Architecture

Sustainability concerns are changing how we think about architecture. Buildings account for a large percentage of the world's energy expenditures and carbon emissions, which has driven demand for more sustainable architecture. In RIT's accredited master of architecture program, we're moving sustainability forward to elevate the value of architectural design. As a student here, you'll learn how to design with context and substance in areas such as positive energy, performance building, climate-responsive designs, passive resiliency, and more.

Our accredited architecture program offers an immersive program focused on investigating the complexity of designing buildings with people, space, and the environment in mind. Whether you have a background in the building design sector or are new to the field, the program will prepare you for a path to positively contribute to the design of tomorrow's buildings, neighborhoods, and communities.

Our program offers foundation courses as well as more in-depth classes exploring integrated building systems, urban planning, industrial ecology, and more. You'll also have the flexibility to choose electives in other subject areas based on your unique talents and career goals, such as business, engineering, energy, or additional design skills.

What Sets Us Apart

1. Design matters: As a program emphasizing design, the program's core education takes place in the studio. Our studio curriculum integrates construction technologies, material science, and mechanics into design.
2. Hands-on education: Expect a hands-on learning environment, working on real-world projects and utilizing our 75,000-square-foot, LEED Platinum-certified building to observe and test building efficiency. The City of Rochester and the western New York region also serve as an active learning environment for our students.
3. Work experience: A professional co-op will help you build your resume before you graduate. RIT's cooperative education program lets you work in the field with local architects and present neighborhood improvement ideas to planning boards.
4. Global experience: Our global experience requirement lets you experience new cultures, settings, and contexts to expand your understanding of diverse architectural interests and needs.
5. STEM-designated: Our program is STEM-designated, which increases scholarship and research opportunities for students, and offers up to two additional years of work/study for international students.
6. NAAB-accredited: We're one of the few master of architecture degree programs in the U.S. to be accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)–that means you're getting one of the best architecture educations in the country.
7. Thesis: Our thesis option allows you to integrate everything you learn into a comprehensive project. Past student theses include designs for an urban master plan for Rochester's downtown, a net-zero or positive energy building, and a turbine system to harvest rainwater for energy.
8. On-campus or online: Our program is offered in both a traditional on-campus experience and through a 100% online setting.

Plan of Study

The RIT master of architecture program is available in a traditional on-campus setting or through a fully online format. The program also provides advanced standing or standard admission pathways for both the on-campus and online settings. We work with each student individually to determine the best setting and pathways and can customize course requirements based on levels of prior experience.

Program Settings

1. On-campus: Designed as a full-time in-person program, courses are offered on campus in the fall and spring semesters, primarily during the day, and often include open periods between classes to allow time for students to gain work experience with an architectural firm while they complete their degree.
2. Online: Designed as a flexible and remote program, courses are offered through 100% online instruction during the fall, spring, and summer semesters using both synchronous and asynchronous instruction. This flexible format allows time for students to gain work experience with an architectural firm while they complete their degree from any location.

Program Pathways

1. Advanced Standing Pathway: For those with previous experience and an undergraduate degree in architecture, the Advanced Standing track provides a two- to two-and-a-half year (5 semester) path.
2. Standard Admission Pathway: For those with no prior experience or background in architecture, the Standard Admission track is available and provides a three and half year (7-semester) path.

Curriculum

• Sustainability: With a global need for a more sustainable world, including buildings and their impact on energy consumption and carbon footprints, the focus of many courses reflect the conditions of sustainable design and practice.
• Technology: Design exploration is enhanced through the understanding of the implication of technology on both design process and product. The program enables students to focus and collaborate in many specialized areas of technology, including engineering, computer science, imaging science, materials and construction, and products and remanufacturing.
• Urbanism: The complexity of the urban environment requires an interdisciplinary approach to architecture education–one that references economics, public policy, sociology, and regional culture. With this in mind, the program also focuses on the practices and principles of preservation and adaptive reuse.
• Integrated learning/practice: From the outset, students often approach design problems within teams, learning to value and leverage collective and collaborative participation. Through integrated learning and evidenced-based models, we prepare students for the increasingly integrated practice of architecture, where architects are orchestrating teams of professionals from a variety of fields, including engineering, management, science, and computer science.

Enhanced Career Opportunities

RIT's master of architecture program is proud of the 100 percent job placement rate among our graduates. Our alumni are employed in architectural firms around the world and are working in diverse fields, from community development to smart growth to green building materials. Within firms and elsewhere, they serve as architectural designers, research scientists, sustainability consultants, planning engineers, start-up entrepreneurs, and more. Plus, our professional co-ops are a compelling program requirement that often leads to employment offers from architects and other firms working in construction, urban design, and facilities management.

Innovation Through Diversity

Enhancing the value of design requires constructive collaboration and a breadth of skills and viewpoints, interwoven in a way that elevates and celebrates everyone's differences and strengths at RIT. Behind our focus on creativity and innovation is a dedication to diversity and inclusion that is fundamental to our mission. The master of architecture degree is suited for students with or without a background in the architecture or sustainability fields. Many of our students have been former art teachers, film students, engineers, interior designers, lawyers, and more before beginning their studies. They bring these backgrounds to the program in ways that enriched conversations and perspectives about design and human needs. Plus, approximately one-third of our students are international students, bringing cultural experiences and architectural design concepts from every continent.