Architecture (ARCH)

Graduate Degree Program
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Abstract

The School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation offers a graduate program leading to the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accredited Master of Architecture degree. The Architecture Program (ARCH) seeks to change the world through innovative architectural and urban design pedagogies, research, and practice that transforms place at all scales and improves the quality of life. In the course of our mission, we instigate change through teaching, experience, and scholarly activity, which prepares the next generation of broadly educated, highly-skilled architects and designers to be problem seekers/solvers in collaborative learning and professional environments. The Program offers a rich and demanding mix of architectural and urban design studios, architectural history and theory, and architectural science and technology. Electives in architecture and related fields are available in the curriculum.

NAAB Required Statement on Accreditation:

In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards.

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

The School is a member of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC).

Financial Assistance

The School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation offers a limited and varying number of teaching and research assistantships, scholarships, fellowships, and internships. Applicants should apply for financial assistance when submitting the application for admission.

Contact 

Find additional information on program offerings, degree requirements, admissions, and financial aid on the School’s Website (www.arch.umd.edu).  Schedule a visit and tour online at: https://arch.umd.edu/resources/prospective-students.  Sign up to receive an invitation to our Graduate Open House and receive more information online at: http://arch.umd.edu/mapp/graduate-inquiry-form.

For further information on admissions and degree requirements, please contact the main advising office at archadvise@umd.edu or 301-405-8000.

Kristen Stack
Director of Graduate Studies
School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
Architecture Program
1200 Architecture Building
3835 Campus Drive
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Telephone: 301.405.8000
Email: kjstack@umd.edu

Website: http://www.arch.umd.edu

Courses:  ARCH HISP RDEV URSP

Relationships: Historic Preservation (HISP), Real Estate Development (RDEV), Urban and Regional Planning and Design (URPD)

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

• Statement of Purpose
• Transcript(s)
• TOEFL/IELTS/PTE (international graduate students)

PROGRAM-SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

• Letters of Recommendation (3)
• CV/Resume
• Portfolio PDF Upload
• Writing Sample

Admission to the graduate program is competitive. In addition to the Graduate School requirements, candidates must submit a portfolio. The portfolio should show evidence of creative ability in the form of a portfolio containing reproductions of creative work, which may include drawings, paintings, photographs, sculpture, sketches, and/or architectural designs. Details concerning format and content may be obtained from the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation website

Applications from four categories will be considered for admission:

1. candidates with a four-year Bachelor of Science in architecture degree;
2. candidates with four-year baccalaureate (B.A.) in architecture, environmental design (B.A. or B.S.), or relevant discipline; and
3. candidates with four-year baccalaureate (B.A. or B.S.) in a major other than architecture who have successfully completed specified undergraduate prerequisites outlined by the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation¹; and
4. candidates with an accredited professional degree in architecture. Students are expected to enroll on a full-time basis. For complete information on curricula requirements for these categories, visit the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation website.

¹

Additional requirements include:

• one (1) semester of college level calculus or successful high school advanced placement (AP) calculus; and
• one (1) semester of college level physics with lab, or successful high school advanced placement (AP) in physics
• One (1) course in freehand figurative drawing is recommended but not required. 

APPLICATION DEADLINES

RESOURCES AND LINKS:

Other Deadlines: arch.umd.edu
Program Website: arch.umd.edu/arch/architecture  
Application Process: gradschool.umd.edu/admissions/application-process/step-step-guide-applying

The School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation is ideally located between Washington, DC, and Baltimore and surrounded by a number of historic communities and a varied physical environment. The resulting opportunity for environmental design study is unsurpassed. The School’s resources include design workstations for each student, a model shop, a digital fabrication lab, and computer labs. The School’s library contains some 57,000 monographs and 6,000 current periodicals, making it one of the major architectural libraries in the nation. The National Trust Library for Historic Preservation, housed in McKeldin Library, contains 11,000 volumes and 450 periodical titles. The slide collection includes approximately 430,000 slides on architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and technical subjects. The interdisciplinary National Center for Smart Growth Education and Research is based in the School offering perspectives and opportunities to engage important issues facing urban and regional planning.

The Architecture Program benefits from the strong support of the professional community, including practitioners who bring expertise into the architectural design studios as instructors, consultants, and critics. Many alumni are leaders in regional firms, while others practice as far away as New York, Los Angeles, Puerto Rico, Vancouver, London, and Shanghai.

The University of Maryland’s team has won the ULI/Hines Competition several times, with each member of the team being awarded $10,000.

The award-winning Comprehensive Design Studio and Advanced Technology sequence (an integral component of the M. Arch curriculum) offers an innovative teaching-learning environment where students work with an array of consultants from practice, exploring relationships between conceptual and technical aspects of architectural form and its assembly.

Embracing the importance of context as an integral component of the design process and advocating urban design as an essential component of architectural education, the Program has gained national and international recognition for its work in urban design, through awards and competition performance. Interdisciplinary competitions like the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Hines Urban Design Competition give architecture students opportunities to team up with fellow graduate students in planning, historic preservation, and real estate development to address urban issues in a work environment that prepares them for the collaborative experience of professional practice. In both 2014 and 2015 the University of Maryland’s ULI-Hines competition team took first place in international competition bringing back over $50,000 in scholarship monies each time. The Urban Design Studio explores relationships between individual buildings, urban spaces, and the contexts in which they reside. Studios engage projects ranging from conceptual urban interventions to projects that help communities to envision future growth.

Study abroad opportunities augment the course of study offered in College Park. Summer and Winter study abroad programs are offered to a variety of locations including Rome, Paris, Scandinavia, Great Britain, Turkey, St. Petersburg, Egypt, Peru, and Sri Lanka. Summer and winter study opportunities are also available in conjunction with the Historic Preservation, Urban Studies & Planning, and Real Estate Development programs. A Spring Semester study abroad program is available in Florence.