Baylor M.Arch Curriculum
Baylor University’s Master of Architecture (M.Arch) program offers an innovative curriculum that expands access, reduces time to completion, and provides a comprehensive, forward-looking architectural education.
The Baylor M.Arch curriculum is designed to prepare students for entry-level professional practice and licensure. It is 48 credit hours in length, over the course of four trimesters.
Hybrid Program Format
The Baylor M.Arch program combines the accessibility of online learning with the relational depth and studio culture of periodic immersions through its innovative hybrid curriculum.
Online courses will largely be synchronous, with some select components delivered asynchronously. Four signature immersions (each lasting two to three days) allow students to come together to experience guest lectures, field trips, site visits, and workshops that expand their spatial and professional perspectives. Baylor’s hybrid model leverages the strengths of online accessibility while preserving the high-impact, experiential learning that characterizes professional architectural education.
Curricular Design
All Baylor M.Arch students will follow a “locked” degree plan, ensuring a streamlined and rigorous educational experience. In preparation for NAAB competencies, this structure ensures that students complete the necessary foundational content without redundancy, while allowing accelerated progression.
The Baylor Master of Architecture program aims to help students be positioned for licensure. It also addresses contemporary challenges such as sustainability, health, cultural meaning, and human flourishing through architecture. Course topics will include:
| Design Studios | Each paired with Immersions, the design studios teach lessons in spatial design through iterative design-thinking. Students will make architectural drawings, models, and other visual material to convey their architectural ideas. Design studios are taught in a synchronous format, with dedicated faculty for each studio cohort. |
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| Site and Programming | As a first step to architectural design, students will learn how to understand, analyze, and strategically design a site. Understanding of climate, topography, and Zoning laws are cultivated in this course in order to prepare students for site analyses. Programming and understanding functional necessities are also embedded in this course. |
| Building Systems | Students will learn how bypassing architectural systems comprehensively construct a building. Lessons include Heating, Ventilation, Air-conditioning as well as material properties that guide architectural design. |
| Structures | Students will learn fundamental lessons in structural design in order to ensure safety for the public. Lessons include forces, building materials, and structural design. |
| Visual Representation | As much as Architecture is a spatial field of study, visual materials allow those spatial concepts to be represented. Students will learn digital software, processes, and tools to convey conceptual, spatial, and architectural ideas. |
| Architecture History and Theory | Learning the history and theory behind Modern, Post-Moderon, and Contemporary Architectural movements, students will deepen their understanding of historical and philosophical contextualities of the built environment. |
| Graduate Seminars & Workshops | Students will take graduate seminars and workshops that are aligned with the curriculum to deepen their knowledge and study in the built environment. |
| Elective | Students will be able to take a program-specific and/or a related college-wide elective as part of their study. |
Leveling Coursework
Baylor Master of Architecture students who completed an undergraduate degree in a CIDA-accredited Interior Design program may require additional leveling courses before beginning the M.Arch degree program sequence. These additional requirements ensure students receive the appropriate preparation while maintaining the program’s accelerated timeline. Leveling courses may be asynchronous offered by Baylor Extended Learning, or cross-listed undergraduate Interior Design courses.