GRADUATE PROGRAMS
Our graduate programs offer Master’s degrees that prepare students for dynamic careers in architecture and related creative and professional fields. Many programs provide direct pathways to licensure or certification.
Courses are organized within four core disciplines—Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Building Science, and Heritage Conservation—and are led by faculty and practitioners who are leaders in their fields.
Master of Architecture
First-Professional
First-Professional with Advanced Standing
3 YEARS / 102 UNITS
2 YEARS / 64 UNITS
The program emphasizes design excellence, critical inquiry, and social and spatial equity. Taught by leading architects and scholars, the curriculum progresses through foundational design skills, advanced professional development, and a final year of directed design research. Students explore bold, socially responsive alternatives for the built environment through emerging technologies, community engagement, and faculty mentorship, preparing them to shape a more innovative and equitable architectural future.
DESIGN FOR A CHANGING WORLD
↑ Yushan He
← Kaiji Luo
Master of Advanced Architectural Research Studies
Post-Professional
INVESTIGATE URBAN AND DIGITAL FUTURES
Two concentrations address urgent challenges in the built environment. Choose to focus on equitable urban development and housing as a human right, engaging local and global issues through research and design. Or explore the role of data and digital tools in shaping architecture, merging computational and architectural design to advance research and practice in the technological landscape of the built environment.
Asma Alorafi
Master of Landscape Architecture
First-Professional
First-Professional with Advanced Standing
3 YEARS / 96 UNITS
2 YEARS / 66 UNITS
Leveraging the opportunities to learn in the complex urban region of Los Angeles, the program offers a multifaceted study of diverse ecologies and cultures, from the scale of the landscape to larger systems and regions. Bridging academic research and professional practice, students collaborate with expert faculty to address rapid environmental and social change through forward-thinking design and communication.
DESIGN
A CLIMATE POSITIVE FUTURE
↑ Anna Avdalyan → Shuyi Zhang
Master of Building Science
For students with a background in architecture, engineering or related areas.
Building systems, design practice, emerging materials, and technologies are studied to create holistic and innovative solutions to prepare graduates for careers in architecture, engineering, and construction. Grounded in research, students explore passive design, façades, embodied carbon, wellness, and more, through individual thesis projects that address challenges in the built environment.
ENGAGE WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES
2 YEARS / 48 UNITS
Facade Assembly Study Models
Standard Curriculum
Advanced Standing
This program prepares students to help strengthen communities using existing places and the stories they tell. Blending history and research with architecture, materials, landscapes, and urban planning, we explore how the built environment changes over time, and how to sustain culture and meaning while advancing climate action, housing, and social justice.
Master of Heritage Conservation ENVISION THE FUTURE THROUGH THE LENS OF
THE PAST
The USC School of Architecture offers an interdisciplinary design education that blends creative exploration with independent thinking and critical inquiry for real-world problem solving. It is the only private architecture school at a toptier research university in the West with a 100-year legacy of innovation, distinguished scholarship, and design excellence. Students work closely with a diverse faculty of scholars and practitioners, engaging in design research across local and global contexts in a studio culture that values innovation over any one style or approach.
Contact: archgrad@usc.edu