PP@PD: Post-Professional Degree (M.Arch II)


Last update: 09.10.07

The Master of Architecture: Post-Professional (M.Arch II) is a one-year (two-semester) program intended for individuals who hold a five-year Bachelor of Architecture professional degree and seek to supplement, extend, or focus their previous education in architecture. This design-based program allows students to pursue an individually directed course of study by choosing from a wide range of options in advanced design studios, research studios and elective courses offered within the Master of Architecture program. Students may also pursue an independent design thesis.

In the fall, all students take a studio specifically designed for the post-professional program. Through this studio, students engage in the challenges and opportunities presented by changes in society, technology and urban experience. Through design projects they explore alternative models and markets for practice, along with new directions and new tools for design. Graduates of the program typically pursue careers in the professional practice of architecture or in teaching.

Research Studios at Penn provide an exceptional environment within which to explore topics in contemporary architecture, combining research on new opportunities with experimental approaches to design. In the Spring semester of 2007 research studios are being taught by Cecil Balmond, Winka Dubbeldam, Homa Farjadi, Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, Rhett Russo and Marion Weiss. For further information about the full range of studios and courses offered, please refer to the description of advanced studios ARCH 705, 702, and 704 as well as electives at the 600- and 700- level in the section of this website on the Master of Architecture program.

"The re-writing and innovation of architectural design and its structures requires a revolutionary change in the thinking of how architecture is conceived now. From the notion that a building is a composite of standardized elements such as columns floors and walls, we have to ‘re-think’ a building being composed of mass-customized "generative components". Prefabrication itself is changing, where before it would be described as the standard manufacturing of the same repetitive element, now this intelligent unit is custom-manufactured in a series of varying elements, defined by the analysis of their specific performance and efficiency."


Winka Dubbeldam, Director

View the Fall 2006 Post-Professional Studio
View the Fall 2005 Post-Professional Studio
View the Architecture Student Gallery

Admission Requirements

Candidates for admission to the M.Arch II Post-Professional Program must possess a five-year Bachelor of Architecture professional degree and submit the following: three letters of recommendation, transcripts of all previous degrees, a curriculum vitae, a portfolio of design work, two samples of writing, a description of computing skills and software proficiency, and a statement of educational goals in taking the program. Applicants to the Post-Professional Program must also submit official GRE scores. International applicants must submit official IELTS or TOEFL scores if English is not their first language. All applications are reviewed by the Admissions Committee of the graduate program: http://www.design.upenn.edu/new/admissions/how.htm.

Limitations of Time

Students may take a maximum of five course units per semester and complete the degree requirements in one academic year. Although part-time study is allowed, students are required to complete a minimum of two semesters of full-time studies in residence for the M.Arch II Post-Professional Program. To be a full-time student requires a minimum of four course units per semester. To complete the degree requirements, those students who elect to take less than five course units per semester may enroll in one of the Summer Programs or return in the following academic year on a full-time or part-time basis. The degree requirement of ten course units must be completed within two consecutive academic years.