You seem to have found most of the heavy hitters in the US. My search for a good post-professional program has been centered around my extreme wanderlust and my interest in european history.

I'm really pumped on these right now, but am waiting a few years to apply for $$ reasons.

M.Sc. Urban Studies @ University College London
MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration @ University of Cambridge
MS.c Architecture, Future Cities @ T.U. Delft

You may want to read some of the books used in the courses to see if the research focus is in line with what your interested in.

Do you have any idea of what research you want to be involved with? Knowing this will help narrow down your choices.

there are two post-professional offerings at penn... the more popular (an m.arch II, i think) one is coordinated by winka dubbeldam and is studio-based... then there is the MS program which is essentially a subset of the phd program... the MS program is primarily a history/theory deal, but i think that the curriculum is pretty open so you may be able to work a design project into in some way... that program is coordinated primarily by david leatherbarrow... most of the students in that program are looking to beef up their academic (rather than design) qualifications for future teaching positions.

This is not exactly a research degree, but you should check out UCLA's Suprastudio which is regarded as one of the best post-professional programs out there, where you can work closely with big names (Thom Mayne, Neil Denari?, Greg Lynn). The book that they publish with the work from the program is fantastic.

I have met some students in the M.Sc. at Berkeley that are receiving funding from industry to perform research on materials and methods. The program that I believe they are associated with is the Center for the Built Environment, www.cbe.berkeley.edu/index.htm

i think U Texas Austin, Rice, Michigan, VaTech, NC State, Cincinnati, should be on the list, many others too, i suspect

@ rnb. I read somewhere recently in a thread that the MDesign program at Harvard is actually looked down upon. Whether that's true or not , I don't know. I didn't go to Harvard. I would however ask some Harvard grads and some professionals what they think of it. Some academics couldn't hurt either.

I've also been doing some research on MSC degrees.

No one has mentioned Columbia's Msc. in advanced architecture design. Another one, is Clemson's Arch + Health program.

@jmanganelli: what kind of reputation does the Rice program have?

i don't personally know much about rice's program, other than when i was looking at grad schools, one of the phd candidates with whom i spoke was doing interesting work, that the nature of her research involved integral use of data collection and analysis methods from the social sciences and that she came from a research-oriented masters at rice and seemed to have positive things to say about the experience

I definitely am now preparing ( and saving) for UCLA Supra next year; tho still lingering on the 35k reasons to ponder if its worth it...
IF its a life-changing and experience, Id go for it w/o any doubt.. otherwise...hmmm...

"Suprastudio which is regarded as one of the best post-professional programs out there"

Can someone post some more information about this supra studio?

Aside from the famous faculty what makes it "one of the best."

The images of the student work i saw were very disappointing.

It kind of seems like your paying 35k to get a few desk crits from Thom Mayne. Is it any more personal then reading some of their writing or listening to them give a lecture? How engaged can they be? I also wonder how much time they will actually be there, 3-4 time a semester?

Sorry for being so negative about it, I'm just very skeptical and when someone says "one of the best programs out there" I'm just not convinced (from what i've seen.) Not that i have to be convinced, its not my money.

thanks for all the replies....

@iheartbooks ... i have definitely looked into programs abroad. a few at the UCL/Bartlett and even one at London School of Economics (of all places). i am interested in doing research that investigates the the processes that shape the built environment at it pertains to the public realm in urban environments... libraries, museums, etc. i really want a cross disciplinary program that melds sociology, anthropology, and urban studies with architecture. i haven't yet narrowed down my exact research topic, but i'm working on it.

@phillip - thanks for the reminder about Penn. i need to look into that again. are you a student there now? or have you been?

i've definitely looked into Rice... to be honest, location is important to me, and i'm just not sure i feel the love for houston.

i looked at the UCLA Suprastudio. it sounds great, but it sounds as though it's much more of an intense studio experience than a true research experience.

@jakethesnake re: the MDesS program being questioned on threads here... i've heard the same thing. (i also read a lot on here where i question the intent and motive of the authors!) it was recommended to me by two former GSD students who now teach, and also a former Loeb Fellow, who said the fellows work closely with the MDesS students. i have a friend at the GSD right now who says the students are great. he said they they don't have studio space, so they aren't seen as often, but they all share seminar classes and from his experience they are well rounded, experienced, and doing great work. i think therefore it might be an issue of perception... if you're in studio working all night, but don't see the MDesS students putting in studio time, (at the GSD of all places) then at face value they aren't working very hard. i somehow think that is not true, but who knows for sure.
the MSAAD at Columbia is studio based, right? i've looked and looked at the Columbia programs (would love to be in NY), but the curriculum doesn't mention thesis research so i had ruled it out. if anyone knows better, i would love to hear.

does anyone know much about the MArch II at the Cooper Union? it's fully funded (which is a huge plus since i am already in major debt from my MArch I) and is research based... it literally states it is intended for those who which to pursue careers in academics. but i don't know anyone who has attended any program there. would love to hear if anyone has?

rnd:

Your description:

i am interested in doing research that investigates the the processes that shape the built environment at it pertains to the public realm in urban environments... libraries, museums, etc. i really want a cross disciplinary program that melds sociology, anthropology, and urban studies with architecture.

is very, very broad. Why, exactly, do you want to use the methods from other fields, such as sociology and anthropology, for example? This is not to say that these approaches are not valid. Places like IDEO, for example, use ethnographers (usually people trained in sociology/anthropology) for much of their user experience stuff.

It sounds to me as if a geography or urban studies program would suit your interests. This is because (judging the way you are describing your research interests), you are using architecture as a case study to apply approaches gleaned from the social sciences. A way to deal with this more architecturally is to argue that architecture research yields the same (or better) results than the social sciences. But then again, does this mean that what you are talking about is really about architecture? You may not find this interdisciplinary approach from an architecture program — perhaps not even at the PhD level.

@ smokety like i said... i haven't yet narrowed down my specific research topic yet, as my ideas and interests continue to take shape every time i sit down to write them out. i am interested in these other areas of studies because at the end of the day, i am drawn to the human element of architecture... how the built environment affects people.

you are right, i am very drawn to urban studies programs, much like the ones i mentioned that i see at the Bartlett and at the London School of Economics (which is obviously not housed in an architecture program) in the UK. for the most part, i haven't found programs in the US that really follow the same course of study. moving abroad would be ideal, but sadly, i have a family to think about and a finite amount of funds, so i am just not sure it is reasonable for me to consider.

also, i do have hesitations about moving completely away from an architecture based degree. mainly because, as i said, i am a designer first and foremost, but also from speaking with professors about my intentions of returning to school in order to teach, they encourage me to look at programs that will allow me to complete a piece of research that will translate into a seminar.

all that being said, i am a person that would stay in school forever, learning new things. at some point i have to reign that in, and narrow down my interests in order to earn a living. i feel confident that at the right school, these other interests can successfully tie back in to design and architecture and how it all works together in our world.

so perhaps i should add to my initial question posed that i would like the program to be cross-disciplinary. the SMArchS at MIT, the MDesS at Harvard, the MSc at Berkeley, and the MSAS at UT-Austin seem to me to be the most cross-disciplinary from my conversations with professors at each program. and to be honest, the MDesS program tops my list... not because of its location at harvard, but because of the amazing response i have received from people at the program there (very quick with personal responses) and the flexibility of the program encouraging study within any department at Harvard, and also at MIT.

thanks for your thoughts!