The Master of Architecture program trains students to become leaders in the professional practice of architecture with innovative methods of design research and inquiry.
Students: Ayesha Nathani & Purvi Gargayan
Instructor: Stephanie Bayard
SP22 Studio 4
Instructor: Stephanie Bayard
SP22 Studio 4
Instructor: Alexandra Barker
SP23 Studio 4
Master of Architecture at Pratt
The M.Arch curriculum embraces an integrative approach to design that weaves together technical knowledge and creative practice, building science and environmental stewardship, and professional responsibility and equity. We actively engage the pressing climatic and social challenges of our era through rigorous inquiry. Through case studies that leverage the city as our classroom, students develop innovative design strategies that convey a thorough understanding of the way in which architecture shapes the built environment and its communities. As architects, our inquiry extends across all scales of the built environment, from individual buildings to neighborhoods, cities, and all the way to global systems and ecosystems. What connects our intervention across this broad range of scales is our deep commitment to design work that prioritizes the well-being and safety of all life forms.
Student Work
Our Faculty
Our faculty are leading practitioners, scholars, and educators, including a distinctive cohort of PhD candidates from top universities who share a common desire to develop each student’s potential and creativity to the fullest. Bringing different views, methods, and perspectives the faculty provide a rigorous educational model in which students make and learn. See all GA/LA/UD faculty and administrators.
The Experience
Pratt’s department of Graduate Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design (GA/LA/UD) balances knowledge and understanding, enhancing your individual capacities to ask often difficult and challenging questions facing the profession and discipline, specifically through design and with audiences outside of architecture and urban design. This program is intended for students holding a four-year undergraduate, nonprofessional degree in any field.
Integrative Studio
Unique to the GA/LA/UD, the Integrative Studio is a combined design and integrative building-systems course and brings together a number of related disciplines into a single project, which students develop in teams. An ensemble of technical consultants from world-leading firms in New York City work directly with GA/LA/UD faculty and students on their design projects engaging in facade design, structural design, energy design and more.
Seminars, Lectures & Events
Immersive seminars, lectures and events accompany each semester. They explore contemporary issues in architectural practice and research, and foster discussion between students and prominent scholars. Exhibitions spotlight exceptional faculty and student work, and the student publication offers students opportunities to engage in theoretical, editorial, and writing activities.
Study Abroad
Immersing yourself in another culture is an incredible experience that can extend the boundaries of creativity. Study abroad programs are an integral part of the university experience, and Pratt has deep connections with university partners around the world. In the first, second, or third year, students may elect to participate in one or both of our international programs. See where you can go.
Learning Resources
We develop disciplinary fluency in our program of study and we celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of design critical to address the plurality and complexity of the environments in which we operate. Learn about resources.
Our Alumni
Pratt’s distinguished alumni are leading diverse and thriving careers, addressing critical challenges and creating innovative work that reimagines our world.
Career Opportunities:
Graduates from the M.Arch program go on to work in leading architectural firms and other creative fields, both nationally and internationally. Take a look at where some of our recent graduates work:
Where They Work
- Architect – Morphosis
- Junior Designer – BIG Bjarke Ingels Group
- Architectural Designer — Foster + Partners
- Director – KPF
- Senior Associate – SHoP Architects
- Architect – Woods Bagot
- Lead Designer – Zaha Hadid Architects
- Architectural Designer – UNStudio
- Assistant Chair, Interior Design – Pratt Institute
Success Stories
Ready for More?
| HERE’S HOW TO APPLY | Graduate Studies at Pratt | OUR CAMPUS & BEYOND |
|---|---|---|
| Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step. | Whether your goal is to advance your career, pivot to a new field, or explore your craft or groundbreaking research, our 33 graduate programs provide the rigor and support to achieve your vision. Explore our graduate programs in architecture, fine arts, design, information studies, and the liberal arts and sciences. Learn More. | You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out. |
LAR602 | Land Studio II: Shore
Spring 2025 | Professor Mariel Collard
The second-semester core studio investigates the urbanized shores of the North Atlantic, where retreat and rewilding are explored as critical design propositions for the 21st century. In Spring 2025, students developed a collective project envisioning the future of the Richard P. Kane Natural Area in the New Jersey Meadowlands, organized around three core design strategies. The high-ground strategy proposes the retreat of warehouses from low-lying, marsh-adjacent areas and the use of salvaged materials to construct permeable elevated landforms for recreation and safe refuge during extreme flood events. The middle-ground strategy removes an existing berm to expand the salt marsh and introduces experimental mounds that create salinity and moisture gradients that support greater plant diversity. The lower-ground strategy transforms Moonachie Creek into a kayak-accessible landscape, allowing people to experience the Meadowlands at water level and observe shifting plant and animal life along changing tides and salinity.
Student Work: Raha Behnam, Anjali Britto, Lindsey Dannenberg, Lilabet Johnstongil, and Greta Lincoln.
@marielilla
@rahabehnam @anjali.britto @dannen.b.plantn @lilabetofficial @greta.lincoln
#Pratt #PrattInstitute #PrattSOA #prattgalaud #PrattMLA #MLA #LandscapeArchitecture #Landscape #FieldWork #FieldSchool #ShoreStudio #architecturemodel #LandscapeArchitectureModel #LandscapeModel #Landscapes #StudentWork
2 days ago
LOG 64: TOWARDS A NEW BRUTALISM OR THE UNDECORATED SHED
Monday, October 27th
6.15pm - 8.15pm, Higgins Hall Auditorium
Please join us for the issue launch of Log 64: Toward A Newer Brutalism, or the Undecorated Shed. The event will take up guest editor Emmett Zeifman’s provocation that “New Brutalism as a found theory of architecture” accounts for a tranche of contemporary work “that looks like exactly what it is made of.” Emmett will be joined by Cynthia Davidson, Editor of Log, along with Preston Scott Cohen, Andrew Holder, Mireia Luzárraga, Laura Salazar-Altobelli, and Hilary Sample. @log_grams
@prestonscottcohen
@laurasalazaraltobelli
@andrewjamesholder
@mireialuzarraga
#emmettzeifman
#PrattInstitute #PrattSOA #PrattGALAUD #architectureschool #architecturelecture #lecture #higginshall #academiclecture #log
1 week ago
LAR601 | Land Studio I: Region
Fall 2025 | Professor Mark Heller
The Field School teaches students how to engage with local environmental issues and learn about landscape history. As a part of their first semester studio, they work on skills such as plant identification, hydrological analysis, seed foraging, and habitat creation, and also discuss the complexities of ecological change, settler heritage, and the rich plant and animal life of the Catskills region. They learn how important this region was to creating Brooklyn, and why it continues to sustain life in the city.
The first semester core studio introduces students to landscape design strategies and techniques at the scale of regional dynamics. This is a fundamentals course that reveals landscape through uncertainty with emphasis on watersheds and habitats. The studio attends to changing landscape patterns at multiple temporal and spatial scales; from the scours of geology, to indigenous land-use, forest migration and urban settlements. In Land Studio I, students increase their skills and ability to describe, define and expand environmental dynamics through landscape-specific methods of analysis and assessment, while design is revealed as a process of collaboration across more than human timescales.
Photos and Videos provided by Elliott Maltby and Ursula Barker
@urzulka
#PrattInstitute #PrattSOA #PrattGALAUD #PrattMLA #MLA #LandscapeArchitecture #Landscape #FieldWork #FieldSchool #catskills
1 week ago
JESSICA B. HARRIS | LESSONS FROM THE AFRICAN AMERICAN GARDEN
Thursday, October 23rd
6:00 - 7:30 pm, Higgins Hall Auditorium
During 2022-2024, the New York Botanical Garden was home to the African American Garden, a three-year initiative curated by culinary historian and award-winning author Dr. Jessica B. Harris to highlight the agricultural and horticultural contributions of the African diaspora in the Americas through the lens of plants. Including over 100 different plant species, the Garden explored the ways in which botanical knowledge was created, shared, and protected by African communities in the diaspora, and celebrated its transformative power throughout history. In conversation with food activist and social entrepreneur Henry Obispo, Dr. Jessica B. Harris will talk about the power of plants as signifiers of memory and belonging and the process of translating her long-life scholarly research into a living garden.
#pratt #prattinstitute #prattSOA #prattGALAUD #prattMLA #architectureschool #architecturelecture #Landscapes #LandscapeArchitecture #academiclecture #lecture #africanamericangarden #garden #NYBotanicalGardens #higginshall
2 weeks ago
ARCH 601 | DESIGN 1: MEDIA AND METHODS
Fall 2025 | One-Third Review Models and Drawings
This is the first studio in a series of four core studios. It serves as an introduction to the fundamental concepts, processes and skills required for graduate architectural design with a focus on investigations into media and design methodology. With a series of abstract yet non-reductive exercises, students will learn to create and discuss formal, spatial and material relations. Through design projects and discussions with the studio critic, students will develop an understanding of fundamental design principles, representational techniques, and analytical skills.
Professors Poyao Shih, Olivia Vien, and MJ Sieira, Co-Teachers Sophy Feldman and Emily Young
Work by Students: 1. Carlos Viesca, 2. Chamila Sedara, Gabriella Pontoriero, 3. Annie Parkhurst, Max Montalbano, 4. Heeyun Woo, Sarah Rushing, 5. Annie Parkhurst, Nico Van der Meulen, 6. Bri Rapaccioli, Jonathan Moe, 7. Various Students
@poyaoshih @vienolivia @mjsieira @sophyfeldman @eyoung16
@realdealcarlos @csedara @gabriella_pontoriero @annnieparkhurst @maxhuntermontalbano_03 @wooheeyun @sawahwushing @briannarapaccioli @jtnmoe
#Pratt #prattinstitute #PrattSOA #PrattGALAUD #GALAUD #prattmarch #masterofarchitecture #architecture #architecturemodel #modelphotography #physicalmodel #archviz #dezeen #designboom #3dprint #fabrication #casting #colorfularchitecture
2 weeks ago
ARCH 805 | Advanced Design Research 1: FORM, STRUCTURE, AND ENVIRONMENT
Fall 2025| Professor Barry Wark, Co-Teacher Fernando Garrido
In Visiting Professor Barry Wark’s studio, students are departing from the intersection of Ralph Knowles’ Solar Envelope and Stewart Brand’s Shearing Layers to explore how the ordering of space, primary structure, and solar simulation can produce novel design strategies for an environmental architecture.
Students are undertaking this task through the design of a Contemporary Arts Building in Downtown Brooklyn. Projects examine the relationship between public and private space, enclosure, and the role of civic buildings in providing thermal comfort for urban communities under projected climate scenarios.
Student Work By: Amandine Panepinto, Arthur Furniss, Eugene Kim, Ethan Royal, Deniz Tokman. Isabella Kyster, Younghwan Cho, Karalyne Dube, Talha Zulqarnain, Peter Harvey, Richard Lee, Kelsey McKenna
@barry_wark @fergarridocarreras
@amandine.d.p @arthurfurniss @eugene_kii @ethan.royal @deniztokmann @i.kyster @hwan_arc @karalynedube @talhazulqarnain @peter___harvey @r.i.c.h_lee @kamckna
#Architecture #MArchStudents #PrattMArch #PrattInstitute #Design #StudentWork #PrattGALAUD #PrattSOA #architecturemodel #study #studymodel #modelmaking #artgallery #form #structure #environments @archdaily @archinect @next_top_architects @superarchitects @designboom @dezeen @architecturefactor
3 weeks ago
LAR601 | Land Studio I: Region
Fall 2025 | Professor Mark Heller
The Field School teaches students how to engage with local environmental issues and learn about landscape history. As a part of their first semester studio, they work on skills such as plant identification, hydrological analysis, seed foraging, and habitat creation, and also discuss the complexities of ecological change, settler heritage, and the rich plant and animal life of the Catskills region. They learn how important this region was to creating Brooklyn, and why it continues to sustain life in the city.
The first semester core studio introduces students to landscape design strategies and techniques at the scale of regional dynamics. This is a fundamentals course that reveals landscape through uncertainty with emphasis on watersheds and habitats. The studio attends to changing landscape patterns at multiple temporal and spatial scales; from the scours of geology, to indigenous land-use, forest migration and urban settlements. In Land Studio I, students increase their skills and ability to describe, define and expand environmental dynamics through landscape-specific methods of analysis and assessment, while design is revealed as a process of collaboration across more than human timescales.
Photos and Videos provided by Elliott Maltby and Ursula Barker
@urzulka
#PrattInstitute #PrattSOA #PrattGALAUD #PrattMLA #MLA #LandscapeArchitecture #Landscape #FieldWork #FieldSchool #Catskills
3 weeks ago
Carlos Arnaiz, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pratt GA/LA/UD, has co-authored a new book arguing for a form of urban analysis contemplating the “metabolism” of cities.
BOOK LAUNCH: THE METABOLISM OF SETTLEMENT COEXISTENCES
CARLOS ARNAIZ / PETER G. ROWE / CLAIRE DOUSSARD
In our current era, where human activity is the main cause of planetary change, there’s growing concern about how our cities and towns function. Think of a city as having a “metabolism”—it consumes resources to be built and to operate.
This book presents a new way to analyze a city’s environmental impact. It introduces a method to track the complete lifecycle of all the materials and energy a city uses. This process follows them from the very beginning, where resources like water, energy, and raw materials are first taken from the environment; through their use, as they are transformed to construct and run the city; and all the way to the very end, to see what happens to them after buildings are demolished and systems are no longer in use.
By creating this full “cradle-to-grave” picture, designers and planners can identify key problems—like hidden energy consumption and carbon emissions—and develop innovative solutions to create more efficient and environmentally friendly cities.
Carlos Arnaiz is an architect, educator, writer and urban design consultant. He is the founder and principal of CAZA, the co-founder of SURBA and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the GA/LA/UD at Pratt Institute. Prior to founding CAZA, Carlos was an associate partner at SAA in charge of over 20 global projects. Carlos started his career working as a design associate at a number of world-renowned architecture firms such as Office dA and Field Operations.
@cazarch @oro_editions
#Pratt #PrattInstitute #PrattSOA #PrattGALAUD #booklaunch #architecturebook #artbook #metabolism
4 weeks ago
ARCH 805 | Advanced Design Research 1: IMPRINTS
Fall 2024| Instructor: Florencia Pita
The studio focuses on ‘imprints’, using this word conceptually as a noun and also as a verb. As a noun, an imprint is an action on a material object that can be coded with markings and textures. These impressions can refer to images or figures; they might be illustrations that serve as remembrances of things.
In the work of Rachel Whiteread, ‘things’ are spaces, specifically the negative spaces that are typically ignored. For this class, the ‘things’ will be extracted textures that we will recalibrate through drawings to transform them into architectural elements. As a verb, the imprint aims to have an effect that transcends material qualities, allowing the architectural space to leave a lasting impression.
The class project will be located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Buenos Aires is lush with nature, where every sidewalk acts as a linear park, featuring myriad planters, trees, patios, and more. Our project will engage this notion of urban nature by connecting the landscape with the architecture. The program of the project will focus on the design of an apartment building.
The material focus of the class will be concrete. We will research various case studies, from historical to contemporary projects, and students will learn the building craft by creating detailed section models of their designs. These models will inform the formal attributes of the project as a whole. Students will also investigate representation, developing intricate drawings that include large-scale plans and sections of the project.
Student Work:
2: Jeter Vasquez and Emily Peres, 3: Rachel Guo and Kaitlyn Rainville, 4: Emily Sardo and Ankit Muhury
@florenciapita
@jeter.psd @emilymperes_design @guo.keqing @kaitlynrain @emmsardo @ankit._.muhury
#Architecture #MArchStudents #PrattMArch #PrattInstitute #Design #StudentWork #PrattGALAUD #PrattSOA #architecturemodel #chunk #chunkmodel #vibrant #modelmaking #apartment #imprints @archdaily @archinect @next_top_architects @superarchitects @designboom @dezeen @architecturefactor
1 month ago
