2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
Architecture
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Matthew Knox, Head
1088 Seaton Hall
785-532-5953
Fax: 785-532-1086
E-mail: architecture@ksu.edu
www.arch.k-state.edu/arch
The nationally-ranked Department of Architecture, situated within the interdisciplinary College of Architecture, Planning and Design offers two degree options: an accredited professional Master of Architecture and a post-professional Master of Science in Architecture.
Master of Architecture (M.ARCH)
The NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture is based firmly upon the complementary foundations of general and architectural education. We emphasize mastery of the knowledge, skills and understandings essential to the artful creation of buildings, spaces and places. The faculty seeks to assure that our students receive extensive exposure to social, political, economic and technological perspectives that will aid them in functioning as effective leaders in a rapidly changing global context.
In emphasizing the architect’s role as a designer of environments that responsibly address individual and societal needs, the professional Master of Architecture curriculum includes a sequence of design studios providing holistic examination of environmental design issues. Courses in history, theory, human behavior, construction, structural and environmental systems, planning, programming, and professional practice compliment students’ work in the carefully orchestrated series of design studios.
The M.ARCH degree has two entry points. Undergraduate students should apply for the five-year plus Non-Baccalaureate Master of Architecture. Students who currently have a Bachelor’s Degree, regardless of field of study, should apply for the Post-Baccalaureate Master of Architecture program or to the Master of Science in Architecture program. See Department of Architecture page in the Graduate Catalog.
Special Activities and Programs
Short, carefully structured visits to cities in Kansas and nearby states during the first year of study introduce students to techniques of urban and architectural analysis and extend the range of their experience. Longer trips are taken in subsequent years. Second year students typically travel to Dallas; third year students travel to major cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. Led by faculty, students visit leading architectural firms, contemporary and historical buildings of importance, and examine critical urban design features. Design studio projects are often located in the city visited, so the trips are also site visits, which provide opportunities for detailed urban analysis.
Fourth-year students have access to extended elective field study opportunities, including the semester-long Architectural Internship program and study abroad programs in Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany or other countries. Architectural internship and study abroad students return with renewed purpose and fresh insights to share with fellow students and faculty during their final year in the Master of Architecture program.
Fifth year students have the option of international travel based on the focus of their studio projects. The College also offers a year-long fifth year urban design studio at the Kansas City Design Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Accreditation and Professional Practice
The completion of the Master of Architecture degree and then a professional experience qualify our graduates to sit for the Architectural Registration Examination administered by each American state and territory to candidates who wish to become licensed as architects.
In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards.
Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a preprofessional undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the preprofessional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.
Kansas State University, College of Architecture Planning and Design, Department of Architecture offers the following NAAB-accredited degree programs:
M.ARCH (139 undergraduate credits + 31 graduate credits)
M. ARCH. (non-pre-professional degree + 72 undergraduate credits + 31 graduate credits)
Next accreditation visit for all programs: 2025
From the 2016 NAAB Conditions for Professional Degree programs in Architecture.
Resources
College of Architecture, Planning and Design resources include the Paul Weigel Library, a professionally staffed branch of the university’s main facility. It includes over 44,000 bound volumes and approximately 200 periodical subscriptions as well as audio-visual resources. K-State’s Library has subscriptions to a broad range of scholarly databases, including architecture and design-oriented scholarship. Among other facilities supporting instruction and research in the College are a computer laboratory, a photography studio, and an artificial sky. The College has an extensive shop for woodworking, metalwork, and other materials. The shop can accommodate everything, from small-scale model building activities to full-scale prototyping. The shop includes CAD/CAM equipment such as a large-bed CNC machine and laser cutters. Faculty from the College’s other departments, including planning, landscape, interiors, and industrial design, often offer expert criticism for student projects and help foster a holistic approach to the designed environment. Students in the college enjoy a diverse range of lectures, seminars, exhibits, and guest critics throughout the academic year.
Master of Architecture
Architecture
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