Master of Architecture
Architecture is a creative and exciting design-based profession concerned with virtually all aspects of the built environment. It combines art, science and technology with business, social and environmental concerns.
The Master of Architecture within the Melbourne School of Design is a professional program which prepares graduates for employment as architects. The ethos of the program emphasises the central role of design in the studio. Students take a research subject which may enable progression to further studies as a PhD candidate.
The Master of Architecture is a two-year fully-accredited professional program, entered after a 3-year undergraduate program with an architecture major. With over 30 full-time academics and a broad range of leading architectural practitioners, the program has a depth and breadth of teaching and research performance unmatched within the Southeast Asian and Australasian regions. Graduates will be equipped with the creative and critical thinking skills to push the envelope of architectural change in terms of the design and production of buildings as well as critique of their technical, aesthetic, social and environmental performance. By 2010 the Master of Architecture will become the primary professional degree in Architecture (replacing the Bachelor of Architecture). A three-year pathway for students without an architecture background will be available from 2010.
The MArch program has a core of design studios comprising 50% of the course leading to a research thesis. Architectural design is conceived in broad terms as the creative invention of architectural futures, integrating aesthetic, technological, programmatic, environmental and social issues in the production of buildings for the 21st century and beyond. The MArch studios will be both project focused and research-led with an emphasis on rigorous analysis and creative production of ideas.
Beyond these design studios, students will be asked to specialize in one or more areas of concentration: digital architecture, history and conservation, architectural production and practice, sustainable architecture, social and cultural critique, and Asia/Pacific architecture. These sub-fields are geared to diversifying fields of architectural practice and aim to produce architects who have gone beyond the required levels of knowledge and skill to graduate at the cutting edge of knowledge and innovation in particular sub-fields.
Why Choose the Master of Architecture at Melbourne?
- Offering advanced study in architectural design, the Master of Architecture focuses on the aesthetic, socio-political and environmental implications of architectural form, space and expression.
- The Master of Architecture enables students to explore cross cultural issues in the planning, design and construction of the built environment.
- The program provides the opportunity to investigate contemporary concerns in local and international communities through architectural design and encourages debate about the theoretical and practical aspects of architectural culture and production.
- An accredited degree, the Master of Architecture provides the opportunity to meet the continuing professional development requirements of the architecture profession in Australia and internationally.
Fields of Study
The main focus of the Master of Architecture is architectural design and practice. The degree provides graduates with:
- design skills that will contribute to the improvement of our built environment;
- a grounding in the rich lessons of architectural history, theory and technology enabling them to develop innovative architecture, relevant to time and place, people and culture;
- the skills to manage an architectural practice and work within teams; and
- the ability to use resources, materials and technologies to produce responsible and sustainable architecture.
Career Outcomes
Graduates find employment in private architectural firms where they work on residential, commercial and institutional projects. They may also work in government departments where they assist in the development of major projects.
Some graduates run their own architectural practice while others move into related careers (further study may be required), such as: industrial design, furniture design, interior design, landscape design, urban design, urban planning, facility management, project management and development, conservation and heritage management, and public art.
Further Information
- Master of Architecture course structure and specific application requirements
- How to Apply page for how to submit an application and application forms.
Contact
Graduate Course Administrator
Architecture Building & Planning
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010 Australia
T: (+61 3) 8344 8742
F: (+61 3) 8344 5532
E: abp-graduateschool@unimelb.edu.au