Architecture

At Wentworth, we are ready to practice

Launched in 2009, the M.Arch program can already boast well over 1,200 graduates, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in private practice, higher education, and the nonprofit and public service sectors. The work of our faculty and students engages a wide range of contemporary topics, from sustainable biomaterials to artificial intelligence, and from inclusive environments to advanced technologies in fabrication and visualization. 

Fieldwork & Studios

We immerse ourselves in travel-based fieldwork, community-engaged outreach projects, and experiments in our state-of-the-art labs, which are equipped with an expansive array of tools and technologies ranging from traditional woodworking and precision metalworking to industrial robotics and XR technologies. 

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Practices

Our project-based curriculum prepares students for a range of practices. We consider ‘practices’ to be both a way of thinking and a mode of working. Our graduates are versant in conventional and speculative design practices, material practices, participatory social practices, and practices in scholarship and pedagogy, among many others. We also engage in practice iteratively, in an approach in which design is framed as an act of research in the sense of rehearsal and repetition - in honing one’s craft. For example, in the context of the studio environment, this often means an iterative approach, which in turn frames design as an act of research; in the production of new knowledge through the act of designing. Students and faculty in the program are not afraid to experiment, learn from success and failure, and keep pushing forward.

Co-ops & Careers

Wentworth’s long tradition of cooperative education, a required component of all programs on campus, equally supports these goals by providing students with the practical experience that is increasingly important in today’s professional landscape. We take pride in the fact that our graduates are known for their career-readiness, with local and regional offices regularly employing our students for internships and permanent positions. 

• Visit Co-ops & Careers Office
• Visit Career Resources

We invite you to join the thriving graduate culture at Wentworth, where we are ready to practice.

Faculty Expertise

Our full-time and adjunct faculty are the driving force behind the M.Arch program. The incredible breadth of experience they bring to the learning environment is a true asset to our community. Learn more about their backgrounds and their areas of teaching, research and practice.

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Accreditation

The Master of Architecture is a fully accredited professional degree, and graduates of the program have completed the educational requirements to take the Architect Registration Exam (ARE). The program’s next accreditation review will take place in 2026. For general information about the accreditation of architecture programs see the website of the National Architecture Accreditation Board (NAAB). 

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Dual Degree Program

The School of Architecture & Design and the School of Management at Wentworth collaborate to offer a M. Arch + M.S. in Construction Management dual degree option, which which reduces the amount of time required to complete two professional degrees. This dual degree is available to all M. Arch students, regardless of track placement.

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Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure

Our M.Arch program is one of less than 30 in the country approved to offer the optional curricular track known as the Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure, or IPAL. For motivated students, IPAL offers the possibility of earning both a professional degree and professional licensure at the same time. For more information, see our IPAL page here.

Global perspectives

All students in the M.Arch program participate in the Global Research Studio, which is a required traveling studio that spends more than a week in one of a handful of rotating international locations.

Thesis sequence

All students undertake a design-based thesis project in the program’s final year, through a defined sequence of courses: Design as Research, Thesis Studio, and Thesis Seminar. Each M.Arch student produces a thesis book in the final spring semester of the program, drawing together various threads of their investigations from the two-semester thesis sequence. The thesis books are cataloged and digitized in Wentworth’s Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons.

Graduate electives

A rotating list of graduate electives provides students with a wide range of options for deep learning on a specific topic. Recent elective courses have included:

Permanent elective courses:

• Affordable Housing | Sustainable Communities
• The Climate-Responsive Building
• Participatory Practice
• Fabrication Methods
• Space, Skin, and Surface
• Principles of Passive House Design
• Race, Segregation and Urban Development
• Design in the Context of Migration
• Restorative Community Design
• Self-Production: Collaborative Design

Occasional elective courses:

• Climate Futurism
• Architecture and the Anthropocene
• An Ecological Turn: Adaptive Self-Organizing Systems and Live Models
• Designing the American City
• Architects, Directors, Scenographers: Theater and the Space of Performance
• A Sense of Space
• Attributes of Aliveness
• Tectonics of Robotic Manufacturing
• Future Craft
• Advanced Timber Design
• From Datasets to Dataplaces
• Architecture + AI
• Translating AI Imagery to Reality
• Creating Context  
• Marketing for Design Professionals
• Theories of Practice
• Virtual Design + Construction
• Effective Communication Strategies 

Wentworth's NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture program is highly experiential and hands-on, introducing students to the contemporary challenges of the built environment and giving them the skills needed to become leaders in a rapidly evolving profession.

View information from the Course Catalog below for program requirements.

Career Outcomes