ARCHITECTURE,
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE,
AND URBAN PLANNING
Students may study for a PhD degree in architecture, landscape architecture, or urban planning. These three degrees are administered by a committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in cooperation with the Faculty of Design.
The program is intended for persons who wish to enter academic and advanced research careers in the history and theory of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban form from antiquity to the present; or the analysis and development of cities, landscapes, and regions with emphasis on social, economic, ecological, transportation, and infrastructural systems. The PhD program does not prepare students for professional licensing as design practitioners in any of these fields.
For information on professional master’s programs, contact:
Harvard Design School Admissions Office 48 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-5453 www.gsd.harvard.edu
The First Two Years
Courses
Two years of full-time study while registered in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are required. Eight courses must be taken in the major subject area and eight in the disciplinary minor (see below). An approved seminar in theory and method must be taken each year.
Reading courses and TIME are ordinarily not part of a student’s program until the second year.
Course information may be found in the current Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as well as in the course catalogues printed by Harvard’s other professional Schools, including the Harvard Design School Official Register. These publications are also available online.
Major Subject and Disciplinary Minor
The interfaculty structure and purposes of the program require that students cross disciplinary boundaries. All students must master a major area of their respective field, including the historic development and current state of research on the subject. In addition, every student must demonstrate competence in the methods of inquiry used for research in his or her major subject. All students must also achieve a thorough grounding in the theory and methods of one of the arts or sciences related to their major subject, such as history of art, cultural history, economics, philosophy, government, sociology, or history of science equivalent to at least one year of full-time graduate study.
General Knowledge of the Field
The PhD is an academic degree, but PhD holders in these fields may be interacting with professionals as well as with other scholars. In fact, many may elect to teach in professional schools. Therefore, in addition to academic requirements, it is required that every PhD student be generally knowledgeable of the basic skills of the respective design professions.
Languages and Mathematics
Candidates for the degree in architecture must normally have a reading knowledge of at least two languages other than English in which there is broad and important literature related to their field or major subject; those in urban planning must have one. Every student must have a level of mathematical skills appropriate for research in the major subject.
Grades
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences requires that all students maintain an average of B or better in each year of graduate study. All Incomplete grades must be removed before the end of the next regular term.
If students are cross-registered in schools where the grading system does not use letter grades, they should ask the course instructor to issue letter grades.
Advising
The chair of the PhD committee will assign a faculty member as the student’s advisor at the time of registration in the program. This advisor will assist in planning the student’s academic program. In addition, not fewer than three faculty members, appointed by the chair in consultation with the student, will be made available for consultation regarding the general examination and the dissertation.
Master of Arts (AM)
A terminal AM degree is not offered. PhD candidates may apply for a master’s degree after satisfactorily completing eight half-courses. The degree may also be offered to students unable to complete the PhD.
Teaching Fellowships
Teaching fellowships are considered important for a student’s professional training and are available in the third and fourth years. Normally a student may teach two to four sections per year.
General Examination
Students are expected to take the general examination in the fifth term of residence, and no later than one year after completion of the required coursework. The examination is given only during the fall and spring terms of the academic year. The examination tests the student’s mastery of their general field of scholarship, specific interpretive problems within that field, and their ability to research and write a dissertation. Examinations take place in October and May. At least two months prior to the date of the examination, the student should meet regularly with the examination committee (see “Advising”) and, with its help, should formulate a proposal describing the general and specific fields to be covered in the examination and possible examination questions.
The examination comprises a general field and a specific field. The general field is ordinarily a broad area of history and theory of architecture, landscape architecture, or urban planning (for example, “modern architecture from 1750 to the present”). The specific field is a narrower area of study chosen by the student and subject to faculty review; in principle it should comprise a coherent and clearly defined area of scholarly inquiry which may be interdisciplinary in nature.
The examination will normally consist of two or three written essays, one in the general field (eight hours) and one or two in the specific field (total eight hours). Within one week of the written examination, the student and the examination committee will meet to evaluate the entire examination and discuss plans for the dissertation. Students whose performance on the examination is not satisfactory will be given one opportunity to repeat all or part of it.
Dissertation
The dissertation will be directed by a dissertation committee of one primary advisor and at least two secondary advisors or readers. Two readers must be from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences or the Committee on Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning; one reader will normally be from the area of the student’s disciplinary minor; and one reader must be from the Harvard Design School.
No later than five months (within the academic calendar) after the successful completion of the general examination, students will submit to the chair a written dissertation proposal and the names of the faculty persons who will supervise it. The student will confer with the examination committee to discuss and develop the proposal. The committee will conduct an oral examination of the dissertation proposal, whose purpose is to provide for the student a formal occasion to discuss and gain approval of the dissertation topic. Students are normally expected to complete their program (including approval of the dissertation) within seven years of entering the program. Students who require more than five years to complete the dissertation after passing the general examination must petition the Committee on the PhD Program in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning to extend their time.
After the approval of the dissertation by the faculty members who are its director and reader(s), three copies must be presented to the committee on the PhD not less than six weeks before the degree recommendations of that committee are due at the Registrar’s Office. The committee will receive the recommendations of the advisor and readers, and must formally vote on the recommendation for the degree. The final copy of the dissertation must conform to the requirements described in The Form of the PhD Dissertation. The defense of the dissertation is open to the dissertation committee and the Committee on Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. Unless the candidate prefers a closed defense, the defense of the dissertation will also be open to faculty and graduate students at the GSD.
Length of Program
Students are normally expected to complete their program (including approval of the dissertation) within seven years of entering the program. If more than five years elapse between the passing of the general examination and the completion of the dissertation, the student will normally be required to retake all or parts of the general examination.