Master's Degrees

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Dual Degrees | Master of Architecture 

The Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design's degree programs include a range of curricula for students with a variety of educational backgrounds, professional degree needs and career ambitions.

We offer the following degree programs:

Most states require that individuals hold an accredited professional degree in order to become an architect. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accredits two types of degrees: (1) the Bachelor of Architecture (not offered by this College of Architecture), which requires a minimum of five years of study; and (2) the Master of Architecture, which requires a minimum of three years of study following an unrelated bachelor's degree or two years of study following a related pre-professional bachelor's degree. These professional degrees are structured to educate those who aspire to registration/licensure as architects. 

Our Master of Architecture degree, offered as the three-year MArch 3 program and the two-year MArch 2 program, is an NAAB-accredited professional degree. The school's NAAB accreditation status was evaluated and confirmed in the spring of 2018. All MArch programs at Washington University are STEM-designated.

Dual Degrees

For graduate students who want to broaden their education at the graduate and post-professional levels, the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design offers several dual degree programs in conjunction with other divisions of Washington University in St. Louis. To apply for a dual degree program, students must submit separate applications to both programs. Each program makes admission decisions independently. Degrees are awarded concurrently when the requirements for both programs have been fulfilled. The dual degree programs currently available are as follows:

Master of Architecture

The MArch 3 is a six-semester, professional curriculum for students holding baccalaureate degrees with majors in architecture and majors other than architecture. This 105-credit program leads to a professional, STEM-designated, and National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)-accredited Master of Architecture degree.

The MArch 3 sequence commences with a two-week preparatory pre-semester orientation before students begin three semesters of core studios and seminars. The last of the core studios is ARCH 6010 International Housing Studio, in which students join the MArch 2 (two-year program) cohort. Students progress into two semesters of Advanced Architectural Design Studios and conclude, in their sixth and final semester, with ARCH 7020 Degree Project.

Calculus and physics are required as prerequisites for enrollment.

The MArch 2 is a four-semester, professional curriculum for students holding baccalaureate degrees with majors in architecture. This 75-credit program leads to a professional, STEM-designated, and National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)-accredited Master of Architecture degree.

Placement in this curriculum is highly selective and based on prior preparation and coursework in architecture and on the quality and complexity of work in an applicant's portfolio.

The MArch 2 sequence commences with a two-week preparatory orientation and pre-semester studio before students enter ARCH 6010 International Housing Core Studio in the fall semester and join the MArch 3 cohort. Students progress into two semesters of Advanced Architectural Design Studios, culminating in their fourth and final semester with ARCH 7020 Degree Project.

At the heart of the graduate curriculum is the Advanced Architectural Design Studio sequence. Each semester, students choose from a diverse array of studios that reflect the varied research interests of our faculty and visiting practitioners. These studios focus on cultivating strong conceptual design skills, critical thinking, and a commitment to environmental sustainability. Students learn to thoughtfully integrate technical skills and represent architectural narrative, experimenting with a combination of analog techniques and emerging digital technologies.

Among these options are the Comprehensive Options Studios, where students enhance their abilities for design experimentation and integration of structure, material systems, and responses to climate and environmental challenges. In their final semester, students test their ability to engage a critical agenda while integrating technical, social, and environmental concerns through the Degree Project, a self-initiated endeavor based in St. Louis.

Informing and enriching the studio experience is a robust offering of courses in architectural history and theory, building technology, structural principles, professional practice, urban design, landscape architecture, ecology, emerging digital media, fabrication technologies, and socially engaged practice. These seminars draw on our exceptional faculty expertise across programs to foster interdisciplinary fluency, equipping students to engage in critical debate and tackle contemporary challenges.

The ultimate goal is for students to develop their own tools, strategies, and methodologies, along with strong technical resourcefulness and an independent critical position on the making of architecture in the world.

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