M.S. Computational Design Practices

Each student is asked to clarify an independent research problem over three semesters, culminating in a forward-looking capstone project for the final Design in Action colloquium. Three colloquium courses—Methods as Practices, Practices as Methods; Explore, Explain, Propose; and Design in Action—provide a critical, productive, and supportive structure for students to develop a clear position and methodology for their work, as well as a plan for its implementation. Students participate in the field discursively as well—reading and writing about current debates as well as historical approaches to technology and the built environment. They are guided through creative and iterative design processes as well as methods-oriented workshops to facilitate their work and capstone projects. Foundation courses are intended to provide a set of seven core competencies for students in computational design methods in architecture and planning. Three of these foundation courses are available exclusively online to students before the start of the program, as well as to learners everywhere: Computational Drawing, Mapping and Data, and Programming for Design Practices. Other foundation courses include Computational Modeling, Computational Design Workflows, Responsive Architecture, and Design Intelligence. The program also offers nearly 36 existing advanced elective courses across the School, enabling students to explore and cultivate their particular direction and approach to research.

A part-time option allows students to complete the curriculum over the course of three years.

The range of post-graduation possibilities is indicative of the program’s generalist approach, which gives students the chance and freedom to choose an issue, topic, or method that draws on their strengths and orients their path through the M.S.CDP program. Some students will become specialists; others will remain generalists with a computational literacy that enables them to collaborate with engineers, computer scientists, and data scientists in a range of fields that relate to the built environment and to bring design expertise to those fields. Each course in the curriculum productively and critically engages its methods and practices and gives students the skills and opportunities to shape discussions about socially- and ethically-responsible computational design for the future of architecture and the built environment worldwide.