The post-professional degree program is for students already holding a professional degree in architecture (B.Arch., or an equivalent first professional degree) who seek a second, advanced degree and who are interested in pursuing cross-disciplinary design research that will expand their understanding of how the designed environment—interiors, buildings, cities and landscapes—is shaped by the intersection of broad cultural, political, economic, technical and environmental forces.

Mission

The post-professional design research program is founded on the premise that architects can contribute to addressing urgent global challenges by adopting a new way of working: design research. This involves forming cross-disciplinary collaborations to explore the spatial consequences of cultural, political and environmental issues. The post-professional M.Arch. II program equips a future generation of Yale graduates with a methodology that will prepare them to form constructive alliances with experts in allied disciplines, the outcome of which will yield viable design proposals that can be implemented on regional, local, and global scales.

Individual and Group Research

Our two-year core curriculum equips students with an advanced degree that builds upon their previous architectural training to pursue both group and independent design research. It consists of a sequence of two seminars that culminates in a Design Research Studio offered in the final semester of the program. Students work individually with faculty advisors to develop and execute a design research project that corresponds with their own individual interests. The core curriculum allows students to explore independently while working within a supportive environment that fosters interaction, dialogue, and a sense of common purpose.

Academic Freedom: Advanced Studios and Electives

With only three required courses, our program offers students considerable freedom to shape their own curriculum to develop an increasingly reflexive, critical, and speculative relationship to their work. During the first three terms, students choose through a lottery system from variety of Advanced Studios, taught by leading practitioners and theoreticians from around the world. These studios are the same ones offered to M.Arch. I students. Students also take elective course options offered by the School that fall into the broad categories of design and visualization, technology and practice, history and theory, and urbanism and landscape. In addition, they are encouraged to take classed offered by other Yale schools and departments within the University. At the beginning of each term, students meet with the program director and faculty advisors, to help them choose elective courses that support their general interests as well as relevant classes that support their Design Research proposals. Students are encouraged to also take courses offered by other Yale schools and departments.

Community

The relatively small size of the Post Pro student body (approximately 40 students in the two year program) coupled with the modest size of the School of Architecture allows our students to form a collective identity while immersing themselves in the wider YSOA community. Enrolling in the three required courses builds solidarity among M.Arch. II students. At the same time, Advanced Studios and elective seminars allow Post Pro students to engage with other YSOA students as well as students from other Yale departments.

Course of Study (Class of 2025 and Beyond)

In course titles, a designates fall term, and b designates spring term. The School reserves the right to change the prescribed course of study as necessary.

M.Arch. II: Total Requirement: 72 credits for classes of 2025 and beyond

First Year (Summer)

1062c, Resources for Design Research 0

First Year (Fall)

Advanced Design Studio 9
3072a, Design Research I 3
Elective* 3
Elective* 3
___
18

First Year (Spring)

Advanced Design Studio 9
3073b, Design Research II 3
Elective* 3
Elective* 3
___
18

Second Year (Fall)

1121a, Design Research III: Independent Studio Part 1 9
Elective* 3
Elective* 3
Elective* 3
___
18

Second Year (Spring)

1121b, Design Research IV: Independent Studio Part 2 9
Elective* 3
Elective* 3
Elective* 3
___
18

*Students not on academic warning or probation may substitute independent elective course work. (See the School’s Academic Rules and Regulations for procedures and restrictions.)

Required Core Courses for Class of 2023 and 2024

3072a Design Research I: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives
3 credits.
This seminar introduces students to Design Research, a practice dedicated to conducting cross-disciplinary research that explores the spatial consequences of urgent cultural, political, economic and environmental issues. The class is divided into four topics, each taught by one of four faculty members, dedicated to investigating a different global challenge through analytical perspectives being employed by leading interdisciplinary scholars and designers.

3073a, Design Research II: Methods Workshop:
3 credits.
In this workshop students develop and refine the initial research proposal that they submitted at the end of Seminar 2. Though weekly required reading and assignments, students become acquainted with key research methods that will allow them to craft a fully developed Research Script, a illustrated document that assembles materials that will form the basis of their design work in the Design Research 4 Studio the following term. Not required for students who will graduate in 2023.

30745b Design Research III: Independent Studio
9 credits
Students meet on a weekly basis with faculty Advisors to develop the Design Research Script that they developed in the Methods Workshop. The class is coordinated by the Post Pro Director who works with Faculty Advisors to establish shared milestone assignments, including midterm, ¾ and final reviews.

Summer preparation courses for incoming M.Arch II students

In the three weeks before the beginning of the fall term, the School offers an integrated set of preparatory workshops required for incoming M.Arch. II students.

  1. Summer Shops Techniques Course. This one-week course introduces incoming students to the School’s fabrication equipment and shops. The course stresses good and safe shop techniques. Students are not allowed to use the School’s shops unless they have satisfactorily completed this course.
  2. Summer Digital Media Orientation Course. This two-part workshop, which occurs during the same week as Summer Shops Techniques, covers accessing the School’s servers, the use of the School’s equipment, and the School’s digital media policies and procedures.
  3. Arts Library Research Methods. This ninety-minute session covers various strategies to answer research questions pertaining to course curricula and topics by using tools such as the Yale University online catalog, architecture databases, image resources, print resources, and archival resources.

School portfolio

In addition to the 72 satisfactorily completed course credits, a student must satisfactorily complete the portfolio requirement (as described under Academic Regulations in the chapter Life at the School of Architecture) in order to receive an M.Arch. degree. The portfolio requirement is administered and periodically reviewed by the Design Committee.

Academic rules and regulations

Procedures and restrictions for the M.Arch. II program can be found in the School’s “Academic Rules and Regulations” section of the School of Architecture Handbook.

Design and Visualization 14

1111
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: RAI Reimagined
Isaäc Kalisvaart, Bjarne Mastenbroek, Andrei Harwell
1112
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Miami Made
Adib Cúre, Carie Penabad, Deborah Garcia
1113
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Spaces of Care
Sara Caples, Everardo Jefferson, Jordan H. Carver
1114
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: A School for Children in Ho Chi Minh City
Vo Trong Nghia, Can Vu Bui
1115
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Lazy Sunday Morning
Tatiana Bilbao, Karolina Czeczek
1116
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Provenance & Possibility
Alan Ricks, Abigail Chang
1117
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Reconsidering Representation
Nader Tehrani, Ghazal Abbasy-Asbagh, Beom Jun Kim
1118
Spring 2024
Advanced Design Studio: Castle Howard
George Knight, Bryan Fuermann
1121
Spring 2024
Design Research Studio
Bimal Mendis, Emily Abruzzo
1213b
Spring 2024
Books and Architecture
Luke Bulman
1224
Spring 2024
The Chair
Timothy Newton, Alyse Guild
1256b
Spring 2024
The Black Box: Architecture in an Age of Opacity
Brennan Buck
1257
Spring 2024
Trash
Trattie Davies
1260
Spring 2024
Beauty, Wonder & Awe
Mark Foster Gage

Technology and Practice 7

2031
Spring 2024
Architectural Practice and Management
Susana La Porta Drago, Dov Feinmesser, Heather Kim, Cristian Oncescu, Melinda Agron, Danielle Davis
2226
Spring 2024
Design Computation
Michael Szivos
2230
Spring 2024
Exploring New Value in Design Practice
Phillip Bernstein
2238
Spring 2024
The Mechanical Artifact
Dana Karwas, Ariel Ekblaw
2240
Spring 2024
The Architect As: Recasting the Role of the Architect in the Development Lifecycle
Antonia Devine
2241
Spring 2024
Building Disasters: When Things Go Wrong
John D. Jacobson
2252
Spring 2024
Advanced Robotics
Hakim Hasan

History and Theory 8

3011
Spring 2024
Architecture and Modernity I: Sites and Spaces
Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen
3073
Spring 2024
Design Research II: Methods Workshop
Ana María Durán Calisto, Jordan H. Carver, Aniket Shahane
3220
Spring 2024
Contemporary Architectural Discourse
Keller Easterling
3300
Spring 2024
History, Historiography, Avant-Garde: Reading Manfredo Tafuri’s The Sphere and the Labyrinth
Joan Ockman
3302
Spring 2024
Tall Tales
Ife Vanable
3306
Spring 2024
Making History
David Sadighian
3315
Spring 2024
Challenging the Classical
Kyle Dugdale
3323
Spring 2024
Architecture and Machine Intelligence in Theory & Practice
Phillip Bernstein, Sam Omans

Urbanism and Landscape 7

4216
Spring 2024
Globalization Space
Keller Easterling
4220
Spring 2024
Port Cities: Transformations of Urban Networks
Alan Plattus
4221
Spring 2024
Introduction to Commercial Real Estate
Kevin Gray
4223
Spring 2024
Introduction to British Landscape and Architectural History: 1500 to 1900
Bryan Fuermann
4253
Spring 2024
Labs and Landscapes of the Green Revolution
Anthony Acciavatti
4254
Spring 2024
The Environmental Project: Research, Methods & Discourse
Jen Shin
4304
Spring 2024
Architecture for a World After…
Joyce Hsiang