Master of Architecture

This is a studio-heavy course by design. Monash structures it so students spend more than half their candidature actually in the design studio rather than in lectures, working alongside both Monash academics and practising architects brought in to run project-based classes. That mirrors how architecture practices actually operate day to day, which the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture treats as a selling point over more lecture-based programs elsewhere.

The three-part structure moves from advanced studios and elective "depth units" (which let students go deep on a particular architectural interest, such as heritage, digital fabrication, or urbanism) through research and methods units engaging the messier socio-cultural and political dimensions of the built environment, and finishes with a self-directed final project in the last year that functions as the professional thesis. Monash's architecture program is accredited by both the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia and the Commonwealth Association of Architects, which matters for graduates planning to register and practice across Commonwealth jurisdictions, not just in Australia.

MADA (Monash Art, Design and Architecture) also runs a combined Bachelor of Architectural Design plus Master of Architecture pathway as the standard five-and-a-bit-year route to registration eligibility, which is the track most domestic students take rather than entering the masters directly from an unrelated undergraduate degree.