Department of Architecture

The MArch is a two-year professional program requiring both course work and a design thesis. 

Students in our program are fueled by their own expanding curiosities and convictions, guided and challenged by professors engaged in diverse research, and invigorated by conversations and collaborations with professionals, industry partners, community members, and international leaders in architecture and design.

Most graduates gain employment in the field, and pursue a path toward professional registration and careers as practicing architects. Other graduates continue with advanced post-professional studies and research, and/or thrive in careers in the arts, public service, the construction industry, and related design fields. The program produces capable graduates eager to contribute to improving the built environment and the public good.

Accreditation

In Canada, the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB) is the sole agency authorized by the Canadian Architectural Licensing Authorities (CALA) to accredit Canadian professional degree programs in architecture for the purposes of architectural licensure.

The last CACB site visit took place in February 2018. Subsequently, the Master of Architecture program was formally granted a full accreditation term of six years effective July 1, 2018. The term was scheduled to end on June 30, 2024, however an extension was granted and the next CACB Maintenance Accreditation Visit is scheduled to take place in winter 2025.

• 2018 CACB Visiting Team Report (PDF)
• 2017 Architecture Program Report (PDF)

We explore, discover and learn through making.

The core of our curriculum is the design studio. In studio, students work through a variety of challenging questions, media and scales to explore vital tensions between technical and natural processes, cultural and artistic practices, experiential qualities and worldly phenomena. Design studio enables individuals to experiment widely, while ultimately making responsible design decisions for local situations in a dynamically interconnected world.

Studios are augmented by a growing array of making and thinking facilities: a FABLab, CADLab, Workshop, Architecture/Fine Arts Library, and Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology (C.A.S.T.). Architecture students benefit from interactions with colleagues in our Faculty’s kindred disciplines (Environmental Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and City Planning) and across the University. Students design everything from adaptable furniture to sustainable cities, from enduring buildings to transformative events. In the process we learn how the built environment not only supports and enhances lived experience, but is also meaningfully shaped by personal and collective imagination.