Architecture

Overview

The Architecture program of the University of Massachusetts Amherst consists of three main components: core requirements, areas of knowledge exploration, and a culminating Master's Thesis. Course offerings are organized around an interdisciplinary curriculum involving faculty and students from architecture, studio art, art history, public history, landscape architecture and regional planning, building construction and wood technology, environmental engineering, environmental sciences, computer science, and management. Students may also take classes through the Five College consortium, including Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges.

In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted a 6-year, 3-year, or 2-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards. Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree that, when earned sequentially, constitute an accredited professional education. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

STEM Designation

The Master of Architecture program has received designation as a STEM field under Architectural and Building Sciences/ Technology.   This designation permits international students enrolled in the BFA Architecture and Master of Architecture and studying on an F-1 visa to apply for the 24 month STEM OPT extension.