Master of Architecture, M.Arch
Architects today are interdisciplinary public intellectuals who engage their community, discipline, and the world through many forms of creative professional practice.
The Graduate Architecture Program at Tennessee challenges students to do more than envision buildings. We influence contemporary technology, material cultures, and political economies while drawing from histories and theories of the built environment. We prepare graduate students to be active intellectuals, willing and able to engage in cultural production and agency.
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Program Details
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Program Overview
The School of Architecture offers two tracks leading to a professional Master of Architecture degree—both of which challenge students to design their path through elective offerings, research studios, study abroad options, and degree concentrations.
Master of Architecture – 3G
The 3G track admits students from all backgrounds including design, architecture, engineering, sciences, as well as humanities and the arts. This program typically takes three-and-a-half years to complete, and it begins in July. Prospective students should apply for summer second-session enrollment.
Master of Architecture – 2G
The 2G track admits students looking to complete a 4+2 pathway, including those holding a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from a NAAB-accredited institution, or an international equivalent. This program typically takes two years to complete, and it starts in August. Prospective students should apply for fall enrollment.
Concentrations
Students interested in declaring a concentration will complete a statement of intent and seek advice and approval for the courses chosen. A minimum of 12 graduate credit hours are required to obtain a concentration.
Read about our specializations on the UT Course Catalog:
- Conservation and Stewardship
- Computational Design and Fabrication
- Sustainable Design
- Urbanism
Benefits to Specializing
Architects lead diverse teams to produce complex projects. Specializing your degree through a concentration allows you to learn techniques and methodologies in an area of expertise that will strengthen your creative practice. Concentrations position architects as deep experts in a subject of specialization and as collaborators with designers and professionals in related disciplines. Concentrations are an additional credential to the professional degree, allowing our graduates to differentiate themselves.
Earn Dual Master Degrees
The School of Architecture and the School of Landscape Architecture offer a dual program leading to the conferral of both the Master of Landscape Architecture degree and the Master of Architecture degree. This initiative addresses the growing need for graduates with an understanding of the disciplinary concepts, skills, and agendas of both architecture and landscape architecture. We educate hybrid professionals who are both willing and able to make a strong difference in a world that is increasingly ecologically and systematically designed.
Architecture is an Evolving Profession
Architecture and Emerging Media
What you can do with a Master of Architecture after graduation
Architecture is not a single career path but a discipline with countless ways to practice. Graduates build practices that range from sole proprietorships to global firms, from community-embedded work to interdisciplinary collaborations spanning technology, fabrication, education, research, and entrepreneurship.
Architect
Architects shape the built environment by designing buildings, landscapes, interiors, and cities that respond to human needs, cultural and artistic values, and economic and environmental forces. They lead interdisciplinary teams through every phase of design and construction, balancing creativity, technical expertise, and public responsibility. As a NAAB-accredited professional degree, the Master of Architecture satisfies the educational requirement for architectural licensure in the United States while preparing graduates to establish independent practices, join leading design firms, serve public agencies, or invent new forms of architectural practice.
Academics and Researchers
Architectural faculty educate and mentor the next generation of designers while contributing to research, scholarship, and professional practice. Professors of architecture teach design studios, building technology, history and theory, and specialized areas of architecture. A Master of Architecture provides advanced design knowledge, research experience, and critical-thinking abilities that prepare graduates for teaching roles in higher education, community colleges, and professional training programs. Many academics also practice or consult within the profession.
Embedded Practitioners
Embedded Practitioners lead design initiatives from within organizations whose primary mission extends beyond architecture. Working for universities, healthcare systems, technology companies, museums, government agencies, nonprofits, and other institutions, they often oversee building projects on behalf of their organizations while also shaping planning, strategy, operations, and innovation. As owners' representatives, campus architects, design strategists, and organizational leaders, they translate institutional goals into the built environment while applying design expertise to broader organizational challenges.
3G Track
Recommended pre-requisites: Humanities (12 Hours), Physics (1 course), Pre-calculus (1 course).
ARCH 538
Design I: Foundations
ARCH 518
Design Representation and Process I
ARCH 501
Introduction to the Built Environment
ARCH 511
History and Theory of Architecture I
ARCH 557
Structural Practices in Architecture
ARCH 542
Design III: Synthesis
ARCH 558
Materials and Methods in Architecture
2G Track
ARCH 571
Design IV: Architecture and Urbanism
ARCH 527
Design Tactics
ARCH 572
Design V: Design Integration
ARCH 528
Design Theories
ARCH 560
Seminar in Design Integration