What You Learn About Architecture in Graduate School

At the most basic level, architecture grad programs teach you more about how structures are designed and built. By the time you’ve graduated and earned your architecture master’s degree, you’ll have learned about the various elements of design, program, materials, technologies, building practices, professional practice, and integrated architectural solutions.

In order to create great building designs, you’ll need to learn about the cultural and social dynamics that influence design and dictate the construction materials and methods that make a building project successful. Architecture grad school gives you the opportunity to develop your own design style by teaching you more about architectural principles, history and theories, which you incorporate into your own designs through independent and group studio projects. You gain an understanding of what makes a strong design, and how those designs can facilitate and improve the work and experiences of others: doctors in hospitals, educators in schools, reverent sightseers at monuments and memorials, and more.

Part of your design education in the architecture grad program includes sustainable design and environmental stewardship. Sustainability and climate change are the architecture profession’s biggest concerns, according to a recent DesignIntelligence survey of architects. Sustainable design means more than using materials that are environmentally friendly, but understanding how buildings interact with their surrounding environment with respect to social, economic, and ecological issues, ensuring that they do not bring harm to their site and community.

As you design more and receive feedback from your professors in the studio setting, you gain more confidence in your ideas. Architecture grad school is a place for you to grow your creativity, and it’s important that you find a grad program where you can channel that creativity into thoughtful, meaningful design—and then explain and defend your design decisions.

Hand-in-hand with the design knowledge comes the knowledge that you need to execute your design. That includes developing knowledge about materials, technologies, and the skills you need to visualize your design physically and digitally.

In order to create viable designs, you need to know the materials and methods your design will require. That includes the physical properties of building materials, their vulnerabilities and best-use scenarios, building technologies, and how to assemble the various different materials you need for your structures.

To demonstrate how those materials go together, you’ll need to use a design software like Sketchup or Autodesk Revit. You’ll become adroit at using these software programs, which is great preparation for the fast-paced on-the-job design work you’ll be doing.

Perhaps the most important thing you’ll learn in architecture grad school is professionalism. In UL Lafayette’s architecture grad program, you’ll work with professors, community members, and outside stakeholders on real-world projects through our Community Design Workshop, Building Institute, Coastal Community Resilience Studio, and Sustainable Development Lab. Our students work on projects that range from protecting the coastline, preserving our region’s architectural history, designing and building small and large structures, and helping cities and neighborhoods visualize their potential as communities.

These real-world studio projects will challenge you to understand the business principles for practicing architecture, including management, advocacy, ethical and legal behavior, and working for the good of the client and society at large.

Ready to take your architectural design knowledge to the next level and earn your architecture master’s degree? Learn more today!