Masters Degrees
 

The Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) Degree Requirements

Master of Science in Architecture Studies Degree Requirements

Residency
The minimum required residency for students enrolled in the SMArchS program is two full academic years.

Faculty Advising
A faculty advisor from the Department of Architecture is assigned to each SMArchS student at matriculation. The advisor weighs in on the student’s initial plan of study and on each subsequent term’s choice of subjects. This individual should be a faculty member with whom the student is in close contact. The advisor monitors the student’s progress through completion of the degree.

Subjects and Credit Units
The SMArchS degree is awarded upon satisfactory completion of an approved program of at least 96 units, 42 of which must be H-level subjects, and an acceptable thesis. 

  • Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
  • Architecture and Urbanism
  • Building Technology
  • Design and Computation
  • History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art

Students, with their advisors, construct individual programs of study focused on their particular interests. Subjects that must be taken include:

  • 4.221, Architecture Studies Faculty Colloquium (1st term)
  • 4.290, SMArchS Pre-Thesis Preparation (2nd semester)
  • One or two core subjects in methods from the list below depending on the student’s area of study (1st and/or 2nd semester)

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture: 4.619, Historiography of Islamic Architecture, or 4.621, Orientalism and Representation
Architecture and Urbanism: 4.175, Case Studies in City Form
Building Technology: 4.481, Building Technology Seminar
Design and Computation: 4.580, Inquiry into Computation and Design
History, Theory and Criticism: 4.661, Theory and Method in the Study of Architecture and Art (HTC students are required to take this subject both fall terms of their residency)

  • Six subjects within the student’s area of interest; in Architecture and Urbanism, two of the six subjects must be a studio; in Building Technology one of the six subjects must be 4.495, Design for a Sustainable Future
  • 4.288, Preparation for SMArchS Thesis (3rd term)
  • 4.THG, Graduate Thesis (final term)

English Proficiency Requirement
All students whose first language is not English are required to take the English Evaluation Test (EET) prior to registration at MIT. Even students who satisfy the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement for admission may be required to take specialized subjects in English as a Second Language (ESL), depending on their EET results. These subjects do not count toward the required units but will prove helpful to students who need to develop the skills necessary to write a thesis.

Policy on Incomplete Subjects and Thesis Semester
SMArchS students may have no more than one incomplete in a required subject when they register for thesis (4.THG). This incomplete can be no older than one term (received the term prior to thesis registration).

Students who have incompletes from several subjects or incompletes from earlier terms will be denied registration until those subjects are finished and graded. This policy applies to incompletes in subjects required by the degree curriculum or needed for units toward the degree.

Thesis Preparation and Thesis
Students enroll in Preparation for SMArchS Thesis (4.288) their third term of registration. The result of this 9-unit subject is a thesis proposal. 

SMArchS students are required to register for 36 units of thesis (4.THG) in their fourth and final term. Before a student can register for thesis, a signed copy of the thesis proposal form and thesis proposal must be submitted to the degree administrator for master’s programs in the headquarters of the Department of Architecture. Once the thesis proposal is approved, students are permitted to register for thesis.

The SMArchS thesis committee is composed of at least two and no more than three members. The thesis supervisor must be a permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty. The first reader must be a permanent faculty member of the Department of Architecture or a related department at MIT. The third member (second reader) may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional or a faculty member from another institution. Download Thesis Committee Guidelines here.

Co-thesis supervision is permitted as long as one of the supervisors is a permanent member of the Department of Architecture faculty. The other supervisor may be any member of the MIT faculty or research staff, an outside professional or a faculty member from another institution.

Three departmental thesis reviews are conducted for SMArchS students: the thesis preparation review in Week 4; the thesis content review in Week 9; and the public presentation in the last week of the term. These presentations, also known as final reviews, are made to the Department of Architecture community, faculty and students.

Two weeks before the final review, SMArchS students meet with their thesis committees to formally defend the thesis.

The SMArchS degree is awarded after all the degree requirements have been met, and after two copies of the approved, archival-ready thesis have been submitted to the headquarters of the Department of Architecture by the Institute deadline for master’s theses as published in the MIT Academic Calendar. Students must adhere to the Specifications for Thesis Preparation published by the Institute Archives.

Quick Links
SMarchS Thesis Proposal Form
Academic Calendar
Specifications for Thesis Preparation
English Evaluation Test (EET)
Office of the Dean for Graduate Education
Thesis Committee Guidelines

 
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