Faculty of Architecture

Master’s in Architectural History and Research

Master of Architecture (Architectural History and Research)
Master of Arts (Architectural History and Research)

This program trains built environment professionals to critically research, visualise and write about how architecture is produced, inhabited, symbolised, and represented, both globally and particularly the South Asian context. 

Architectural discourses from within South Asia are newly emerging even though the region has been a subject of extensive scholarly exploration. There is a distinct opening up of professional opportunities through the expansion of publishing, new curatorial platforms, emerging heritage concerns, and the rapidly expanding education sector, highlighting the need for a new generation of critical-creative architectural historians and theoreticians. Responding to these developments, the Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University offers India’s only dedicated program on architectural history and research.

Formerly known as the Master's in Architectural History and Theory [MAHT], it has been renamed as the Master's in Architectural History and Research to reflect our commitment to a broad and rigorous research training while retaining the disciplinary anchor of architectural history. The move aligns with our expanded course offerings, which draw from the latest practices in built environment research across the globe. The program continues to build on the long tradition of research at CEPT, and students engage with analysing built environments in relation to aesthetic, technological, social, and political perspectives. 

The program aims:

1. To train the next generation of built environment scholars to describe, analyse, and critique buildings and settlements, and architectural practice;
2. To equip students with skills and abilities to curate narratives to engage with both academic and non-academic audiences, as well as produce high quality academic writing;
3. To provide training required to carry out doctoral research.

The pedagogy of the program builds on the foundational design training of the applicants, while also keeping in mind the range of emerging professional trajectories. We recognise that research training involves a number of academic practices which are best learnt iteratively and experientially. We therefore combine hands-on, empirical engagement with sites of architectural enquiry in the studio format, with lectures and seminars that offer broad exposure and scholarly depth. The program culminates in an independent work, where the student demonstrates their ability to conceptualise and execute an architectural history or theory project.