Archinect - News

Thinking about applying to architecture school? Explore graduate open house and info sessions hosted by Archinect Partner Schools

2023-09-25T07:47:00-04:00

Are you thinking about applying to architecture school and want to learn about different graduate program offerings? Application deadlines for the Spring and Fall 2024 architecture term will begin soon! To get ahead, explore and sign up for the following open house and information sessions from five Archinect Partner Schools.

Need portfolio tips or looking for ways to freshen up your CV? Don't forget to check out our Archinect Tips section to stay up to date on professional development and professional practice trends to keep you ahead of the curve.

Pratt Institute Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment (GCPE) Open House
Date: October 19, 2023 | 3pm – 5pm EST
Details: RSVP HERE to learn more about Pratt’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment and its 4 graduate degree programs. Virtual and in-person info sessions will share everything you need to know about the admissions process, visit campus, and give you a chance to speak with faculty from GCPE’s four interdi...

The world's best architecture masters programs for 2023, according to BAM

2023-09-19T17:51:00-04:00

The 2023 edition of the Best Architecture Masters (BAM) rankings has just been released, featuring a slate of 19 graduate programs from across the world that were selected using an internal methodology by a 15-member “Expert Committee” of academics.

American Ivy League institutions once again dominated the top tier of the rankings, with Harvard GSD’s Master of Architecture II program taking home the first place spot for the fifth consecutive year. BAM says its list was influenced by other rankings guides, including the most recent QS World Universities Architecture / Built Environment subject list, in addition to its internal methodology, adding: “This approach allows us to make an international-comparative study, that reflects the best architecture master’s programs from almost all over the world.”

The Universidade de São Paulo, University of Manchester, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and Tsinghua University were new additions to this year's list.

The full BAM rankings...

The best architecture masters programs of 2022, according to BAM

2022-08-16T14:11:00-04:00

The annual Best Architecture Masters (BAM) ranking has just been published for 2022. Featuring some of the world’s most prestigious and competitive graduate programs, the list has been historically dominated by American Ivy League schools as well as other premier British and European universities. The 2022 cohort is no exception, with Harvard GSD’s Master of Architecture II program taking the top billing for the fifth consecutive year.

BAM shares that its rankings are “aimed to help architects and students to get to know the best International Master’s programs available in the world, thanks to our transparent comparative system.”

Using its internal methodology, BAM’s 13-member “Expert Committee” of academics analyzed programs based on 10 educational-performance indicators and 45 sub-indicators.

Here is the list of BAM's top 17 architecture master’s degree programs in 2022:

1. Harvard GSD
Program: Master of Architecture II
Location: Cambridge, MA

2. Columbia University
Program: Maste...

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design announces 2021 graduate programs virtual open house

2021-10-19T19:10:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, an Archinect Partner School

Join UCLA Architecture and Urban Design for their Graduate Programs Open House virtually on Wednesday, November 3, 2021. The program includes curriculum overviews and Q sessions. The day will include program and curriculum overviews, Q&A sessions with faculty, student advisors, and current students.

What can you expect from the Graduate Programs Open House?

Program overviews and presentations by key faculty members
Introduction to admissions, funding and scholarships hosted by our student advisors
Portfolio workshop for valuable tips on elevating your application

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design is located at Perloff Hall on UCLA’s Westwood campus. Image courtesy of UCLA Architecture and Urban Design

Which Program is Right for You

M.Arch. Professional Degree — The M.Arch. is a three-year, NAAB-accredited program that prepares students for professional practice and other career paths.

M....

MIT's Master of Science in Real Estate Development program pushes for research-based education and application

2020-11-05T09:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by MIT Center for Real Estate

The MIT Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) offers an unparalleled education in real estate practice. Our groundbreaking MSRED degree presents a program that is rigorous, concentrated, multidisciplinary and geared toward direct application.

Why earn an MSRED? MIT’s Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) is the most concentrated, science-based graduate degree in real estate available. Launched in 1984 by the MIT Center for Real Estate, the MSRED is the first one-year degree of its kind, fulfilling a need for specialized education beyond the scope of the traditional MBA. The MSRED prepares men and women to compete in the global market with superior qualifications — providing the research-based expertise necessary to solve complex problems in contemporary real estate.

MSRED graduates - #MIT2019 MIT Center for Real Estate. Photo by Lacey Cochran. Courtesy of MIT MSRED

Fast Facts

11-month program wi...

Apply now to MIT's Master of Science in Real Estate Development program

2020-10-05T15:13:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by MIT's MSRED

Why earn an MSRED?

MIT’s Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) is the most concentrated, science-based graduate degree in real estate available. Launched in 1984 by the MIT Center for Real Estate, the MSRED is the first one-year degree of its kind, fulfilling a need for specialized education beyond the scope of the traditional MBA. The MSRED prepares men and women to compete in the global market with superior qualifications — providing the research-based expertise necessary to solve complex problems in contemporary real estate.

Fast Facts

11-month program with a 16-month extended option
Typical class size 25-35 students per year
Fellow Programs and Fellowships available
Selec...

A look at some of the SCI-Arc Fiction and Entertainment grads reshaping the entertainment industry

2020-01-13T15:06:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Southern California Institute of Architecture

Deeply embedded in the entertainment industry of Los Angeles, SCI-Arc’s postgraduate Master of Science program in Fiction and Entertainment has emerged as the place to tell new kinds of stories about the alternative realities of the 21st century. Now in its fourth year, the program has been developing the role of the architect as visual storyteller, the architect as world builder, and the architect as director.

Originally conceived by program coordinator Liam Young as a way to bring students into contact with work world-renowned professionals in the realms of film, fiction, animation, games, and documentary filmmaking in order to build new forms of architectural practice, Fiction and Entertainment was a natural fit for SCI-Arc EDGE Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture.

Our Automated Future: Science through Storytelling. Video © SCI-Arc Channel

Student work echoes far beyond the traditional reach o...

CCA's Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab Launches in San Francisco Bay

2019-12-27T14:14:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by California College of the Arts (CCA)

In August 2019, California College of the Arts (CCA) Architectural Ecologies Lab, one of five research and teaching labs in CCA’s Architecture Division, launched the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab in San Francisco Bay. The Float Lab, a cutting-edge prototype for an ecologically productive floating breakwater, builds on five years of applied research at CCA. It was initiated in the college’s integrated building design studios, in which students developed architectural proposals questioning traditional boundaries between land and water.

Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab on CCA's back lot prior to deployment. CCA Architectural Ecologies Lab

Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab, CCA Architectural Ecologies Lab

Merging expertise from design, advanced digital manufacturing, and marine ecology, the Float Lab imagines a new kind of architecture for climate adaptation. Conceived as a link in a chain of bean-shaped, wave-attenuating floating ...

Architectural Association in London can now award master's and bachelor's degrees

2019-10-11T15:15:00-04:00

The Architectural Association (AA) in London has been granted the power to award bachelor's and master's degrees for the first time in its history.

Despite boasting a formidable roster of globe-trotting alumni, including Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Florence Knoll Bassett, Richard Rogers, and others, the institution has never been fully accredited. The school's academic offerings have been validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Architects Registration Board, Dezeen reports, but until now, was unable to officially award degrees. That has changed as of October 1, 2019.

The change took over six years to come into being and takes effect as the new AA director Eva Franch i Gilabert begins to leave her mark on the 172-year-old institution, England's oldest independent school of architecture.

Eva Franch i Gilabert. Image © Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

According to a press release issued by the AA, the school's new Taught Degree Awarding Powers (TDAP) will all...

YouTuber documents life in architecture school

2019-08-27T18:00:00-04:00

Ever wonder what life is like in architecture school? RISD graduate, Joseph Echavarria has chronicled his entire graduate program experience, documenting everything from studio life, crits, Rhino hacks, to thesis reviews, modeling tips, and preparing for a presentation. He employs an authentic range of characters (his studio mates) and presents the uniqueness and rawness of life as an architecture student.

Joseph started his YouTube channel back in 2015 when he decided to begin logging his journey in architecture. "My main reason for starting the YouTube channel was just to have a reason to film. I’ve always wanted to make videos and I loved YouTube," Joseph told Archinect. Soon, the young student's passion for filming grew into a valuable resource for those seeking to learn more about architecture school. Many of his videos display comments from curious viewers expressing their gratitude for the consistent documentation of the college experience in architecture.

Joseph participa...

BAM releases their 2019 rankings for top master of architecture programs

2019-08-02T19:29:00-04:00

The rankings are in! With the upcoming school term quickly approaching, where do the world's master of architecture programs stack up? This year, Best Architecture Masters Ranking (BAM) has released their list of top programs. Coming in at the top once again is Harvard GSD's Master's degree in Architecture II program.

According to BAM, the top 30 postgraduate programs have been selected and evaluated using their rating system: eleven key indicators are used to evaluate and rank each school. (view BAM ranking methodology here)

Below is a list of the top fifteen master's degree programs.

1. Harvard GSD
Program: Master's degree in Architecture II
Location: Boston, MA

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Program: Master of Science in Architecture and Urbanism
Location: Boston, MA

3. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid + ETH Zurich
Program: Master's degree in Collective Housing
Location: Madrid, Spain

4. Delft University of Technology
Program: The Berlage post-master's degree in Archit...

Call for Applications! The Piet Zwart Institute, MIARD program offers students a combination of design-led research specialization and multidisciplinary practice

2019-02-05T13:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by the Piet Zwart Institute.

The Piet Zwart Institute houses the international Master programs of the Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Named after the pioneering Dutch designer, Piet Zwart, who worked experimentally across media and contexts, the Institute offers a rich combination of in-depth specialization and interdisciplinary exchange within an intimate learning environment.

As a small-scale program, MIARD operates from a point of view that education is adaptable to a variety of external forces and should resist institutional idleness. Practice is considered an expanding field as a means to train practitioners for a career in a changing world. Interior Architects are increasingly faced with a complex world of new realties, technologies, socio-political, environmental and economic challenges; thus, the practice of the designer needs to react, expand and shape future roles.

Image courtesy of Piet Zwart Institute

The ...

Harvard GSD tops graduate school ranking

2018-08-08T14:58:00-04:00

Harvard GSD's Master in Architecture 2 program has been ranked number one on the 2018 BAM (Best Architecture Masters) Ranking. Different postgraduate study programs have been selected from the best architecture schools in the world in this year edition of the QS Ranking by Subjects – Architecture / Built Environment. Out of these, 20 programs were selected in this year's BAM Ranking, reflecting the best masters programs from around the world.

Columbia GSAPP launches the nation's first Ph.D in Historic Preservation

2018-01-16T15:32:00-05:00

The Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia GSAPP) announced today that it will be launching a new Ph.D. Program in Historic Preservation—the first of its kind in the U.S. GSAPP has been a leader in the field of preservation education since it established the first Master in Historic Preservation program back in 1964. The introduction of the new program will set the standard for doctoral level education, provide intellectual leadership by training future generations of preservation scholars, and expand the discipline’s range.

"The Ph.D. in Historic Preservation recognizes the fact that the profession has matured into a vibrant discipline, with a specific body of theoretical and practical knowledge on how to learn from and intervene in historic buildings, cities and landscapes, such that they not only retain their values as historical documents but also serve as resources for designing the future" the school said in their announcement....

SCI-Arc Celebrates a School Year’s Culmination and Welcomes Another

2017-10-03T12:37:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Since its founding in 1972 as an independent school of architecture, SCI-Arc has developed a series of idiosyncrasies that have anecdotally permeated the broader architecture community. Prominent among these is hosting its cap and gown-less Graduation in the middle of September-- literally an hour after its last review of the academic year and a week after the first pin ups of the new school year. This means that September is the most dynamic time of the year at SCI-Arc as it concurrently welcomes in a new class of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students and bids farewell to its latest generation of architects eager and ready to imagine and shape the future.

SCI-Arc’s 2017 graduation ceremony was held on Sunday, September 10 and featured a commencement address by architect Marion Weiss, cofounder of WEISS/MANFREDI and B.Arch Graduate Deborah Garcia ’17.

A celebration of student ach...

Explore diverse processes of community development at the Arts University Bournemouth

2017-03-01T04:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Arts University Bournemouth.

The MArch at AUB explores the possibilities of new architectural practices that make, innovate and collaborate, exploring diverse processes of community development and transformation.

Book onto our Postgraduate Open Day on 15th March 2017 to find out more.

The “construction” of the “sites” of our interventions in the public sphere includes involvement with other institutions, governmental agencies and other actors at a local, regional, national, and global level.

Where are the options? What is at stake? Are there really options? How should we choose? At the centre of the investigation is the body: architectural, institutional, corporeal; and the landscape: ecological, contextual, natural and man-made.

The MArch at AUB program is for you if you are looking for something different and fresh in your route to becoming an architect in a changing world.

The MArch at AUB aims to produce: performative, projective enablers and archite...

Penn State announces new endowment for student study abroad

2016-06-02T15:37:00-04:00

In the early 1960s, [Penn State's] international studies were confined mainly to books and photos — until George Ehringer and his classmates organized a semester in London, the department’s first official study abroad trip. Ehringer, who earned his bachelor of science in architecture from Penn State in 1964, recently made a $25,000 gift to create the George D. Ehringer, Class of 1964, Award for Study Abroad in the Department Architecture...

According to this warmhearted account, from unwittingly meeting Buckminster Fuller ("He was never introduced. It was only later we learned it was Buckminster Fuller!”) to developing relationships that lasted for decades, studying abroad in London ultimately benefitted the 1964 Penn State architecture students in ways they could not have anticipated. Anyone who wants to donate to the newly created endowment can do so either via snail mail (Penn State to the A&A Development office, 107 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802) or online.

For more on the benefits of travel in architectural education:

SCI-Arc expands to Shanghai, with more global programs on the way

2015-12-02T18:55:00-05:00

As part of Director Hernan Diaz Alonso's plan to increase the global reach of SCI-Arc, the school is officially launching a four-week Shanghai-based program to be led by Steven Ma (SCI-Arc M.Arch ‘10) in the summer of 2016. The program's studios, which will incorporate a mix of industrial design engineering, 3D printing, and complex digital sculpting/modeling, will be paired with courses sited on the bleeding-edge of the design process of robotics and additive manufacturing.

But just what is the selection criteria for the program, and why does it choose to focus on 3D printing for the first iteration? Archinect asked Director Alonso, and he replied, “SCI-Arc Shanghai is part of a larger effort to expand our presence in China. This 'embassy' between SCI-Arc and China will be the first in a series of 'embassies' worldwide. Our aim is to offer students in Shanghai a compressed experience of what our programs offer our students in LA. 3D printing will be one of the many technologies avai...