SCI-Arc’s M.Arch 2 is a two-year, five-semester program leading to a Master of Architecture degree accredited by National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), allowing graduates to pursue architectural licensure for professional practice in the United States.

Open to students who hold an undergraduate degree in architecture, the M.Arch 2 program at SCI-Arc is geared to propel speculative design exploration and new modes of communication, while advancing formal experimentation that expands the boundaries of contemporary architectural practice.

The M.Arch 2 program is designed for students looking to focus their architectural education on contemporary tools, techniques, and technologies and to expand their experience in digital design, fabrication, and critical thinking.

Uniting the latest technology with an intrepid attitude toward architectural design, the program’s commitment to independent thinking, research, and innovation through its rigorous course of study serves as a transition for students from graduate school to professional practice.

SCI-Arc’s M.Arch 2 curriculum is structured as a laboratory for learning new skills and methodologies within both historical and contemporary contexts. Beginning with a two-semester core sequence of design studios and seminar courses, M.Arch 2 courses challenge students to employ advanced tools, techniques, and software while refining design skillsets for speculative architectural production.

Students continue on to two semesters of Vertical Studios which match small, combined groups of students from SCI-Arc’s undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs with faculty and visiting architects leading design projects that explore a wide variety of focuses and interests. Applied research in advanced studios and seminars in the final semesters of the program prepare students for Graduate Thesis.

SCI-Arc was founded on the idea that architects should teach what they practice and we still believe that practicing architects can best communicate to students the complex realities of thinking about—and making—architecture. Today, SCI-Arc faculty is comprised of some of the most dedicated and cutting-edge thinkers in Los Angeles in architecture, culture, history, and technology. Design Studio faculty are active practitioners working in many of LA’s most innovative architecture firms. The symbiotic relationship between practice and teaching produces a close dialogue between conceptual and professional practice.

M.Arch 2 students attend SCI-Arc to expand and complement their undergraduate studies with a contemporary, cutting-edge architecture education.

The program’s commitment to independent thinking, research, and innovation through M.Arch 2’s rigorous course of study serves as a transition for students from graduate school to professional practice.

Endowed by SCI-Arc Trustee Frank Gehry and his wife Bertha, The Gehry Prize is a monetary prize awarded annually to the best graduate thesis projects.

SCI-Arc has more than four thousand alumni working all over the globe in a variety of professional architecture and design practices. M.Arch 2 alumni have led design teams at Morphosis, Gehry Partners and Gehry Technologies, Gensler, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, UN Studio, Kengo Kuma and Associates, Tesla Motors, In Europe, Snøhetta, BIG, Zaha Hadid, UN Studio, In Asia, MAD, Toyo Ito, Shigeru Ban, and more.

Explore the diverse and detailed areas of study in SCI-Arc’s M.Arch 2 program.