Master of Science (Architecture) in Sustainable Architecture, Architecture
Tampere, Finland
MSc
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
EUR 12,000 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Application for studies starting in autumn begins December and ends January.
** per academic year for non-EU/EEA students
Fast-track counseling
By contacting the school, you'll get access to free priority counselling for any study and application questions.
Key Summary
Reimagining the built environment to create a more sustainable future
Are you a creative designer and critical thinker with a passion for architecture and creating a better world? In the Sustainable Architecture Master’s Programme, we reimagine the built environment to better answer the diverse societal, cultural, and environmental challenges the world is facing. You will do this together with other students, architects, and researchers in a vivid social community. Join us in building a more sustainable future!
Sustainable development at the core
We integrate sustainability thinking and well-being into the design. A major theme is the relationship between the built and natural environment. At the heart of the studies is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, “Sustainable Cities and Communities”. Moreover, the program covers several other UN Sustainable Development Goals, which you will study through theory, lectures, and readings, and explore in your coursework.
Latest knowledge and extended reality combined with real-life projects
We offer cutting-edge knowledge about sustainability at the urban and building scale, explored both in theory and design and delivered by our research-active staff. Moreover, our school includes an Extended Virtual Architecture -laboratory (EVA Lab) with top-notch XR devices equivalent to human eye resolution. This offers our students completely new possibilities for experiencing and learning about architectural design in the 3D world. During your studies, you will also gain valuable insight and experience by participating in inspiring real-life projects.
Plenty of career possibilities
Our program provides you with a broad understanding of the fundamentals of architecture on which to build your expertise. The degree confers eligibility to work as an architect in Finland, the EU, and other countries abroad, although access to the profession may entail training, an internship, or an examination, depending on local regulations.
You might also choose to build your career in research, as a city and urban planner, policy-maker, or consultant, to name some examples. Our students have excellent employability after their studies.
Join our dynamic community of students, architects, teachers, and researchers!
The School of Architecture in Tampere enjoys an outstanding reputation and attracts students from all over the world. We encourage our students to have a critical and self-reflective mindset in dialogue with other students, architects, and researchers. This creates a hub for design and creative thinking where we encourage each other and create a positive impact. Consequently, our students make up a vivid social community organizing a lot of informal activities and happenings in their guild room as well as elsewhere on campus.
Banner image by graduated student Takahiro Minamino, master's thesis "The Urban Farmhouse: Combination of Architecture and Agriculture"
Study contents
The first year of our program equips you with a broad general understanding of the fundamentals of architecture at the master’s level. While orienting towards sustainable architecture, the courses cover the profession’s major fields of architectural design (including public building design and housing design), management of built heritage, and urban planning and design.
The second year focuses on architectural design with two major intensive courses in the autumn, as well as on preparing the master’s thesis during the spring semester.
Architectural studies in our program are mostly about learning by doing. Our staff and students make up a close-knit community that supports teaching and learning. In design studios, assignments are rooted in real-life situations. Excursions and architectural student competitions provide variety. Students learn by sharing and exchanging ideas with fellow students in group sessions. Design project results are reviewed in sessions where the students present their work and explain their approach to the assignment and the ideas underlying their solutions.
Structure of studies
The Master's Programme program takes 4 full-time semesters to complete and carries 120 credits. The last semester is dedicated to the master’s thesis.
Tampere University offers a limited number of partial scholarships as well as an early bird discount to support fee-paying students.
Tampere University tuition fee scholarships
The Tampere University tuition fee scholarship is an exclusive opportunity awarded to a select number of the best-performing applicants. It is a highly selective scholarship; in total, only individual Tampere University scholarships are awarded to exceptionally qualified applicants. Scholarships are not awarded in all programmes.
Tampere University tuition fee scholarships awarded at admission cover 50% of the tuition fees for the programme duration.
Early bird offer
The early bird offer is available to all fee-paying students who have not been awarded a Tampere University tuition fee scholarship upon admission. The early bird offer gives a €2,000 reduction on the programme tuition fee during the first year of studies.
Students may take advantage of the early bird offer by accepting the offered study place and paying the reduced first-year tuition fee within two weeks after receiving information on admission.
This offer is valid only for the first year of studies.
In addition to these offers available at admission, students who complete a Bachelor's degree at Tampere University will be eligible to receive a €2,000 reduction on their tuition fee for the first year of Master's degree studies at Tampere University, provided they graduate from their Bachelor's programme within three academic years.
How to apply for scholarships?
To be considered for Tampere University Scholarships, you must apply for the scholarship as part of your application for admission during the application period for admission. You will apply for Tampere University Scholarships with the same online application you use to apply for admission at Studyinfo.fi.
All application information you submit in your application for admission at Studyinfo.fi, including your educational documents, is available for the admissions committee evaluating your scholarship application. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of overall academic assessment, in which all application information and educational documents, as well as the scholarship application letter (if applicable), are taken into consideration and can be decisive. The decision on the scholarship will be communicated to you together with information on admission.
The early bird offer is available without a separate application to all fee-paying students who have not been awarded a Tampere University tuition fee scholarship.
The majority of professional architects in Finland work in architecture firms or as private entrepreneurs, but also the public sector is a significant employer. Traditionally architects in Finland have mainly worked in architectural design. The scope of the profession has since expanded considerably to include, for example, environmental issues, real estate management, education and research, and the culture sector. The focus of design tasks has shifted from new construction to the multiple challenges of renovation. More and more architects are working as urban planners, as experts employed by companies, the government, institutions, and organizations, or in education and research. The Master’s Programme in Architecture prepares future architects to pursue a wide range of career opportunities.
Qualification
The degree obtained upon completion of the Master’s Programme in Architecture is an architect’s professional degree that corresponds to the Finnish professional degree of "arkkitehti" and qualifies you to work as an architect in Finland and the European Union by the relevant laws and decrees. The degree satisfies the criteria set forth in the 2005/36/EC EU Directive and is listed among automatically recognized European degrees.
Co-operation with other parties
In addition to studies in one’s programme, students may take full advantage of the teaching offered by the Tampere higher education community ranging from technical to vocational studies in various fields.
Further study opportunities
The Master’s in Architecture confers eligibility to apply for admission to doctoral studies. MSc (Arch) graduates may seek admission to the Doctoral Programme in the Built Environment which leads to the degree of Doctor of Science in Architecture, which is equivalent to a Ph.D. in many other countries.