Graduate Programs
The Notre Dame School of Architecture graduate programs in architecture and urban design promote built environments that are durable, useful, and beautiful, and which are supportive of strong communities. The School seeks to train designers, scholars, preservationists, and advocates for the built environment who will play a leading role in their professions and may translate their skills and advocacy to a variety of disciplines and arenas.
Toward these ends, the graduate curriculum promotes a holistic approach to design education and the understanding of detail, building, and city as a continuous and interdependent scalar spectrum. It engages both intellectual endeavor and the practical teaching of craft in order that the best lessons of historic precedent might be learned, expanded upon, and combined with a judicious use of contemporary strategies, materials, and methodologies in order to contribute toward buildings and urbanism which are environmentally and culturally sustainable.
The School of Architecture emphasizes the inseparability of building design and urbanism and therefore graduate students are encouraged to make selections from the available courses in order to explore multiple scales and issues in greater depth based on their own academic interests.
The School of Architecture offers three graduate degrees:
Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism (M.ADU)
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2-year post-professional degree (Path A) and
Master of Architecture (M.Arch)*
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2-year (Path B) professional degree
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3-year (Path C) professional degree
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*Both the 2- and 3-year M.Arch degrees are accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).
Eligibility for one architecture and design degree program or another is based solely on an applicant's educational background.
Students seeking a two-year MADU post-professional degree (Path A) must hold an accredited professional degree in architecture (B.Arch or M.Arch) or the international equivalent.
Master of Science in Historic Preservation (MSHP)
- 2-year degree
Students admitted to the two-year MSHP degree must hold a Bachelor of Art in Architecture, Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Bachelor of Architecture, or Master of Architecture degree, or its international equivalent. Students with other degrees may be admitted to the program upon showing evidence of sufficient previous study and skills to complete the required coursework for the MSHP.
*Note: International students who elect to join the post-professional M.ADU program are affirming that they have achieved their country's professional degree—sufficient to test for or to be granted a license there. Those students wishing to become licensed in the United States should note that the M.ADU post-professional degree is not accredited and therefore not sufficient to qualify for testing in the U.S. based on the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) criteria. These students may wish to either seek review of their educational and professional credentials by NCARB or to join one of the professional degree programs, again, dependent upon their educational background.
Students seeking a two-year M.Arch professional degree (Path B) must hold either a Bachelor of Art in Architecture or a Bachelor of Science in Architecture.
Students seeking a three-year M.Arch professional degree (Path C) may come from any other discipline as long as they hold a minimum of an accredited Bachelor's degree, or the international equivalent. Path C eligible students include those with degrees, majors, or minors in allied disciplines such as architectural engineering, landscape architecture, or urban studies.
Students interested in the MSHP program without previous architectural study are invited to apply to the M. Arch degree program and then complete the MSHP with one additional year of study. The MSHP program at Notre Dame is recognized by the National Council on Preservation Education (NCPE). The program is generously supported by The Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability, established by a gift of the Fritz and Mary Lee Duda Family Foundation.