Doctoral Programs

Students walking on campus outside Battle Hall
DOCTORAL PROGRAMS
HOW TO APPLY

Doctoral programs at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture are designed to provide students holding an appropriate master's degree with a rigorous program of study intended to prepare them to conduct research and teach in these disciplines.

The School of Architecture offers a Ph.D. in Architecture with concentrations in the history of architecture and landscape architecture, historic preservation, and sustainability. It also offers a Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning which allows specialization in a range of planning fields including international planning, economic and community development, environmental and natural resource planning, housing, land use and land development, transportation planning, and historic preservation.

PH.D. IN ARCHITECTURE

 

CONCENTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

The Ph.D. in Architecture with a concentration in the history of architecture and landscape architecture places special emphasis on histories of architecture in the Americas from the late eighteenth century to the present. The student's program of study may address issues such as the racial, gender, 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.

CONCENTRATION IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION

The Ph.D. in Architecture with a concentration in historic preservation embraces multi-disciplinary and culturally diverse approaches to the identification and conservation of historic resources. The student's program may address preservation planning and development; issues in the theory, history, and practice of the conservation of buildings, interiors, landscapes, and neighborhoods; preservation-based strategies of sustainable development; and innovative methodologies and strategies for preservation practice and cultural resource management at local, state, and federal levels.

CONCENTRATION IN SUSTAINABILITY

The Ph.D. in Architecture with a concentration in sustainability is practical, technical, and philosophical in scope and integrates three areas of inquiry related to the built environment: biophysical systems, building systems, and political systems. The study of biophysical systems relies upon the disciplines of natural and urban ecological sciences as they relate to architecture. The study of building systems includes investigating component technologies necessary to construct environmentally responsive architecture. The study of political systems situates the biophysical and building systems within the social and political contexts of architectural practice.

PH.D. IN COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING

The Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning prepares highly qualified graduate students for research and teaching at the university level and for leadership positions in public and private institutions. The program provides rigorous, but flexibly tailored, scholastic and practical training for advanced students to prepare them to make substantive contributions to planning and related policy fields. Students can specialize in a range of planning fields. The program strongly emphasizes interdisciplinary scholarship and research collaborations to address the complex problems of urban and regional growth and development.

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

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    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.

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    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.

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    Housing Aggregate by Nate Albers @natealbers for Associate Professor Kory Bieg’s @kory_bieg Horizontal Studio // 2021-22 Design Excellence Award Winner<br />
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    Housing Aggregate by Nate Albers @natealbers for Associate Professor Kory Bieg’s @kory_bieg Horizontal Studio // 2021-22 Design Excellence Award Winner

  • Instagram Post
    Announcing our Fall 2023 Lecture Series ✨ Starting Monday, September 11 and continuing throughout the semester, speakers representing a broad cross-section of cultural practices will explore contemporary topics vital to the study and practice of architecture, design, and the built environment—across
    @utsoa

    Announcing our Fall 2023 Lecture Series ✨ Starting Monday, September 11 and continuing throughout the semester, speakers representing a broad cross-section of cultural practices will explore contemporary topics vital to the study and practice of architecture, design, and the built environment—across

  • Instagram Post
    Next week, several faculty members will travel to Mexico City for @unam_mx’s  La Feria Internacional del Libro de las Universitarias y los Universitarios 2023, or FILUNI. <br />
    @utsoa

    Next week, several faculty members will travel to Mexico City for @unam_mx’s La Feria Internacional del Libro de las Universitarias y los Universitarios 2023, or FILUNI.