
Ph.D. in Architecture
Ph.D. in Architecture
Doctoral studies in architecture train students for careers conducting research in academic settings, in scientific laboratories, and now increasingly in private firms as well. The aim of research is to create new knowledge that can help us build well and create responsible and responsive physical environments. Such a knowledge necessarily engages with the full complexity and messiness of human life. It includes understanding of social, physical, historical and cultural impact of design decisions and practices, as well as the development of technical methods and computational tools to improve decision-making in design.
Specializing in architectural research, therefore, requires mastering aspects of at least one cognate discipline—history, cultural studies, psychology, sociology, cognitive sciences, engineering, computation—and quite often of more than one of these. Not surprisingly, the study needed to do this is demanding. But those students who bring with them a deeply held curiosity about the built world, an ability to work independently, and an openness to learning new skills and ideas will find the work deeply satisfying and tremendously rewarding.