Department ofArchitecture
A tradition of excellence
The Department of Architecture’s century-strong traditions of drawing, model-making, community outreach/service learning, and hands-on construction prepare students to explore innovative models of architectural practice as well as non-traditional approaches, including design-build and digital fabrication.
The award-winning faculty are active in professional practice, research and service projects, and national and international competitions, as well as scholarly activities. Thanks to a rigorous curriculum with numerous opportunities to engage in professional projects and work with external stakeholders, graduates are prepared for wherever their design degrees may take them.
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Degrees
+ Minors
B.Arch. in Architecture
The B.Arch. is a highly sought after five-year professional degree program that consistently produces graduates who push the bounds of architecture to enhance the human experience.
M.Arch. in Architecture
The professional M.Arch. degree deeply explores the techniques, principles, histories, theories of architecture, preparing students to become leaders in the field.
M.S. in Architecture (+Dual M.S. +IUG)
The M.S. in Architecture program is designed for students interested in advanced research and independent work. Integrated undergrad/grad, as well as dual-title program options exist.
Ph.D. in Architecture (+Dual Ph.D.)
The Ph.D. in Architecture is a research-based degree concentrating on a number of areas of inquiry. Hone the degree via research clusters, program focus areas, or dual-title options.
Architecture Studies Minor
The Architecture Studies minor will permit students in other majors the opportunity to gain insight into the discipline of Architecture.
Research clusters
Department of Architecture degree programs offer concentrated inquiry, research, study, and pedagogy spanning four key areas of focus, or research clusters: Culture, Society, Space; Design Computing; Material Matters; and Sustainability. Students will engage broadly with each of these areas, as well as selecting a specific cluster for primary course work and scholarship.
Culture, Society, Space (CSS)
The Culture, Society, Space (CSS) research cluster examines how built spaces – from the artifact to the urban – affect those who interact with them and, conversely, how cultural, societal and disciplinary values shape the spaces we create. Projects can address individual buildings, public spaces, communities, or cities, as well as typological, institutional and wider forms of inquiry. Research methods include formal, theoretical, historic/historiographical, sociological and systemic analyses. Studies may focus on spaces and ideas as forms of cultural expression, the people who produce and use them, and/or the ideological forces in which they operate, including all aspects of their sustainability.
Design Computing (DC)
The Design Computing (DC) research cluster offers students critical knowledge and advanced skills in the use of digital technologies in architecture and related design fields, especially in the areas of visualization, generative systems, and fabrication. By critically examining contemporary discourse on digital media and architecture, this cluster examines the impact of emerging digital technologies on creative processes in shaping our built environment, and investigates how they can be productively utilized in sustainable design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and fabrication. The work of faculty and students in this group spans research on immersive environments, critical studies of design technologies, software development, shape grammars, parametric design, and innovative uses of numerically controlled devices.
Material Matters (MM)
The Material Matters (MM) research cluster provides students with opportunities to delve into the interaction of materials and processes. With research ranging from material properties exploration to applied process-based design, this cluster encompasses a wide range of creative interests that find common ground in the power of material – the generator and substance of design.
Research in the MM cluster is supported by a collection of faculty members whose work focuses on craft traditions, industrial production, tooling and skills transmission, bricolage and the material imagination, material memory, design-build, and the reuse and restoration of buildings. Student and faculty engagement with Penn State’s considerable materials/making resources in Architecture, Fine Arts, and Engineering is a hallmark of this cluster. MM – as a community of scholars, architects, and designers who fabricate, build, un-build, and innovate – stimulates new knowledge through shared experience in an environment of creative innovation, hands-on exploration, and critical making.
Sustainability (SUS)
The Sustainability (SUS) research cluster investigates architecture’s potential to improve the quality of life for current and future societies around the globe, addressing issues of natural resource consumption, pollution prevention, and organizational dependencies. Our faculty address aesthetic, technical, economic, and social issues in projects that cover multiple scales. From design processes, historical and theoretical aspects of sustainability, material reclamation and reuse, to identifying social structures preventing sustainable practice, this research cluster offers a comprehensive view of sustainability that promotes interdisciplinary integration. Faculty bring both practitioner and academic experience to their investigations, producing generalizable knowledge that can also be applied in the professional practice of architecture.
Click on the screenshot above to watch a replay of the Architecture Graduate Programs Open House event.
Alumni Spotlight
My Penn State education has influenced my career by developing me into a global citizen, through exposure to different people, resources, industries, cultures, and places.
Alumni Spotlight
Samantha Josaphat
B.Arch. in Architecture 2012Samantha Josaphat is an architect and the founder of STUDIO 397 Architecture. Part of the mere 0.3 percent of black female architects registered in the United States, she is the 397th living black female architect to be licensed. Samantha entered the Penn State Architecture program in 2007, and by 2012, she had traveled to ten countries, become a member of the Arts and Architecture Student Council, and founded the Penn State student chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS). While at Penn State she built herself a valuable network of resources that continues to shape her path to success. Samantha is the 2019 president of the New York chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. Learn more about how Samantha’s firm is impacting the narrative of black female architects in this video.
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Our Facilities
An exhibit gallery, digital and textile labs, resource library, and workshops
See All Our Facilities
Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library
Located in 111 Stuckeman Family Building, the Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library supports study and research in architecture and landscape architecture and their histories Learn More
Computational Textiles Lab
The Computational Textiles Lab, or SOFTLAB, in the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing is a research group in which faculty and students examine how Learn More
DigiFab
The digiFAB lab is the home for digital fabrication equipment that is used for design and research projects by faculty and students in Stuckeman Learn More
Rouse Gallery
Located in the main entryway of the Stuckeman Family Building, the Willard G. Rouse gallery houses special exhibits by leaders in the fields of Learn More
Stuckeman Shop
The Stuckeman Shop – primarily supporting architecture, landscape architecture, and graphic design students – provides an excellent opportunity for motivated students to develop their ideas Learn More
Stuckeman Family Building
The Stuckeman Family Building was constructed in 2003-04 as the new home of the Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Penn State. Learn More
Faculty Spotlight
What a scrapyard in Ghana can teach us about innovation.
DK Osseo-Asare
Assistant Professor of Architecture and Engineering Design
Fulbright scholar, TED Global Fellow, and Africa 4 Tech Digital Champion, DK Osseo-Asare is assistant professor of architecture and engineering design, facilitating collaboration among the Stuckeman School, the School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs, and the Materials Research Institute. He is also the director of the Humanitarian Materials Lab (HuMatLab), affiliate to the Materials Matters and Stuckeman Center for Design Computing research clusters, and associate director of Penn State’s Alliance for Education, Science, Engineering and Design with Africa (AESEDA). Outside the University, he is cofounder and principal of architecture and integrated design at Low Design Office (LOWDO), based in Austin, Texas, and Tema, Ghana.
News from A&A
Strategic city planning can help reduce urban heat island effect
New Penn State research suggests that certain urban factors can reduce the tendency of cities to trap heat — a phenomenon called the “urban heat island."
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The tendency of cities to trap heat — a phenomenon called the “urban heat island,” often referred to as the UHI effect — can lead to
Architecture graduate student's thesis on urban public spaces receives award
Aysan Jafarzadeh was named the 2023 winner of the Department of Architecture’s Jawaid Haider Award for Design Excellence in Graduate Studies for her thesis. Read More
Nazarian presents "Concrete Glass Frontiers" at Taylor Lecture Symposium
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Shadi Nazarian, associate research professor of architecture and a core researcher in the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, was invited to present a lecture as part
Read More