Ph.D. Program

Overview

Overview

The Illinois School of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture are two of the oldest and most distinguished professional degree programs in North America. Both benefit from internationally distinguished faculties and from one of the largest academic libraries in the world, with more than ten million volumes and state of the art electronic access to archival and database information.

The Doctor of Philosophy degree is conferred upon qualified candidates in recognition of the fulfillment of the program requirements, command of specific areas of specialization, and an original contribution to the discipline. The dissertation, the culminating requirement of the Ph.D. degree program, establishes the candidate’s mastery of the research methods of his/her specialized field and his/her ability to address a major intellectual problem and arrive at a successful conclusion.

This degree is appropriate for those seeking careers in research and teaching or in roles in government or professional consultation, all of which require depth in specialization and experience in research.

Admission requirements include the submission of academic transcripts, three letters of recommendation from individuals with whom the applicant has studied, GRE exam results, and English language proficiency tests, when required by the Graduate College. For more information, see Ph.D. Program Handbook below.

Specializations

History and Theory

History and Theory are critical components of both Architecture and Landscape Architecture, informing practice and education in both fields. They also, however, stand-alone as independent disciplines that contribute to our understanding of human history. At the University of Illinois, histories and theories of the built environment are regarded as essential contributions to scholarship in the humanities. As such, our students and faculty engage in dialogue with a wide range of historians and theoreticians across the campus, contributing spatial and visual modes of inquiry. The concerns of this option encompass the evolution of the entire cultural landscape, including the work of architects, landscape architects, and planners, but also with builders, craftspeople, and the ordinary men and women who create the human environment. The study of architectural and landscape history continually incorporates new research and methods derived from its essential links to other humanistic, social scientific, and technical disciplines. Some students in the History and Theory concentration elect to pursue the Graduate Minor in Heritage Studies.

Health and Wellbeing

Students focused on Health and Wellbeing investigate the relationship between the built environment and human mental and physical health across a range of environment types from housing to education to healthcare to public space. Students work at a range of scales from the micro to the macro. Recent research includes health equity and neighborhoods; housing and health; health and aging; experience, perception and identity; Daylighting, circadian rhythm, and sleep disorders, and supportive environments for vulnerable populations. Students employ quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches in their research.

Technology and Environment

The option of Technology explores and studies the tools, methods, and theories to improve our surroundings and building environments. This option presents a fertile field of research, which has a direct impact on design, management and construction, human comfort, economics, materials, and structural systems. Technology encompasses several areas of study:

• Building Science and Environmental Technology deals with the science and theory of thermal, luminous, acoustical environments as they relate to building design and human comfort, and environmental control systems;
• Ecological Design focuses on research related to the design of human-constructed environments as they relate to ecosystem health, human health and comfort, and restoration, remediation, and preservation of earth’s natural resources;
• Structures, Materials, and Construction deals with the strength and properties of materials, structures, construction methods, and business practice and management;
• Information and Digital Technology deals with the development of new methodologies of communication and design management, integration and execution of design, methods of visualization, representation, and experience of designed environments.

Urbanism

Urbanism students focus on the city and its complex spatial productions at the intersection of social, political, cultural, technological, and economic realms. Investigations may encompass the historical or contemporary city in the global north and/or global south and employ a mixed qualitative and quantitative methods approach.

Architecture Faculty

The following instructors currently serve as PhD Advisors. Learn more about their areas of research on their faculty pages:

• Abbas Aminmansour, PhD.
• Benjamin Bross, PhD.
• Yazmin Crespo Claudio, PhD.
• Didem Ekici, PhD.
• Niloufar Emami, PhD.
• Kathryn E. Holliday, PhD.
• Sudarshan Krishnan, PhD.
• John C. Stallmeyer, PhD.
• Rick Strand, PhD.
• Yun Kyu Yi, PhD.

Landscape Architecture Faculty

• Brian Deal, PhD.
• David L. Hays, PhD.
• Pollyanna Rhee, PhD.
• William C. Sullivan, PhD.
• Kathryn E. Holliday, PhD.