Master of Architecture
Joshua Clarke explores architecture as experience, examining material and immaterial realities through encounters with wilderness and architecture. How will you change the world?
Transform your vision for change with a Master of Architecture (MArch)
Learn to design for impact
This program prepares you to lead — to think critically, operate across scales, and use both established and emerging tools to influence the future of the built environment. You’ll join a dynamic community of designers working within local and global networks to make architecture more responsive, intelligent, and effective.
The Master of Architecture program at the University of Calgary is accredited by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB) and is designed to prepare you for a successful career in architecture. You will benefit from a robust curriculum that emphasizes critical thinking empowered by innovation. Our experiential learning model provides a strong foundation for professional practice, supporting your progression toward architectural licensure in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and throughout Europe.
Join our Master of Architecture program today and prepare for impact!
Shape the future of architecture
Ready to build the expertise and agility to thrive in today’s complex design landscape?
- Collaborate with peers and mentors who push you to refine your ideas.
- Expand your technical range and position yourself as a leader in the field.
Design a better world
Join a global community that builds a better future together.
- Access to a cutting-edge curriculum focused on innovation.
- Learn from distinguished faculty with real-world experience.
- Develop agility in digital design and fabrication techniques.
- Collaborate with a diverse network of peers from around the world.
Design for what’s next
Our comprehensive curriculum equips you with the critical and technical skills to shape architecture’s future — building intelligently, sustainably, and with purpose.
Globally recognized programs
We are Alberta’s only accredited school of architecture. Our curriculum is recognized by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB) and the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), ensuring compliance with licensing requirements in North America and beyond.
Sought-after graduates
Our alumni excel in professional contexts all over the world, including some of the most innovative and award-winning practices.
I see the world differently. I now understand how important design is and how it governs every component of people’s existence.”
MArch candidate
Empower yourself to shape the future
Three simple steps to enrolment
Newsletter
Stay informed with program-specific updates, including upcoming events and info sessions, career pathways, curriculum highlights, and the latest news about SAPL.
Explore the MArch program
Students learn how to navigate contexts and built scales, think from multiple perspectives and develop innovative solutions to the world’s design challenges. Changes in climate, the demographics of urban and rural communities, mass migration, material availability, and the formal and responsive possibilities of architecture are addressed through core courses, work-integrated learning studios, study abroad opportunities, focused research block weeks and elective courses. The education includes opportunities for applied research and the engagement of cutting-edge digital tools; many of these experiences are provided and supported by design research labs that focus on energy conservation, lifecycle analysis, artificial intelligence, robotics, digital fabrication, and innovation in structural design.
Continue reading the program philosophy
The MArch curriculum prepares students for rewarding, fulfilling careers as designers and fulfills the educational requirements for licensure as an architect. SAPL is Alberta’s only accredited school of architecture. The MArch program is accredited by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB). Canadian degrees from accredited programs are fully recognized in the United States and in the European Union under reciprocity agreements.
Two programs are offered:
- Three-Year Program: Open to applicants from any undergraduate discipline. The program begins with a Foundation Year to provide students with knowledge and skill they will need to continue with the MArch professional degree.
- Two-Year Program: Open to applicants with a Bachelor of Design in City Innovation (Architecture Concentration) or Minor in Architectural Studies from the University of Calgary, or an undergraduate degree accredited by the CACB and NAAB.
Students are expected to work as individuals and in teams to develop a critical and productive body of work demonstrating their commitment to design as an act of research and creativity. The program cultivates critical, persistent thinkers through a curriculum that moves between the historical and theoretical underpinnings of the discipline and the hands-on making and production opportunities of the practice of architecture.
All applicants admitted to the MArch program start in the fall term.
Explore innovative design solutions created by MArch students
How will you change the world?
Machined Consumption - Hanna Poulsen - M1 - Intermediate Studio
Message from the Associate Dean, Jason Johnson
“Welcome to a program that values experimentation over assurance and leadership over platitudes. I look forward to seeing how you will contribute to — and expand — the evolving conversation about what architecture becomes.”
Come design the future with us.
And change the world from the heart of the city.
In January 2026, we moved to a vibrant downtown location to enhance the educational journeys of our students and researchers while fostering collaboration with our professional community, the City of Calgary, and beyond.