United StatesThe Department of Architecture is dedicated to the education of future generations of ethical professionals, creative designers, and informed citizens. We believe architecture to be a conceptually based intellectual endeavor and a form of critical inquiry that addresses the physical environment from the scale of the city to the scale of furniture. To realize these objectives, design is taught as a critical and creative enterprise.
The Department of Architecture prepares students for professional practice in the discipline of architecture with emphasis placed upon six thematic areas: architectural design, history/theory, building technologies, digital technology, ethics and professional business practice, and general education.
Miami is an urban laboratory for the study of architecture. The region provides limitless possibilities for exploring historic architecture and urbanism, as well as contemporary new work by many of the world’s leading architects. The challenges of rapid growth and urban development in Miami and the region have created an ideal environment for the study of these timely issues. The program takes advantage of Miami’s position as one of the principal academic and commercial gateways to Latin America and Europe.
The Department offers the Accelerated Master of Architecture degree (M. Arch) which integrates pre-graduate and graduate coursework in a single curricular path which may be taken over five or six years. The accelerated Master of Architecture path begins freshman year with two years of pre-graduate coursework (72 credit hours). Students in good standing move directly to 102 credit hours of graduate coursework. The accelerated Master of Architecture degree path concludes with the conferral of the accredited professional Master’s degree. Transition to graduate study occurs without the conferral of an undergraduate degree and no bachelor’s degree is awarded at any point.
Admission Requirements
Application Deadline: January 15
The Department admits students once a year to begin their coursework in the fall semester; therefore, it is recommended that interested applicants meet with a member of the college’s Student Services and Advising Center during the Fall semester prior to the application deadline. Admission to the department is competitive and is not guaranteed. Admission will be offered based on space availability to those applicants judged by the Department Faculty Committee to have the greatest potential for successful completion of the program.
Design Portfolio Requirements
As part of each department’s admission review process, all students are required to submit a design portfolio demonstrating the candidate’s creative abilities as well as their level of design. The design portfolio is evaluated based on a candidate’s demonstrated sense of composition, attention to detail, graphic communication skills, expressive quality, and sense of space, accuracy, and observation.
The design portfolio should be submitted digitally as a single PDF following these guidelines:
• Image File Size: Minimum of 500 KB / Maximum 5 MB.
• Image File Format: JPEG (JPG), 72dpi.
• Convert images to color profiles RGB.
• Do not submit slideshows, PowerPoint presentations, animations, movies, audio with images or embed images into Microsoft Word.
