Leading to a Master of Architecture Degree 

Program Educational Objectives

Wentworth's NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture program is highly experiential and hands-on, introducing students to the contemporary challenges of the built environment and giving them the skills needed to become leaders in a rapidly evolving profession.

Architectural Accreditation

In 2018, the Master of Architecture was granted an eight-year term of accreditation (the maximum possible under the 2014 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation) for its Master of Architecture degree program from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). In order to promote transparency in the process of accreditation in architectural education, Wentworth is required by NAAB to make the following information available to the public.

Statement on NAAB-Accredited Degrees

In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year term, an eight-year term with conditions, or a two-year term of continuing accreditation, or a three-year term of initial accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established education standards.

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a non-accredited undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the non-accredited degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree. 

Wentworth Institute of Technology's Department of Architecture offers the following National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) accredited degree program as a one-, two- or three-year sequence of study:

• 1 Yr M.Arch (Wentworth B.S. Arch + 34 credits)
• 2 Yr M.Arch (Pre-professional Degree + 70 credits)
• 3 Yr M.Arch (non-professional degree + 106 credits)

The next accreditation visit for all programs is spring 2026.

Admission to the M.Arch Program

The department offers three NAAB-accredited professional Master of Architecture degree tracks:

• The one-year, Master of Architecture professional degree for students who earned their B.S. degree in architecture from Wentworth: Internal Candidates. External candidates who have successfully completed a B.Arch degree from another institution are also eligible for the one-year track.
• The two-year, Master of Architecture professional degree for external candidates who have a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from another NAAB-accredited program: External Candidates
• The three-year, Master of Architecture professional degree for external candidates who have a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in an unrelated discipline: External Candidates

Student Outcomes

The M.Arch program emphasizes the tangible, material, and cultural dimensions of the discipline, exploring a range of technologies that inform design. Graduates of the M.Arch program will have the ability to:

• Critically evaluate complex professional problems and ethical issues in the realm of architecture and reconcile diverse stakeholder needs.
• Evaluate and synthesize design methods applied in a critical iterative process towards the successful resolution of a specific set of challenges relevant to contemporary practice.
• Demonstrate a familiarity with parallel and divergent histories and the cultural norms of a variety of human and natural environments in terms of their cultural, political, economic, social, ecological and technological factors.  Graduates will develop sophisticated, appropriate, and workable proposals to ensure equity of access to sites, buildings and structures through meaningful interaction with other cultures in a global context.
• Apply knowledge of comprehensive practice-based design, employing advanced skills in architectural making and building.

Global Research Studios 

The M.Arch Global Research Studios address research topics and sites from a global perspective in the fall semester of the culminating year of the M.Arch program. Students frame an issue within a faculty-directed research and design agenda. During a ten-day travel period, students conduct site research and engage with on-site organizations and/or communities. Upon return, students generate design criteria and conduct design tests through an iterative process. Current studio research topics include: mass timber; alternative resource acquisition and rammed earth techniques; landscape and geology; preservation and adaptive reuse of another’s culture; modern house construction in rural China; and informal urbanism in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Thesis Program

The eight-month thesis program begins in the fall semester of the culminating year with two foundational courses. The Methods and Design as Research courses operate symbiotically, generating ideas and research methods to ground individual thesis work and project execution. Both courses serve as a springboard for critical thinking, writing, and making in preparation for the spring semester Thesis Studio, and a design research project of the students’ own conception. Primary and independent advisors shape the curriculum and define milestones in their quest to teach students to be critical thinkers for the future of the profession. 

Cooperative Work Experience

The Architecture department has a substantial and well-established cooperative education component embedded in the undergraduate curriculum; students spend two semesters working in an architectural or allied professional office as an integral part of earning their B.S. Arch degree prior to entering the one-year M.Arch program.  Two- and three-year M.Arch students spend one semester working in an architectural or allied professional office in the summer preceding the culminating year of study. The department collaborates with the Institute's Co-ops + Careers Office to reinforce the learning content of these placements.

Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL)

Wentworth offers the Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL), an optional path launched by the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB), for motivated students seeking to become architects. By enrolling in an IPAL option, students in the process of earning a degree from a NAAB-accredited program can complete the Architectural Experience Program (AXP) and the Architect Registration Examination (ARE) concurrently. B.S.Arch IPAL students who are accepted in Wentworth’s one-year M.Arch program will complete the one-year full-time M.Arch track as a two-year part-time M.Arch track while working part-time in the profession.

Total credits for degree: 34-36 (one-year), 70-72 (two-year), or 106-108 (three-year)

This program begins in the fall of the student’s first year and ends in the spring semester of the first, second, or third year.

Students in the M.Arch program must maintain a 3.0 GPA to be in good academic standing.

Master of Architecture (One-Year)

Master of Architecture (Two-Year)

Master of Architecture (Three-Year)