Post-Professional MS in Design | Energy | Futures School of Architecture - Syracuse University

Design | Energy | Futures is a concentrated research + design program that leads to a post-professional Master of Science (MS) in Architecture. The program focuses on energy and the built environment with research + design projects ranging across many scales, from urban design to high-performance buildings, from VR and computational simulation to building material research and product design, and across a range of disciplinary and practice areas including adaptive re-use, real estate development, and urban planning designs.

For the duration of the program, students are directed by faculty actively engaged in externally sponsored research and design projects and have numerous opportunities for research internships in the faculty’s various research facilities.

The coursework consists of a core studio that lays out the central frameworks and perspectives of the degree, two research seminars that position the architectural researcher in a contemporary and forward-looking context, a series of electives chosen by the student to support their research interests, and a final semester capstone experience that exposes students to game-changing research projects and paradigms in the field. This final capstone supports students' individual research work in the context of an innovative collaborative advising model.

Students in the MS program also have the option of applying to the interdisciplinary Certificate of Advanced Study in the Sustainable Enterprise (CASSE). This Certificate program is offered through the Syracuse University Sustainable Enterprise Partnership, a collaboration between the Whitman School of Management, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems. Students who complete the certificate will be fluent in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability and their interdependence; systems science and its relationship to sustainability; and the natural, financial, technical, legal, and social drivers of sustainability strategy in businesses and other organizations. Students in the MS in Architecture program are able to complete the certificate program and the MS degree in two academic years of coursework with a total of 36 credits.

Our MS is a STEM Designated Degree by the U.S. Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

Please note: As a research-focused master of science, this program alone does not qualify as a professional degree leading to eligibility for the Architectural Registration Exam or licensure in the USA.

The Master of Science (MS) in Architecture degree program requires the completion of 30 credits, typically completed over the course of three semesters.

The degree is structured around a highly focused core of studios, research seminars, and a thesis that collectively expands upon students’ architectural knowledge in the Design | Energy | Futures concentration area. These courses teach students how to put advanced design and research methods at the service of critical, productive thinking for an energy-efficient design for our global future.

In a student’s second semester, we work with each individual student to craft a suite of electives, drawn from both the school of architecture and across the university, to support a student’s specific interests in preparation for their final thesis/directed research experience.

This capstone experience embraces the complex multi-disciplinary nature of architectural projects in the 21st century by providing a framework for students to explore individual research + design interests around a series of topics supported by faculty expertise from across the university.

Led by the School of Architecture faculty, small groups of students working in these shared topic areas are given the opportunity to advance their work in the kinds of multi-disciplinary contexts and conversations that drive innovative practice today.

Through this degree-culminating experience, we prepare students to seek, initiate, and lead these conversations upon graduation.

Applicants holding a professional degree in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, or urban planning are encouraged to apply, though applicants in related disciplines such as management, engineering, geography, environmental, graphic, or product design may also be admitted at the discretion of the admissions committee, in consultation with program administrators.