Architectural History

Mosaic ceiling at Sutton Hall, UT Austin
ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY
HOW TO APPLY

The Architectural History Program at The University of Texas at Austin provides students with an opportunity to develop a critical understanding of the social, cultural, and technological forces that shape the built environment. The purpose of our program is to train future scholars to produce writings in architectural history, theory, and criticism that analyze the culture of the built environment as a whole.

The focus of our program is histories of architecture in the Americas from the late eighteenth century to the present, with additional strengths in European modernism and landscape history. Our faculty is engaged in historical work that examines the racial, gendered, and nationalist rhetoric introduced by the colonization of the Americas—a phenomenon that propelled the dissemination and canonization of transatlantic theories of design within the architectural disciplines. This work recovers the distinct artistic traditions that have made the United States, Central America, and South America unique fields of cultural production.

This approach to architectural history also expands the range of figures typically considered in historical surveys by broadening the definition of authorship in the built environment, attending to themes such as build craft, labor, and capitalism. We are especially interested in fostering research that recovers the historical contributions of women and people of color, including the role of African Americans in the United States.

The M.A. and Ph.D. programs are founded on rigorous training while offering students the flexibility to develop their own ideas and explore new fields and methodologies through independent study, academic and professional publication, and travel. Although we are committed to sound historical research, our work takes us beyond the traditional boundaries and archival sources of the discipline to investigate new perspectives, such as cultural landscapes and material culture, that arise from theoretical methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches and that can have an impact beyond our professional boundaries.

architectural history

DEGREES + PROGRAMS

The Architectural History Program at the University of Texas as Austin offers one graduate-level degree program, a doctoral-level degree, and a minor at the undergraduate level.  

GRADUATE PH.D. UNDERGRADUATE MINOR

Master of Arts in Architectural History

Ph.D. in Architectural History

Architectural History Minor

  • Instagram Post
    Join us Monday at 5:00 p.m. for Hector Esrawe’s lecture “No Boundaries: Transiting the Intersections Across Creative Disciplines.”<br />
    @utsoa

    Join us Monday at 5:00 p.m. for Hector Esrawe’s lecture “No Boundaries: Transiting the Intersections Across Creative Disciplines.”

  • Instagram Post
    Designing for the blind and visually impaired offers a unique perspective on the built environment that is valuable for architects and architecture students who strive to become better, more inclusive designers.<br />
    @utsoa

    Designing for the blind and visually impaired offers a unique perspective on the built environment that is valuable for architects and architecture students who strive to become better, more inclusive designers.

  • Instagram Post
    Barkow Leibinger’s exhibition “American A-Frame” is now on display in the Mebane Gallery through the end of October.<br />
    @utsoa

    Barkow Leibinger’s exhibition “American A-Frame” is now on display in the Mebane Gallery through the end of October.

  • Instagram Post
    Associate Professor Cisco Gomes’ Construction class recently visited the @continentalcutstone quarry just outside Liberty Hill.<br />
    @utsoa

    Associate Professor Cisco Gomes’ Construction class recently visited the @continentalcutstone quarry just outside Liberty Hill.

  • Instagram Post
    Join us on Wednesday for a lecture from our new Professor of Practice Dora Epstein Jones. The lecture, “The Order of the Orders,” kicks off at 12:30 p.m. in the Goldsmith Lecture Hall. Link in bio.<br />
    @utsoa

    Join us on Wednesday for a lecture from our new Professor of Practice Dora Epstein Jones. The lecture, “The Order of the Orders,” kicks off at 12:30 p.m. in the Goldsmith Lecture Hall. Link in bio.

  • Instagram Post
    On Monday at 5:00 p.m., Frank Barkow (@fbarkow) of Barkow Liebinger joins us in the Goldsmith Lecture Hall for his lecture “Sticks and Stones.” <br />
    @utsoa

    On Monday at 5:00 p.m., Frank Barkow (@fbarkow) of Barkow Liebinger joins us in the Goldsmith Lecture Hall for his lecture “Sticks and Stones.”

  • Instagram Post
    Multispecies Lounge is a series of urban furnishings on display in downtown Toronto through Sept. 24 that invites interspecies encounters with urban wildlife. <br />
    @utsoa

    Multispecies Lounge is a series of urban furnishings on display in downtown Toronto through Sept. 24 that invites interspecies encounters with urban wildlife.

  • Instagram Post
    Congratulations to our 2022-24 Emerging Scholar Tyler Swingle, whose Spring 2023 Advanced Studio “Time for Timber” received an Honorable Mention in the @acsanational / Softwood Lumber Board 2023 Timber Education Prize!<br />
    @utsoa

    Congratulations to our 2022-24 Emerging Scholar Tyler Swingle, whose Spring 2023 Advanced Studio “Time for Timber” received an Honorable Mention in the @acsanational / Softwood Lumber Board 2023 Timber Education Prize!

  • Instagram Post
    Next Monday, September 11, @craigdykers and  @elainemolinar of @snohetta kick off our Fall 2023 lecture series with their lecture “Toward a Peaceable Kingdom.” The lecture is free and open to the public and will take place at 5:00 p.m. in Jessen Auditorium. <br />
    @utsoa

    Next Monday, September 11, @craigdykers and @elainemolinar of @snohetta kick off our Fall 2023 lecture series with their lecture “Toward a Peaceable Kingdom.” The lecture is free and open to the public and will take place at 5:00 p.m. in Jessen Auditorium.