School of Architecture
Department website: http://soa.utexas.edu/
The School of Architecture offers graduate degree programs in Architecture, Community and Regional Planning, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design.
Programs
Master’s Degrees
The School of Architecture offers master’s degree programs that lead to professional, postprofessional, and academic degrees.
Doctor of Philosophy
The Doctor of Philosophy is an academic degree with concentrations in the history of architecture and landscape architecture, historic preservation, and sustainability. It provides students holding an appropriate master’s degree with a rigorous program of study intended to prepare them to conduct research and teach in these disciplines.
Architecture
Master of Architecture
Master of Advanced Architectural Design
Master of Arts
Master of Science in Historic Preservation
Master of Science in Sustainable Design
Doctor of Philosophy
Community and Regional Planning
Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning
Doctor of Philosophy
Interior Design
Master of Interior Design
Landscape Architecture
Master of Landscape Architecture
Master of Science in Landscape Architecture
Urban Design
Master of Science in Urban Design
Dual Degree Programs
The following dual degree programs are offered. More information is available from the graduate advisor in each program.
| Major(s) | Degree(s) |
|---|---|
| Community and regional planning/Geography | MSCRP/PhD |
| Community and regional planning/Sustainable design | MSCRP/MSSD |
| Community and regional planning/Urban design | MSCRP/MSUD |
| Latin American studies/Community and regional planning | MA/MSCRP |
| Law/Community and regional planning | JD/MSCRP |
| Public affairs/Community and regional planning | MPAff/MSCRP |
Accreditation
Architecture
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 term, an eight-year term with conditions, or a three-year term of initial accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established education standards.
Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a non-accredited undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the non-accredited degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.
The University of Texas Austin School of Architecture offers the following NAAB accredited degree programs:
- B. Arch (161 Credit Hours)
- M. Arch First Professional (non-preprofessional degree + 96 Credit Hours)
- M. Arch First Professional Advanced Standing (preprofessional degree + 60 Credit Hours)
Next accreditation visit for all programs: 2026
Landscape Architecture
The Master of Landscape Architecture degree is an accredited professional degree program for students with no background in landscape architecture.
Licensure
Interior Design
The Master of Interior Design (first professional) degree option may qualify graduates to become licensed or registered as an interior designer. Interested students are encouraged to confirm requirements for the state in which they hope to practice and confirm NCIDQ eligibility requirements.
Landscape Architecture
The accredited degree program is one part of the path toward professional licensure in landscape architecture.
Graduate Studies Committees
The following faculty members served on the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) in the spring 2026 semester.
Architecture
|
Dean J Almy Kevin S Alter Miroslava Benes Kory Bieg Danelle Irene Briscoe Elizabeth A Danze Charles L Davis II Tara A Dudley Matt Fajkus Nerea Feliz Arrizabalaga Juliana Felkner Michael L Garrison Francisco Henning Gomes Martin Haettasch David D Heymann Michael Holleran |
Benjamin Ibarra Sevilla Aleksandra Jaeschke Daniel Koehler Katherine E Lieberknecht Christopher A Long S Milovanovic-Bertram Juan Miro Bryan E Norwood Clay D Odom Allan W Shearer Igor P Siddiqui Vincent L Snyder Lawrence W Speck Liang Wang Nichole Wiedemann Heather Woofter |
Community and Regional Planning
|
Dean J Almy Richard Patrick Bixler Miriam S Collins Michael Holleran Junfeng Jiao Alex Karner Katherine E Lieberknecht Elizabeth Mueller |
Michael Dee Oden Robert G Paterson Sandra Rosenbloom Gian Claudia Sciara Allan W Shearer Bjorn Ingmunn Sletto Jacob A Wegmann Ming Zhang |
Interior Design
|
Ria Bravo Tara A Dudley Nerea Feliz Arrizabalaga |
Clay D Odom Igor P Siddiqui Hans P Tursack |
Landscape Architecture
|
Dean J Almy Miroslava Benes Maggie Hansen Hope Hasbrouck |
Phoebe Lickwar Katherine E Lieberknecht Allan W Shearer |
Urban Design
|
Dean J Almy Martin Haettasch Maggie Hansen Benjamin Ibarra Sevilla |
Junfeng Jiao Liang Wang Jacob A Wegmann |
Facilities for Graduate Work
The School of Architecture is housed in four adjacent buildings at the heart of the campus: Battle Hall (1911) and Sutton Hall (1918, renovated in 1982), designed by the American architect Cass Gilbert; Goldsmith Hall (1933, expanded and renovated in 1988), designed by the French architect Paul Philippe Cret; and the West Mall Office Building (1961) by the Texas firm Jessen, Jessen, Millhouse, and Greeven.
The Architecture and Planning Library, a branch of The University of Texas Libraries, supports the School of Architecture by directly enhancing the value, relevance, and effectiveness of its teaching, research, and public service goals. The library, located in historic Battle Hall, also serves the public with ongoing exhibitions displayed in the grand reading room.
All students, faculty, and staff have convenient access to literature, information, and visual and digital resources that support education and research. While the library is located in close proximity to the school, its catalog, instructional guides, and digital content are web-based, allowing virtual discovery and access via the Internet. Staff provide expert information services that teach and develop research, as well as evaluative and critical thinking skills necessary for professional practice and lifelong learning. The Architecture and Planning Library is home to a large circulating collection, subject-specific journals, special collections of rare or unique publications, and the Alexander Architectural Archives, one of the largest such repositories in the country. Materials currently collected by the library and archive meet the curricular needs of the school’s programs and enable faculty and graduate students to undertake original research projects.
The Center for Sustainable Development, located in West Mall Building, supports sponsored research undertaken by the School of Architecture. The center is unique in its integration of diverse interests to develop creative, balanced, and achievable solutions to the physical and social challenges facing the planning, construction, and preservation of buildings, neighborhoods, landscapes, and regions. Its offices include space for Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) to work on projects.
The Center for American Architecture and Design, located in Battle Hall, supports scholarship and criticism on architecture and related professional disciplines through lectures, exhibitions, seminars, and symposia. Regular scholarly publications of the center include CENTER and Centerline book series.
Comparative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions, located in West Mall Building, leads a consortium of universities to provide research that supports legal and analytical frameworks for megaregion transportation planning. It is a United States Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center.
The Technology Lab and Service Desk, located in Sutton Hall, supports a variety of services for teaching and research including access to scanning, printing, and plotting systems. In addition, students can check out digital cameras, digital video cameras, laptops, projectors, light meters, and other digital resources. The Service Desk provides assistance with advanced design and analysis applications. The Digital Fabrication Lab provides access to a variety of digital fabrication tools for 3D scanning, 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC routing. The related Robotics Lab provides access and support to students and faculty who wish to pursue advanced digital workflows that produce physical results. The Lighting Studio provides an area with photographic backdrops and controlled lighting to photograph architectural models and other objects. The Virtual Reality Lab supports dedicated hardware and software for immersive representations. The computer classrooms in the West Mall Building provide 56 dedicated workstations that serve as open computer lab space when not in use for classroom instruction.
The Build Lab/Wood Shop, located in Goldsmith Hall, plays an integral role in the creation of design—ranging from models to full-scale applications—by providing equipment and training, primarily in wood, but also in metal, plastic, and glass.
The Thermal Lab, a testing facility of the Center for Sustainable Development, allows experimentation of building façade treatments with respect to direct and indirect use of energy.
The Materials Lab, located in West Mall Building, is dedicated to material investigation in design and maintains a circulating library of material samples. The collection consists of traditional building construction materials as well as emerging, innovative, and sustainable materials and technologies. Material education is further supported through exhibitions, workshops, field trips, and in-house research.
The Architectural Conservation Lab, located in West Mall Building, is home to the Materials Conservation course series. Additionally, the space allows the Historic Preservation Program to establish affiliations with related facilities on the University campus, including the School of Information Book and Paper Conservation Labs and the Conservation Department at the Harry Ransom Center.
A variety of other facilities support students in their coursework and professional development. The school’s Career Services Center, located in Sutton Hall, assists students with finding internships, identifying employment prospects, and preparing for interviews and negotiations with potential employers. The Professional Residency Program (PRP) offers upper-level architecture students a unique opportunity to expand their education through work experience in the architectural profession. PRP has provided internship opportunities to honors students in the School since 1974 and, over the past 25 years, our students have been linked with 300 firms in 30 countries.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, located south of the main campus, conducts applied research on sustainable landscapes and ecosystem services, develops comprehensive educational materials, and consults on landscape development projects of all sizes to capitalize on the ability of sustainable landscapes to improve communities. The site consists of 284 acres, including nine acres of cultivated gardens.
The study of architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design draws upon the collections of the nearby Harry Ransom Center, which include china, clothing, decorative arts, furniture, silver, and textiles that contribute to the study of the interior; as well as original maps, texts, and drawings that supplement the teaching of landscape history. Historic rooms and suites on campus include the Willoughby-Blake Room, the John Foster and Janet Dulles Suite, the Republic of Texas Suite, the Office of the President, and the Esther Hoblitzelle Parlor. Other collections on campus include the 15,000 pieces of art, furniture, and accessories in the Elton and Martha Hyder collection and the collection of approximately forty chairs dating from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries that are housed in the Blanton Museum of Art.
The resources of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies and the Benson Latin American Collection, and the proximity of Austin to Latin America, provide exceptional opportunities for the study of Latin American architecture and planning. School of Architecture faculty and students also collaborate with the Environmental Science Institute, the School of Social Work, the Center for Transportation Research, the Population Research Center, the Center for Research in Water Resources, the Bureau of Economic Geology, the Energy Institute, and other allied institutes.