Master of Science Program in the History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture

Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture has launched a new Master of Science in the History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture at its main campus in Blacksburg and the program is now accepting applicants for fall 2025.

Read more about the program on the Virginia Tech website. Apply here.

The program is led by Dr Joseph Bedford, Associate Professor in History, Theory, and Criticism and director of the Architecture Exchange.

To learn more about Dr Joseph Bedford’s work, you can follow him on Instagram and read his publications on Academia.edu

The program is distinguished from other master’s programs in history, theory and criticism by its focus upon extensive rigorous methods training. There is a sequence of four required methods courses that all students on the program must take and which cover foundational topics, approaches, concepts and issues: Methods in Architectural History, Methods in Architectural Theory, Methods in Architectural Criticism, and Methods in Architectural Education.

The program is also distinguished by its emphasis upon the critical analysis of the ideas, discourses, and ideologies that form architecture’s contemporary situation. While history remains the central approach to the study of ideas, practices and contexts, students are guided to explore topics and questions that are close to the present in time, and that engage with the ideas and ideologies that underpin contemporary architectural design culture.

Research projects might, for example, include but are by no means limited to, the history, theory and criticism of the following topics: the role of the image in architecture; aesthetic and artistic theories of architecture; theories of architectural representation, drawing and computation tools; philosophies of perception; discourses of race, gender and disability; discourses of affect, mood, sensation and atmosphere; debates about the critical and the projective; the phenomenon of starchitecture and iconic building; parametricism; digital fabrication; architecture’s relationship to capitalism; theories of surfaces, skins and envelopes; debates about autonomy; theories of the role of culture and meaning in architecture; the turn to preservation and adaptive re-use; the activist turn in architectural design culture; the material turn; contemporary post-digital aesthetics in architecture; speculative realist philosophy and Object-Oriented Ontology; discourses of care, repair, and maintenance; theories of labor, work, and the organization of the architectural profession; concepts of climate, planitarity, non-extractive architecture, and carbon form; automation and BIM, big data and AI. 

In addition to the four methods courses, students take six electives either inside or ourside of the school of architecture, take a sequence of three thesis preparation courses designed to established competency in their chosen field, and then complete their thesis.

A small number of students on the program will have the option to stay at Virginia Tech to develop their research to the level of the PhD in architecture. Those who graduate from the program at the master’s level and who intend to apply for PhD programs elsewhere will have a competitive edge in their future applications to those programs. Students may also apply directly to the PhD program in History, Theory and Criticism, in which case they would complete the same course of study as the Master of Science students, including the same methods courses, before going on to write their dissertation. 

The program is supported by a wealth of expert historians, theorists, critics and designers at the Virginia Tech School of Architecture who serve as affilliate faculty to the program and who offer elective courses and thesis advising.

Joseph Bedford (Program Leader), Markus Breitschmid, Hilary Bryon, Andrew Gipe-Lazarou, David Haney, Elizabeth Keslacy, Gonzalo Munoz-Vera, Annie Ronan, Sharóne Tomer, Kristin Washco.

For students interested in the program, there is an information session on January 15, at 10–11am Eastern Time. For more information, contact Professor Joseph Bedford, jtb [​at​] vt.edu.