Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism (M.ADU)

The Notre Dame School of Architecture graduate programs in architecture and urban design promote built environments that are durable, useful, and beautiful, and which are supportive of strong communities. The School seeks to train designers, scholars, preservationists, and advocates for the built environment who will play a leading role in their professions and may translate their skills and advocacy to a variety of disciplines and arenas.

Toward these ends, the graduate curriculum promotes a holistic approach to design education and the understanding of detail, building, and city as a continuous and interdependent scalar spectrum. It engages both intellectual endeavor and the practical teaching of craft in order that the best lessons of historic precedent might be learned, expanded upon, and combined with a judicious use of contemporary strategies, materials, and methodologies in order to contribute toward buildings and urbanism which are environmentally and culturally sustainable.

Until recently, the School of Architecture graduate programs offered two different “tracks”, focused respectively on classical architecture and urban design. The intent was to offer students an opportunity, for two semesters following their foundational semester(s), to delve into the particular issues of one scale or the other. As part of the School’s recent decision to reinforce the inseparability of building design and urbanism, students are no longer required to select one of two tracks which have been seen by some as disparate fields of study. The unbundling of the course selections does not eliminate any of the courses that made up the two tracks. Instead, these courses may now be selected by students on an a la carte basis, allowing greater flexibility for students interested in exploring multiple scales and issues in greater depth.

Since its founding in 1865, the University of Notre Dame’s College of Science has built upon the University’s world-renowned intellectual resources while building up the campus’s state-of-the-art infrastructure, the $70 million Jordan Hall of Science and its Digital Visualization Theater serving as the most recent example.

What hasn’t changed—and never will—is the University’s unwavering commitment to its Catholic character and the college’s mission to prepare tomorrow’s scientific leaders to think big while also inspiring them to make a difference, and to share their knowledge and discoveries in ways that encourage collaboration, advance learning, and contribute to the common good. This profound sense of unity of purpose is what sets us apart.

Guided by our common human curiosity and Catholic character, the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame undertakes its mission to prepare the scientific leaders of tomorrow, inspiring them to seek greater understanding of the natural world, to translate that knowledge into human improvement, and to share discoveries in ways that make a difference in society.

The College of Science is committed to fostering advancements that answer the world’s toughest questions and solve its most enduring problems. We are dedicated to providing our students with an exceptional education in an environment that encourages exploration, discovery, collaboration, and independent thinking in a place where each person’s unique contribution is valued.