Post-Professional Degree

The Master of Architecture II program is for students already holding a professional degree in architecture (B.Arch., or an equivalent first professional degree) who seek a second, master’s-level degree in this discipline and who are interested in developing a stronger theoretical basis for their understanding of the field. Since candidates for this program are expected to have received a professional degree prior to admittance, it should be understood that the degree awarded from this program will not fulfill the educational prerequisite for obtaining an architect’s license in the United States.

This program leads to a degree of Master of Architecture (M.Arch.) and typically requires two years of full-time residency. Because the program combines two years of studio-based activities with a variety of opportunities (both course-related and individually conceived) to extend their understanding of architectural design and its meaning within a broader cultural and social context, students in the M.Arch. II program are given considerable freedom and support to develop an increasingly reflexive, critical, and speculative relationship to their work.

With a number of courses available in the area of history and theory, and with access to a wide variety of Yale courses outside the School of Architecture, post-professional students are able to expand their understanding of the broader cultural context of architecture. Post-professional students are also given opportunities to organize symposia, exhibitions, publications, and seminars. Thus, to an exceptional degree, they are able to shape the curriculum to their own specific interests in collaboration with other students and faculty in the School.

Students in the M.Arch. II program take the required post-professional design studio (1061a) in the first term and in the subsequent three terms choose, through a lottery system, from a variety of advanced design studios, many of which are led by the profession’s leading practitioners and theoreticians. These studios are the same ones offered to M.Arch. I students. With faculty approval, students in their final term may undertake an independent design thesis (1199b) in lieu of an advanced studio. Such a studio may combine written and studio material.

Students are encouraged to explore elective course options. Courses—falling into the broad categories of design and visualization, technology and practice, history and theory, and urbanism and landscape—support and augment the pivotal studio offerings. Courses offered by other schools and departments within the University may be taken for credit.