form of creative expression and as a critical form of collective action guided by philosophical, ethical, and critical thinking, supported by evidence of its benefits to society, and enabled by emerging technologies and policy tools. We teach preservation as a social, material, and environmental process; as a way of thinking and acting through buildings and places of cultural significance to improve the built environment and people’s quality of life. The program’s curriculum and academic activities express an ongoing commitment to anti-racist systemic change as reflected in its anti-racism statement of purpose and the 2021-2022 anti-racism task force summary report.

Founded in 1964 as the first Masters Program in Historic Preservation in the United States, the program embodies a pioneering spirit by continually questioning how the discipline actively responds to the changing social values and climate challenges associated with architectural and cultural heritage, so as to ensure that the historic built environment better serves present and future generations.

The program prepares its graduates in the theoretical and practical foundations of preservation so they can be agents of positive environmental, cultural, and social change. Students are drawn from multi-disciplinary backgrounds such as architecture, art history, history, urban planning, engineering, science, art, urban design, archeology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy and jurisprudence. Students bring to bear their respective interests on preservation. By focusing on historical, aesthetic, technological, environmental, social and political questions, the program cultivates deep engagement with the ideas and practices that constitute preservation, and the broad multi-disciplinary skill sets that it draws upon.

The program reflects a global outlook in its diverse faculty, alumni, visiting scholars, advanced researchers, as well as in the locales where students work. It emphasizes real-world engagement with buildings, sites and communities near campus and beyond. Through study and engaged research in New York and New Jersey, as well as countries such as Italy, Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Haiti, Mexico, Norway, and the United Kingdom students apply skills in the real world and co-create knowledge with multiple publics. Learning beyond the lab and classroom is likewise enhanced through faculty-led publications, studio reports, research, public lectures and events such as the annual Fitch Colloquium.

Architectural Preservation Technology and Reuse Design Specialization

Columbia GSAPP is pleased to announce the launch of a new opportunity to receive advanced standing within the MSHP program and focus on architectural preservation technology and reuse design in a one-year period. Designed for students with advanced technical training and a strong interest in technology and design, this intensive program enables a critical and creative engagement with the reuse of existing buildings through the lens of experimental preservation.

Index

Preservation Technology Laboratory

Jorge Otero-Pailos, Director of the MS Historic Preservation Program at Columbia GSAPP introduces the School’s newly renovated laboratory.

Visit the Preservation Technology Laboratory website.

Curriculum

Columbia’s Historic Preservation Program provides a comprehensive foundation in the discipline through place-based studios, field work, laboratory research, lectures, and seminars. The curriculum encourages students to apply theoretical concepts, critical thinking and problem-solving in real-life contexts. With core strengths in design and technology, planning and policy, and history and theory, the curriculum mirrors the disciplines preservationists must engage and collaborate with in the professional world. The course of study provides fundamental knowledge of the spectrum of the discipline, and then affords each student the opportunity to develop an area of deep focus through a one year thesis.

The centerpiece of the curriculum is a three-semester studio sequence, supported by core coursework. These interdisciplinary and cross-cultural learning experiences encompass skill-building in historical, social, and technical research, data collection and visualization, community and stakeholder engagement, formal and material analyses, condition surveys, planning and policy development, interpretive and adaptive design, and the formulation of evidence-based proposals for action. Exploring questions of research and interpretation, cultural identity and values, justice and equity, sustainability and resilience, creative expression and process, these studios position the work in the field within broader societal and environmental contexts, and within broader realms of critical inquiry.

During the summer between the first and second year, the Historic Preservation Program strongly suggests the completion of one or more internships or work experiences as part of a student’s education and career development, and provides support in identifying opportunities in New York and elsewhere.

A capstone of the curriculum is a student thesis. As a critical piece of independent research, the thesis allows students to augment their course and fieldwork to further develop specialized knowledge in an aspect of the preservation enterprise. Students develop their thesis work with the support of faculty to forge new lines of inquiry and practice, as well as to engage with members of the discipline as they launch their careers.

For those students who would like to like to specialize further or expand their studies, GSAPP offers dual degrees, allowing Historic Preservation students to jointly study Architecture (MArch), Urban Planning, or Real Estate Development.

Studio Reports

Browse the carousel to learn more about research completed through historic preservation studios, and visit the archive of digital publications from 2013 until present.

Podcast

The Historic Preservation Podcast features a series of conversations between Jorge Otero-Pailos, director of GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, and leaders in the field of historic preservation and heritage conservation. Subscribe to the podcast on SoundCloud.

Fall 2025 Courses

Course Semester Title Student Work Instructor Syllabus Requirements & Sequence Location & Time Session & Points Call No.
ARCH4080‑1 Fall 2025
HP Elective Internship
Sarahgrace Godwin

HP II

NA
NA
Full Semester
1.5 Points
10736
ARCH4510‑1 Fall 2025
Studio I - Historic Preservation Studio
Andrew Dolkart, Kate Reggev
301 Fayerweather, 200 Buell North
TU 2 PM - 6 PM, F 9 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
6 Points
10740
ARCH6305‑1 Fall 2025
Advanced Studio III - Joint Historic Preservation/Architecture Studio
Jorge Otero-Pailos, Mark Rakatansky
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
M 1:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Full Semester
6 Points
10741
ARCH6740‑1 Fall 2025
Historic Preservation Theory & Practice
Jorge Otero-Pailos
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
W 3 PM - 6 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10743
ARCH6790‑1 Fall 2025
Thesis Colloquium
Paul Bentel, Sarah Sher
200 Buell North
W 9 AM - 11 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
10747
ARCH6856‑1 Fall 2025
Master Class: A Fluid Matter - Heritage and its Relationship to Water
Jonathan Bell Syllabus
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
M, TU, TH 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (11/6 & 11/10, 11/11 & 11/17, 11/18 & 11/24)
Session B
1.5 Points
10753
ARCH6937‑1 Fall 2025
Visualization Techniques for Arch Preservation
André Jauregui, Halley Ramos
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
W 6 PM - 8 PM
Session A
1.5 Points
10752
ARCH6767‑1 Fall 2025
Preservation Planning and Policy
Erica Avrami
505 Avery
W 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10744
ARCH8001‑1 Fall 2025
Social-Spatial Research: Issues + Methods
Erica Avrami

Open to PhD + Masters

412 Avery
M 1 PM - 3 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
16048
ARCH6784‑1 Fall 2025
Conservation of Brick, Terra Cotta & Stone
Norman Weiss, John Walsh
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
M 10 AM - 1 PM
Session B
1.5 Points
10746
ARCH6965‑1 Fall 2025
Advanced Studio V – Clinic
Imani Jacqueline Brown

ALL GSAPP

700 Avery
TH 1:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10602
ARCH4341‑1 Fall 2025
Traditional American Architecture
Andrew Dolkart
209 Fayerweather
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10737
ARCH4385‑1 Fall 2025
Arab Modernism(s): Experiments in Housing, 1945-present
Yasser Elsheshtawy
200 Buell North
TH 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
19935
ARCH4388‑1 Fall 2025
(Re) Inventing Living: Modern Experiments in Latin American Housing
Luis E. Carranza
114 Avery
M 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10651
ARCH4427‑1 Fall 2025
Architecture Apropos Art
Steven Holl, Dimitra Tsachrelia
412 Avery
TH 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10665
ARCH4441‑1 Fall 2025
Interlaced Existence: Death, Life, Liminality
Karla Rothstein
200 Buell North
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10666
ARCH4442‑1 Fall 2025
If Buildings Had DNA
Christoph Kumpusch
Ware Lounge (600 Avery)
TU 1 PM - 3 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
16429
ARCH4469‑1 Fall 2025
The History of Architecture Theory
Mark Wigley
114 Avery
W 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10652
ARCH4597‑1 Fall 2025
Extreme Design
Mark Wigley
412 Avery
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10653
ARCH4625‑1 Fall 2025
Tensile/Compression Surfaces in Architecture: Tactile Methods for Architects
Robert Marino
409 Avery
TU 2 PM - 4 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10685
ARCH4715‑1 Fall 2025
Re-Thinking BIM
Joseph Brennan
409 Avery
M 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10673
ARCH4845‑1 Fall 2025
Generative Design I
Danil Nagy
Ware Lounge (600 Avery)
TU 9 AM - 11 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
10681
ARCH4866‑1 Fall 2025
Modernism + The Vernacular
Mary McLeod
409 Avery
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10654
ARCH4874‑1 Fall 2025
Construction Ecologies in the Anthropocene
Tommy Schaperkotter
409 Avery
M 9 AM - 11 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
10699
ARCH4892‑1 Fall 2025
Data Visualization for Architecture, Urbanism and the Humanities
Jia Zhang
409 Avery
F 9 AM - 11 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
10675
ARCH4894‑1 Fall 2025
Spatial UX
Violet Whitney
115 Avery
TH 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10676
ARCH4987‑1 Fall 2025
Architectural Photography: From the Models to the Built World
Michael Vahrenwald
115 Avery
F 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10670
ARCH4988‑1 Fall 2025
Coding for Spatial Practices
Celeste Layne
Ware Lounge (600 Avery)
TU 7 PM - 9 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10677
ARCH6510‑1 Fall 2025
Neighborhood Preservation and Zoning
Carol Clark
Ware Lounge (600 Avery)
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
Session B
1.5 Points
10742
ARCH6682‑1 Fall 2025
Subject+Object
Suchi Reddy
300 Buell South
F 9 AM - 11 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
10708
ARCH6756‑1 Fall 2025
Make
Ada Tolla, Giuseppe Lignano
Ware Lounge (600 Avery)
F 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10671
ARCH6768‑1 Fall 2025
Conservation of Architectural Metals
Richard Pieper
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
M 10 AM - 1 PM
Session A
1.5 Points
10745
ARCH6801‑1 Fall 2025
Structural Daring & The Sublime In Pre-Modern Architecture
Rory O'Neill
412 Avery
W 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10657
ARCH6830‑1 Fall 2025
Difference and Design
Justin Moore

All GSAPP

412 Avery/ Online
TU 4 PM - 6 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10439
ARCH6917‑1 Fall 2025
Seed Bombs: Technologies in Ecological Design
Emily Bauer
115 Avery
TU 11 AM - 3 PM
Session A
3 Points
10710
ARCH6921‑1 Fall 2025
AI for Existing Buildings
Kivanc Kose
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
W 6 PM - 8 PM
Session B
1.5 Points
13583
ARCH6930‑1 Fall 2025
Women, Gender + Modern Architecture
Mary McLeod
408 Avery
TH 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10663
ARCH6934‑1 Fall 2025
Traditional Building Technology
Tim Michiels
Preservation Technology Lab (655 Schermerhorn)
TH 9 AM - 11:30 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
10748
ARCH6938‑1 Fall 2025
Rendering Systems
Seth Thompson
300 Buell North
TU 7 PM - 9 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10678
ARCH6939‑1 Fall 2025
GIS for Design Practices
Dare Brawley, Mario Giampieri Syllabus
408 Avery
F 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10680
ARCH6941‑1 Fall 2025
Architectural Acoustical Ecology
Ethan Bourdeau
408 Avery
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10705
ARCH6942‑1 Fall 2025
Daylight, Metabolism
Elliot Glassman
200 Buell North
TH 7 PM - 9 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10706
ARCH6953‑1 Fall 2025
Invis-abilities: Enhancing Accessibility in Design for Mind and Body
Zarina Farmer-George
203 Fayerweather
M 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
13590
ARCH6962‑1 Fall 2025
Environment, Built: Episodes from an Elemental History of Architecture
Enrique Ramírez
408 Avery
W 9 AM - 11 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
14757
ARCH6964‑1 Fall 2025
Information Richness: Architecture, Media, Politics
Amelyn Ng
408 Avery
W 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
13851
ARCH6967‑1 Fall 2025
Cities of Knowledge: Orientalizing Manhattan
Ziad Jamaleddine
934 Schermerhorn
TU 2:10 PM - 4 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10662
ARCH6988‑1 Fall 2025
Fortifications and Other Infrastructures of the British Empire
Hannah Kaemmer
409 Avery
F 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
18407
ARCH6814‑1 Fall 2025
New Towns After Smart Cities
David Smiley

All GSAPP

412 Avery
TU 1 PM - 3 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10475
ARCH6840‑1 Fall 2025
Archives of Toxicity
Mark Wasiuta
300 Buell South
TH 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10658
ARCH6861‑1 Fall 2025
Environments of Governance
Felicity Scott
300 Buell South
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10659
ARCH6927‑1 Fall 2025
Architecture, Technology & the Environment
Albena Yaneva

All GSAPP

412 Avery
M 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
13599
ARCH6929‑1 Fall 2025
The Reimagining of Lower Manhattan Post-Sandy
Michael Kimmelman

All GSAPP

408 Avery
TU 9 AM - 11 AM
Full Semester
3 Points
10600
PLAN6272‑1 Fall 2025
New York Rising: How Real Estate Shapes a City
Kate Ascher

ALL GSAPP

114 Avery
F 11 AM - 1 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10438
PLCE4444‑1 Fall 2025
The Future City: Transforming Urban Infrastructure
Kate Ascher, Andrew Smyth

All University

113 Avery
TU 1 PM - 3 PM
Full Semester
3 Points
10890
Show More

Fitch Colloquium

2022 Fitch Colloquium: Preservation in China’s Future

Student Portfolios

Tonia Sing Chi ‘18 MArch/MSHP
Award-Winning Graduation Portfolio

Toniasingchi

Andrea Tonc ‘16 MArch/MSHP Award-Winning Graduation Portfolio

Andrea tonc portfolio update

Woodlawn Papers

Studio I is the central class for first semester students in the Historic Preservation Master’s Program at the Columbia University School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Each fall since 2009, with the exception of 2016, one of the first exercises in this studio class has focused on Woodlawn Cemetery. Each student chooses a mausoleum (in 2017 some students worked on mausoleums and others on monuments). They complete measured drawings of their mausoleum, examine materials and conditions, and undertake biographical research on those interred in the mausoleum. The final project is a presentation and paper analyzing the information that they have compiled.