Advanced Urban Design (Post-Professional) [Administered by A.A.P] M.S. (Ithaca)

Field of Study

Architecture

Program Description

The New York City-based Master of Science, Advanced Urban Design program (M.S. AUD) prepares graduates to engage pressing urban, environmental and social issues with the tools of design. The program offers a specialized course of study at the intersection of urban systems, ecologies, technologies, and data in order to ask big questions, to address contemporary wicked problems, and to invigorate public realms. 

Participants in the program deepen their understanding of a range of conceptual topics while developing abilities to uncover, visualize, and translate data into designs of material, spatial, and experiential consequence. The program supports citizen-urbanists interested in making a difference through design in pursuit of new forms of engaged spatial practice. Graduates of the program will be agents of urban change, equipped with advanced skills and with expanded knowledge to apply those skills in meaningful ways.

The M.S. AUD program is directed by Jesse LeCavalier and supported by faculty active in New York City and at the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center. Current and recent faculty include Behnaz Assadi, Ifeoma Ebo, Nahyun Hwang, Florian Idenburg, Alicia Imperiale, Elisa Iturbe, Nima Javidi, Shawn Rickenbacker, Peter Robinson, and many others.

This intensive design research program in urbanism is open to individuals holding a professional Bachelor of Architecture degree, a professional Master of Architecture degree, or a professional degree in adjacent design fields (e.g. M.L.A., M.U.D). Students with professional or terminal degrees in related design fields (e.g., M.F.A.) will also be considered.

Students with design and research interests related to urban design, urban sustainability, infrastructure systems, community engagement, visualization, and data are encouraged to apply to the M.S. AUD program.

The M.S. AUD is designated as a STEM program in Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology (CIP code 04.0902) making international graduates eligible to extend their F-1 visas for up to three years to work in the United States.

 

Contact Information

Website: http://aap.cornell.edu/academics/architecture/graduate/ms-aad
Email: arch-grad-info@cornell.edu
Phone: 607 255-4376

Sibley Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY  14853

Concentrations by Subject

• advanced urban design

Tuition

Visit the Graduate School's Tuition Rates page.

Application Requirements and Deadlines

Application Deadlines:

Fall, Jan. 3; no spring admission

Requirements Summary:

Applicants to the architecture and design programs must also submit a portfolio of visual materials.

International students whose undergraduate training has been completed outside the United States are admitted as provisional candidates. They should plan to spend at least four terms in residence for the master's degree.

• all Graduate School Requirements, including the English Language Proficiency Requirement for all applicants
• Two recommendations
• Transcripts: Submit completed and official transcripts from each college or university previously attended to the field to which you are applying. If it is against an institution's policy to send transcripts to the applicant, the transcripts can be mailed by the school directly to the field to which you are applying.
• GRE general test scores are optional
• Portfolio of creative work

  • A portfolio of creative work must be submitted online via the CollegeNET application. Portfolios must be no larger than 20 MB or they will not successfully upload. All applicants are required to submit a portfolio that consists of a maximum of 20 pages representing the applicant's best work, including drawings, images of two- or three-dimensional work, and models. The entire portfolio must be uploaded as one PDF file, using a landscape (horizontal) format for each page, to ensure that the width of the screen is maximally used to view each portfolio page (approximately a 4:3 ratio). If any project, drawing, or model has been produced by several designers, or if the design was produced in a professional setting, each drawing must be labeled, clearly stating the number of designers, which drawings were produced by the applicant, and a list of the names of all members of the group project. If the project was produced in an office, an office setting, or as an assistant to an author, the office name, supervisor, and all members of the team must be identified.

• Statement of purpose

  • One- or two-page academic statement of purpose or statement of research intents for graduate study in the M.S. AUD program. This statement should describe a critical topic you wish to investigate at Cornell, including any past work in this area.

Note on Professional Accreditation
In the United States, most state 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 U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, 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, three-year or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards. Master's degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree that, when earned sequentially, constitute an accredited professional education. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

The NAAB grants candidacy status to new programs that have developed viable plans for achieving initial accreditation. Candidacy status indicates that a program should be accredited within 6 years of achieving candidacy, if its plan is properly implemented.

Learning Outcomes

Understandings/abilities that graduates of the program would acquire by end of program: 

• General understanding professional pathways
• General understanding new/emerging modes of practice
• General understanding the behavior of a wide range of urban systems
• General understanding of current economic models
• General understanding of urban real estate dynamics
• General understanding of scenario planning, future
• General understanding of urban tech
• General understanding of digital tools and critical computational design
• General understanding of sources of big data
• General understanding of AI applications
• General understanding of planning principles in NYC
• General understanding of additional sources of cultural production in NYC (art, gaming)

• Deeper understanding of contemporary urban discourse on ecology, urbanism, infrastructure, publicness
• Deeper understanding of research methodology in the context of urbanism and architecture
• Deeper understanding of contemporary ecological/climate change discourse

• Ability to engage community/stakeholders
• Ability to use scenario/future planning tools
• Ability to communicate effectively through writing
• Ability to engage AI/machine learning applications
• Ability to engage basic coding functions
• Ability to conduct field work, gather data

• Advanced ability to engage mapping/visualization tools
• Advanced ability to connect data/mapping (technology) with design
• Advanced ability to synthesize and visualize complex systems
• Advanced ability to translate research and theory to proposals
• Advanced ability to produce compelling visual, physical and written artifacts in support of larger questions