Graduate Architecture
Graduate Professional Degrees
Graduate Post-Professional Degree
Architectural education is transformative. Its goal is to build in students the consciousness of an architect. The core values of the Graduate Program in Architecture are based on a design-centered curriculum that promotes personal development, ethical imperatives, critical thinking and ecologically sustainable practices. These values are expressed in an education that challenges students to expand their awareness, to become leaders, to master the discipline and to engage real world problems in their cultural and social contexts with the responsibility of stewardship for the built and natural environment. The program is committed to preparing our students for leadership roles not only within the profession, but also within the broader communities they join and influence.
We stand for a whole-place, whole-person approach design -- a technologically, ecologically, culturally, aesthetically, adept architectural education.
The Graduate Program in Architecture is distinguished by:
- The faculty’s shared approach to design thinking, which pervades the learning community to enable solving complex problems.
- World class faculty with recognized strengths in cutting edge research and practice areas that advance design knowledge.
- Studio engagement with relevant social and community issues to improve and offer service to our world.
- A commitment to sustainable architecture and cities.
- An awesome facility and academic community that turbocharges learning.
––Mark DeKay, Head, Graduate Program in Architecture
GRADUATE ARCHITECTURE DEGREES
The Graduate Program in Architecture offers both a professional and a post-professional graduate degree. These degrees are distinguished by the length of study required and by the level of study.
Master of Architecture Options Diagram
Post-professional: Master of Architecture (Track 1)
A research-oriented or advanced design-oriented degree designed for students holding an accredited professional degree in architecture (B. Arch. or M. Arch.) or foreign equivalent, who seek to develop an area of specialization. This degree requires a thesis and provides opportunities for students to work directly with faculty engaged in research, scholarship or practice. Each student must, in their application, identify a specific area of focus aligned with the general goals of the program and the existing research interests of the standing faculty in the College of Architecture and Design (see faculty and their research below).
Two optional concentrations, plus a student designed concentration, within the M. Arch. degree, are offered:
- Concentration in Urban Design
- Concentration in Sustainable Design
A concentration consists of 12 hours of graduate course work, which includes research and design options.
Strengths of the program include:
- Sustainable Building and Urban Design
- Urban and Civic Design
- High-performance Building Technology
- Advanced Visualization and Modeling
- Socially Engaged Urban Housing
- History and Theory of Architecture
Typical career paths for students with this degree include working in private specialized practices, or as a firm owner, work in research, specialty consulting or in academia.
This track requires two semesters minimum and 36 hours of graduate coursework, including a thesis.
Click here to learn more about this Program
Professional Degree: Master of Architecture (Track 2 & 3)
This is an NAAB-accredited, professional degree in architecture, which qualifies the graduate to sit for the Architects Registration Exam in the U.S. Both paths culminate in either a written/design thesis or in a Diploma Studio.
Two optional concentrations, plus a student designed concentration, within the M. Arch. degree, are offered:
- Concentration in Urban Design
- Concentration in Sustainable Design
A concentration consists of 12 hours of graduate course work, which includes research and design options.
Typical career paths for students with this degree include working in private practice for architecture firms or as a firm owner, work in government agencies, construction, real estate development, or with engineering and consulting firms.
- Track 2: (4 + 2) students with a 4-year degree in architecture
Typically two years of study, this program is designed for students who have completed a four-year pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture. This track requires 60 hours of graduate coursework.
- Track 3: students with any bachelor’s degree
Typically three academic years, plus one summer, in length, this program is designed to accommodate students who come from a variety of backgrounds, including those with no previous formal study in architecture. Students with degrees in related design disciplines, such as landscape architecture or interior design, may apply for advanced placement. Advanced standing applications are considered on a case-by-case basis, and no more than a year’s advanced standing may be granted. This track requires 102 hours of graduate coursework.
For more information on Track 2 + Track 3, Click Here.
Mark DeKay,
Director, Graduate Studies
UT Graduate Brochure
Design Video
Message from Mark DeKay
Contact Us
College of Architecture + Design
Art + Architecture Building
1715 Volunteer Boulevard,
Room 224
Knoxville, TN 37996
Undergraduate:
phone: (865) 974-5265
fax: (865) 974-0656
email: archinfo@utk.edu
Graduate:
phone: (865) 974-5253
fax: (865) 974-0656
email: gradarchinfo@utk.edu
landscape architecture email:
larchinfo@utk.edu
