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Ph.D. in Architecture (+Dual Ph.D.)

Contemporary. Transdisciplinary.
Rethink and redefine the architectural fields.
Department of Architecture

The doctoral program in architecture is a research-based degree concentrating on a number of areas of inquiry. Hone the degree via research clusters, program focus, or dual-title options.

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Earn a Ph.D. in Architecture at Penn State

Penn State’s Ph.D. in Architecture program trains individuals for independent research that will produce knowledge that is new, original, and valuable, and prepares them for independent thinking and leadership in the field. The program’s transdisciplinary nature encourages new exchanges that rethink and redefine the architectural fields. Its distinguishing quality is its broad-based research core, grounded in contemporary theory and methods.

The architecture program faculty include scholars with expertise in architectural theory, building construction and technology, cultural and environmental behavior, the design process, digital design and fabrication, housing, sustainability, landscape architecture, and urban design. Visiting scholars further enhance the program and course offerings. Doctoral candidates are encouraged to draw upon the enormous resources of other Penn State graduate programs for electives that will enrich and broaden their scholarship.

Prospective students must be prepared to articulate their area of proposed specialization and research and their intended research theme and topic. The program accepts applicants holding a post-professional master’s degree in architecture, landscape architecture, or a related field.

Admission Requirements

All applicants must hold either (1) a professionally accredited baccalaureate degree in architecture or landscape architecture from a regionally accredited U.S. institution and a master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture or related field or (2) a tertiary (postsecondary) degree that is deemed comparable to a professionally accredited bachelor’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture from a regionally accredited U.S. institution and a master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture or related field; both degrees must be from an officially recognized degree-granting institution in the country in which they operate. Alternatively, the applicant can hold (3) a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution plus a professionally accredited master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture or (4) a tertiary (postsecondary) degree that is deemed comparable to a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution plus a professionally accredited master’s degree in architecture or landscape architecture; these degrees must be from officially recognized degree-granting institutions in the country in which they operate. Outstanding candidates who do not hold a professional architecture or landscape architecture degree but who satisfy all other entrance requirements may be admitted at the discretion of the program.

An overall minimum grade-point average of 3.20 for graduate and undergraduate degrees is required for admission. Exceptions to the minimum 3.20 grade-point average may be made for students with special backgrounds, abilities, and interests at the discretion of the program.

All applicants for admission to the Ph.D. degree program must submit the following:

  • a completed Graduate School application and payment of the application fee
  • official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
  • names of three faculty members or professionals acquainted with the applicant’s academic history who can be contacted and invited to provide reference letters
  • a Ph.D. Essay that (1) articulates the reasons for pursuing graduate training; (2) demonstrates that the Ph.D. program has been carefully considered and a relevant faculty member has been identified; (3) presents a clear research focus; and (4) highlights how previous education, academic background, and/or professional experience provide a foundation for pursuing graduate training in this research field
  • a Curriculum Vitae

 

https://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/programs/majors/architecture/#admissionrequirementstext

Degree Requirements

https://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/programs/majors/architecture/#degreerequirementstext

Courses

Graduate courses carry numbers from 500 to 699 and 800 to 899. Advanced undergraduate courses numbered between 400 and 499 may be used to meet some graduate degree requirements when taken by graduate students. Courses below the 400 level may not. A graduate student may register for or audit these courses in order to make up deficiencies or to fill in gaps in previous education but not to meet requirements for an advanced degree.

Architecture (ARCH) Course List

 

https://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/programs/majors/architecture/#coursestext

Student Aid

Graduate assistantships available to students in this program and other forms of student aid are described in the Tuition & Funding section of The Graduate School’s website. Students on graduate assistantships must adhere to the course load limits set by The Graduate School.

All applicants who are accepted are considered for departmental financial aid.

 

https://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/programs/majors/architecture/#studentaidtext

Questions? Contact Program Administrator

https://secure.gradsch.psu.edu/gpms/program/programDetail.cfm?program=ARCH

Greyscale, sinuous computationally designed reef structure.

Research Clusters

The Ph.D. program offers concentrated inquiry, research, study and pedagogy in the following major areas of focus:

Culture, Society, Space

Technical line drawing of building, showing numerous internal architectural spaces.

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.

Learn more about the faculty, students, and scholarship in the CSS cluster.

Design Computing

Close-up of geometric spherical shape fabricated from laser-cut fibreboard.

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.

Learn more about the faculty, students, and scholarship in the DC cluster.

Material Matters

Close-up of concrete arch positioned on its side, supported by a metal frame.

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.

Learn more about the faculty, students, and scholarship in the MM cluster.

Sustainability

Cropped view with an energy-efficient house and wild grasses in the foreground, with a group of students and the Washington Monument in the background.

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.

Learn more about the faculty, students, and scholarship in the SUS cluster.

Degree Options

In addition to the integrated research concentrations, the Ph.D. in Architecture degree can be further oriented to your scholarship and research. The Ph.D can be undertaken with a focus in Landscape Architecture, or as a dual-title Ph.D. in Architecture and Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society degree.

Dual-Title Ph.D. + TREES

The Department of Architecture and the College of Health and Human Development offer a dual-title graduate degree program in Architecture and Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society (TREES), both at the M.S. and Ph.D. levels. The TREES program is a transdisciplinary, intercollege program at the intersection of natural resources and societal challenges, which exposes students to issues including, but not limited to global climate change; sustainable energy, food, and fiber supplies; threats to biodiversity; water pollution and availability; genetic modification; and sustainable design.

The purpose of this dual-title degree is to provide architecture graduate students with the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct architecture research in relationship to socio-environmental challenges that revolve around managing ecosystems and natural resources in ways that continue to promote human well-being.

Once admitted in the Ph.D. in Architecture degree program, a student can apply for admission to TREES. Admission process and requirements can be found here. Doctoral students must be admitted into the dual-title degree program in TREES no later than the end of the fourth semester (not counting summer semesters) of entry into the graduate major program.

The Qualifying Examination, Dissertation Committee formation, coursework selection, Comprehensive Examination, Dissertation, and Final Oral Examination (dissertation defense) must be carefully planned to satisfy the requirements of the dual-title degree in Architecture and TREES. To complete the dual-title degree, students must satisfy the minimum requirements of the Ph.D. in Architecture degree program and, in addition, the minimum requirements of the dual-title intercollege degree program.

More information

Focus: Landscape Architecture

This Ph.D. focuses on the opportunities afforded by interdisciplinary collaboration through the Stuckeman School’s Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The curriculum is highly individualized: students first must complete the requirements of the M.S. in Landscape Architecture (or equivalent); then they undertake one year of required resident coursework, after which they complete dissertation research as required.

This curriculum benefits from potential alliance with award-winning faculty University-wide. Opportunities include our Hamer Center for Community Design, the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, and E+D: Ecology plus Design, which merges ecology and design in ways that improve the ecological function of the designed world. Students may also pursue a dual-title degree Ph.D. in Architecture with a focus in Landscape Architecture + Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society (TREES).

Ph.D. Students

Students currently enrolled in the Ph.D. in Architecture program.

Current Cohort

Dima Abu-Aridah

Dima Abu-Aridah

Research Focus: Refugee camps and socio-spatial dimensions
Research Clusters: Culture, Society, Space and Design Computing
Academic Adviser: Rebecca Henn
dfa5278@psu.edu

Mahsa Adib

Mahsa Adib

Landscape Architecture Focus
Research Focus: Community engagement for green stormwater infrastructure development
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Academic Adviser: Hong Wu
mva5844@psu.edu

Sana Ahrar

Sana Ahrar

Research Focus: Mixed-income informal settlements in the global south
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Alexandra Staub
sxa5735@psu.edu

Maryam Aman

Maryam Aman

Research Focus: Energy-efficient building design
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Academic Advisers: Ute Poerschke and José Pinto Duarte
mka5911@psu.edu

Elizabeth Andrzejewski

Elizabeth Andrzejewski

Research Focus: Konrad Wachsmann, prefabrication, building technology, automation, robotics
Research Cluster: Material Matters
Academic Adviser: Marcus Shaffer
ema5162@psu.edu

Ali Baghi

Research Focus: Digital fabrication, concrete printing
Research Cluster: Design Computing
Academic Adviser: José Duarte
axb6183@psu.edu

Abhinandan Bera

Abhinandan Bera

Landscape Architecture Focus
Research Focus: Colonial urban history, urban morphology, socio-economic development, neoliberalism, globalization, urban planning
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Andy Cole
aub279@psu.edu

Ozguc Bertug Capunaman

Özgüç Bertuğ Çapunaman

Research Focus: Interactive and adaptive fabrication, computational making, tool development
Research Cluster: Design Computing
Academic Adviser: Benay Gürsoy
Personal website | ozgucbertug@psu.edu

Yuxiang Dong

Research Focus: Landscape Architecture
Research Cluster: Hong Wu
yqd5528@psu.edu

Paniz Farrokhsiar

Paniz Farrokhsiar

Research Focus: Computational design, the role of making in the design process
Research Cluster: Design Computing
Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Academic Adviser: Benay Gürsoy
Personal website | puf69@psu.edu

Lara Garcia

Lara Garcia

Research Focus: The role of human spatial and thermal perception in extreme heat events and urban heat island effect adaptation
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Academic Advisers: Travis Flohr and Stephen Mainzer
lag812@psu.edu

Amir Ghasemi

Amir Ghasemi

Research Focus: Digital fabrication
Research Cluster: Design Computing
Academic Adviser: José Duarte
akf5785@psu.edu

Elnaz Ghasemi

Research Focus: Urban energy use, carbon emissions
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari
exg5335@psu.edu

Keerthana Govindarazan

Keerthana Govindarazan

Research Focus: Virtual reality, spatial cognition and perception, performance art
Research Cluster: Design Computing
Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Academic Advisers: Yasmine Abbas and José Pinto Duarte
kmg6763@psu.edu

Ankita Karmakar

Ankita Karmakar

Landscape Architecture Focus
Research Focus: Globalization and neo-liberalization, women and culture, global feminism, right to the city, everyday city, peri-urban cultural-resilience across global south, gender equity, current practice of design, planning and policy framework
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Mallika Bose
amk7900@psu.edu

Tiffanie Leung

Research Focus: Earthbag construction
Research Cluster: Material Matters
Academic Adviser: Marcus Shaffer
til5226@psu.edu

Jie Li

Jie Li

Research Focus: How to close the performance gap in sustainable buildings
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Academic Adviser: Lisa Iulo
jxl6569@psu.edu

Eric Mainzer

Eric Mainzer

Research Focus: Virtual reality, design education, spatial cognition
Research Cluster: Design Computing
Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Academic Adviser: José Pinto Duarte
emm130@psu.edu

Zia Mohajerzadeh

Zia Mohajerzadeh

Research Focus: Dynamic façade configurations for reduced energy consumption and improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari
zjm5337@psu.edu

Alale Mohseni

Alale Mohseni

Research Cluster: Design Computing
Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
abm6706@psu.edu

Mahan Motalebi

Mahan Motalebi

Research Focus: Material aging
Research Cluster: Material Matters
Academic Adviser: Marcus Shaffer
mqm6717@psu.edu

Michael Nowak

Michael Nowak

Research Focus: Security in architectural space
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Ute Poerschke
Personal website | msn141@psu.edu

Hanin Othman

Hanin Othman

Research Focus: Monitoring indoor environment quality and controlling building façade operations using assistive robots
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari
hao5085@psu.edu

Houman Riazi Jorshari

Houman Riazi Jorshari

Research Focus: Moving images, media studies, and architectural theory
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Pep Avilés
hqr5205@psu.edu

Krista Schneider

Krista Schneider

Research Focus: Land grant university and place-based economic development
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Mallika Bose
kls126@psu.edu

Nusrat Tabassum

Nusrat Tabassum

Research Focus: Additive manufacturing with concrete in extreme climatic conditions
Research Cluster: Material Matters
Research Affiliation: Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Academic Adviser: José Pinto Duarte
nqt5207@psu.edu

Tasneem Tariq

Tasneem Tariq

Research Focus: Thermal environment, urban heat island, green infrastructures, thermal comfort, sustainable cities
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Academic Advisers: Ute Poerschke and Lisa Domenica Iulo
tbt5252@psu.edu

Nicolás Verdejo Bravo

Nicolás Verdejo

Research Focus: Architecture education, 20th Century authoritarianisms, politics
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Denise Costanzo
nzv5124@psu.edu

Nan Yang

Nan Yang

Landscape Architecture Focus
Research Focus: Social-spatial dimension of the garment industry in China
Research Cluster: Culture, Society, Space
Academic Adviser: Mallika Bose
nzy8@psu.edu

Jingshi Zhang

Jingshi Zhang

Research Focus: Artificial leaf-based cladding system performance evaluation
Research Cluster: Sustainability
Academic Adviser: Rahman Azari
jfz5431@psu.edu

Yuhan Zhou

Research Focus: Landscape Architecture
Academic Adviser: Hong Wu
yxz6026@psu.edu

Guides + Resources

Ph.D. Student Awards

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

 

Faculty Spotlight

Book cover: The Routledge Companion to Modernity, Space and Gender
Book cover: The Routledge Companion to Modernity, Space and Gender
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Alexandra Staub

Professor of Architecture; Affiliate faculty member: Penn State Rock Ethics Institute

Sandra Staub’s research focuses on how our built environment shapes, and is shaped by, our understanding of culture. As a member of the Department of Architecture’s Culture, Society and Space Research Cluster, Staub has supervised research projects that have examined cultural aspects of housing and urban spaces in countries as diverse as the United States, Russia, China and Iran. Her recent book, “The Routledge Companion to Modernity, Space and Gender,” looks at modernity in various cultural contexts, how this concept is expressed spatially through architecture and urban form, and how this has affected women in their everyday lives.

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Sandra Staub

News from A&A

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