Master of Architecture Courses of Study for 3-year M.Arch I Degree:

First Year:

The Design Studio sequence constitutes the core of the architecture program. Design Studio I introduces students to fundamental architectural issues—form, program, site, and structure—through a series of design and analytical projects that emphasize the inventive and conceptual dimension of architectural design and research. Design Studio II addresses architecture’s role in constructing contemporary social relationships by asking students to reconsider one of the most familiar architectural spaces—the home. Students also enroll in Representation and Spatial Reasoning I and II. This year-long course explores techniques of architectural representation in order to develop a student’s critical ability to think, draw and analyze architecture, pursuing both analogue and digital technologies simultaneously.

Students complement their studies with Issues and Practices of Modern Architecture I which introduces a systematic way of examining and interpreting the build environment, and Issues and Practices of Modern Architecture II (Modern and Postmodern Architecture) which looks at the history of 20th century architecture using New York City as a constant reference. To address the differing backgrounds of students, those that do not have an undergraduate degree in architecture begin with the more historically based Issues and Practices II in the fall semester. In the Fall semester, students take Construction Technology I which immerse them in the material, structural and construction aspect of architecture at the start of their studies. In the Spring Semester, students have the opportunity to take the theory course, Nature in Environment, which foregrounds the cultural understandings of nature and environment as an essential prelude to future studies in ecology and sustainable design.

Second Year:

In Design Studio III students execute designs for modestly scaled buildings in relationship to landscape conditions. Calling into question traditional oppositions between nature and culture, this problem invites students to explore the complex conjunction between design, technology, and sustainability. The Design Studio III is taught in close collaboration with the Environmental Technology Structural Technology courses, in order to help facilitate students’ understandings of the environmental and structural questions that the design and siting of buildings entails. In the Fall semester, student take Theory of Architectural form which introduces them to contemporary theories of architecture, with an emphasis post-1968 developments in architectural thought and criticism, including structuralism, deconstruction, post-colonialism, and digital theory.

Design Studio IV (Design Workshop) offers students the rare studio opportunity to collectively follow a project from schematic design through construction. Taken in conjunction with Construction Technology II, this studio focuses on how materials and construction shape our cultural and tactile understanding of space. Students who do not take the Design Workshop have a studio co-taught by and architect and an engineer, which focuses on the increasingly sophisticated and creative synergy between these two fields. This project mirrors the Design Workshop in its emphasis on technical and material invention and is also paired with Construction Technology II. The second year is where students also undertake a year-long course in structural statics and materials: Structures I and Structures II.

Third Year:

During Design Studio V, a visiting critic presents a thematic urban and architectural problem related to his/her specific field of interest. At the same time, students enroll in Research Seminar: Cities and Details, a course designed to pre-stage the final thesis semester. The topic of discussion ranges from urban issues to specific details, and the intensity and high level of engagement sets precedent for establishing methods of individualized work to be completed during the final studio. Students complete the last of the required theory courses in the fall semester with Theory of Urban Form, designed to give a critical overview of modern urban development and to complement Design Studio V.

Design Studio VI offers students the opportunity to execute an independent thesis within the structure of a supervised studio devoted to the investigation of a specific program and a New York City site. The flexibility of this studio allows each student to pursue their individual interests while requiring them to resolve formal, programmatic, and technical requirements posed by a complex multi-functional urban building. In this final semester, students take Professional Practice, which allows them to graduate and enter the professional world with this material fresh in their minds.

Electives

Students are entitled to take four elective courses. They are encouraged to take at least two electives within the Architecture Department and two outside the department. These may be selected from other Parsons graduate course offerings or from other divisions of the New School, including the Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy as well as the Graduate Faculty.