The Department of Architecture

“Building Biras: A Hurricane Adapted Caribbean Resort” by McKenzie Wasson (MArch I '20) — Recipient of the 2020 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize, First Prize

The Department of Architecture is a unique community, rich in diversity, collaboration, and scholarship through design. Here, students explore today’s most creative design approaches, with an international faculty prominent across the field. More

Degree Programs

MArch I Master in Architecture I

The program leading to the Master in Architecture is an accredited professional degree intended for individuals who have completed the bachelor's degree with a major other than one of the design professions or with a pre-professional undergraduate major in one of the design professions.
MArch II Master in Architecture II

The program leading to the Master in Architecture II is a post-professional degree intended for individuals who have completed a five-year undergraduate professional program in architecture or its equivalent.

Together with visiting design critics and theorists from around the world, architecture faculty and students explore a range of design investigations, expand knowledge, and confront the challenges of the contemporary built environment. Collaboration thrives in Gund Hall’s distinctive trays, five continuous tiers of open studio space.

The Department’s philosophy of design excellence integrates the imaginative and skillful manipulation of form, as well as the ability to draw inspiration from a broad body of knowledge. The architecture curriculum includes design studio, theory, visual studies, history, technology, and professional practice, with design as the central focus of instruction.

Gund Hall’s studio trays form both the physical and pedagogical core of the GSD experience, drawing together students and faculty from across the departments of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning and design. The creative, collaborative atmosphere of the trays is supplemented by Gund Hall’s advanced information infrastructure, media-enriched presentation spaces, vast library resources, and open access to fabrication technologies, enabling architecture students to develop, discuss, exchange, and materialize ideas through a comprehensive range of platforms and media. The student experience is further enriched by the School’s renowned lecture and public program series, exhibitions, and publications, as well as the resources available across Harvard University and the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Students in the Department of Architecture are integrated into an active network of internationally recognized designers, dedicated to addressing the changing needs of the modern world.

As new ways of thinking emerge in the profession of architecture, the field grows increasingly complex and requires new techniques of inquiry and design. For generations, the GSD has educated committed individuals who have assumed leadership roles in shaping the built environment. Today’s graduates in architecture continue this tradition by pioneering new design approaches to the challenges posed by contemporary society.