Yale School of Architecture - Programs

Programs

The school awards the degrees of Master of Architecture, a professional degree, Master of Architecture II, a post-professional degree, Master of Environmental Design, a nonprofessional research-based degree, and Doctor of Philosophy in architectural history and criticism. The school also offers joint-degree programs with the School of Management and School of Forestry. Additionally, a course of study for undergraduates in Yale College leads to a Bachelor of Arts.

Yale's core program has always stressed design as a fundamental discipline. While initially associated with Beaux Arts pedagogy, the school adopted a close affiliation with other modes of fine art, including sculpture, graphic design, painting and furniture design. One of its most illustrious early graduates, Eero Saarinen, produced a wide variety of student projects ranging from medals and currency to campus and monumental buildings. When the Art and Architecture Building became its home, Paul Rudolph's design reflected this close integration between various fine art departments. The famed department of Graphic Design contributed consistently to architecture posters, publications and exhibits, particularly to Perspecta, Yale's ground breaking student journal.

Another distinguishing element in the Yale core program has been the Yale Building Project, a first-year studio and summer program. Particularly under Dean Charles W. Moore first year students were pushed to design small buildings that ameliorated the life of poor or disadvantaged Americans, working as VISTA volunteers in the deep South. In later years the program focused more on New Haven and Southern Connecticut. A recent book on the subject documents the extraordinary breadth and significance of the work produced by students, many of whom went on to become renowned architects and educators.

Yale's M.E.D., one of the first of its kind, made it possible for architects and planners to pursue a wide range of research connected to the betterment of the entire environment. Only recently have the design professions embraced this wider field of study, spurred by the movement towards sustainability and inter-disciplinarity. Notable recipients of the degree included William J. Mitchell, later dean at MIT, and Steven Izenour, a partner with Venturi, Scott Brown Associates.