how many years does it take to get a phd in architecture

A PhD in Architecture by Design will give you an informed awareness of the methods and theoretical frameworks that shape the ways in which practitioners and researchers have interpreted issues in the field and enable you to develop and justify your own interpretive experiments, fieldwork, design work and arguments

The Architecture Department at the University of the Free State is pleased to welcome potential candidates who wish to apply for our new PhD in Architecture with Specialization in Design. The new degree is aimed at architects with a five-year BArch degree and successful design experience, and younger MArch graduates, who wish to explore creative research. It is envisaged that the PhD study might be ‘practice-based’ for architects who wish to document and research their own work, or ‘design-led’ for candidates who wish to explore a new creative project.

The new PhD with design programme at UFS – a first for SA – recognises the intelligence and ingenuity of design. The programme’s primary objective is to harvest and study the implicit orientations, operations and achievements of design, and to enlist creativity in the forming of new knowledge. The degree facilitates analytical reflection, stimulates creative action and opens new insights into the unique logic of design.

BArch and MArch Applicants

Candidates with an MArch may enter directly into the PhD programme. For candidates with the former five-year BArch degree, it should be noted that South African universities are bound by national qualification standards which rate a BArch and a MArch differently (despite the fact that SACAP acknowledge professional equivalence). Therefore, candidates with the former five-year BArch must complete a one-year MArch before gaining admission to a PhD. The new PhD with Design programme at UFS is, however, intentionally structured to accommodate this ‘anomaly’, and allows for an effective transition into PhD studies for candidates who enter with the former five-year BArch professional degree.

Duration of Study

The first year of study – aided by four research symposia in January, April, June and August – allows Master’s and PhD candidates to define their intended PhD research plan. At the end of the year, successful candidates who entered with a BArch have the option to either exit with a Master’s study of their own design work, or to use their Master’s as a stepping stone toward a PhD. It is foreseeable that candidates who enter with either the old five-year BArch or an MArch might exit with a PhD within three years of full-time study.

How to apply

The Master’s/PhD with Design programme for the academic year 2021 is currently full. A new intake for 2022 will be considered, and announced here, should places become available. 

Candidates wishing to study must apply to the university and the department before 30 September of the preceding year.

Acceptance into the programme requires the following:

1. Candidates to present a 15-minute oral/visual presentation at the UFS department of architecture, or via our ‘Zoom’ style digital platform, to show either:
   • the unique quality of their designs and built works (if ‘practice-based’), or
   • prior design work and idea/s for the intended research project (if ‘design-led’)
2. And, three pages of writing about the presentation, a CV, an academic record, and a confirmation as to whether the presentation will be digital or in person, should be emailed to Yolanda Pretorius (see below).

Entry into the programme is subject to availability of space. Selection will be made on the basis of the presentation, the written page and the candidates’ academic record.