Overview

One of MIT's five schools, the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) is home to:

• The Department of Architecture
• The Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP)
• The MIT Media Lab and the Program in Media Arts and Sciences (MAS)
• The MIT Center for Real Estate (CRE)
• The Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT)
• The Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU)
• The MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD)

This potent mix of disciplines and departments fuels innovation and energizes MIT’s drive for meaningful progress. Whether our community is designing systems or cities, objects or structures, policies or technologies, we are committed to working every day, at MIT and around the globe, in service to a better world.

Leadership

• Dean Hashim Sarkis
• Associate Deans Caroline Jones and Lawrence Vale
• Dean’s Advisory Council
• School Council composed of heads of academic departments and administrative area

Recognition

SA+P is consistently ranked internationally as a leading school for architecture, design, urbanism, and the arts.

Key moments in SA+P history

1868: MIT opens its doors with the first Department of Architecture in the United States

1892: Robert Robinson Taylor becomes MIT’s first Black graduate; also first accredited Black architect in the United States

1916: MIT moves from Boston to Cambridge

1933: MIT establishes what will become the longest-running Department of Urban Studies and Planning

1968: MIT forms the world-renowned Center for Advanced Visual Studies, progenitor to today's Program in Art, Culture, and Technology

1977: The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture is established

1984: MIT creates the first academic Center for Real Estate to offer a professional degree

1985: MIT launches the first university-based Media Lab, emerging from within the Department of Architecture

2009: The Program in Art, Culture, and Technology is created

2013: SA+P establishes the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism to imagine the future of cities 

2015: SA+P launches MITdesignX design accelerator

2020: The MIT Mobility Initiative is formed, with SA+P faculty leadership

2022: The MIT Morningside Academy for Design is launched, housed within SA+P

2025: Opening of renovated Metropolitan Warehouse as new home for the Department of Architecture, the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, and other units and activities of SA+P

Academic degrees offered

Department of Architecture

Bachelor of Science in Architecture
Bachelor of Science in Art and Design
Master of Science in Architecture
Master of Science in Architecture Studies
Master of Science in Building Technology
Master of Science in Art, Culture, and Technology 
Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Bachelor of Science in Planning
Bachelor of Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science
Bachelor of Science and Master in City Planning
Master in City Planning
Master of Science in Urban Studies and Planning
Master of Science in Real Estate Development
Master of Science in Transportation
Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies and Planning

Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences
Master of Science in Media Technology
Doctor of Philosophy in Media Arts 

Students and faculty at SA+P, 2022–2023

Number of graduate students

Master’s: 338
Doctoral: 182

Number of undergraduate majors

Majors: 62
2d majors: 7

Gender (all students)

Male: 48%
Female: 52%

Number of faculty: 85  

Gender

Male: 51  
Female: 34

For more information, see MIT’s Institutional Research website.

Alumni

As of spring 2023, there are 10,055 living alumni with degrees from the School of Architecture and Planning.