Building Science (MBS)

The Chase L. Leavitt Graduate Building Science program in the USC School of Architecture is leading the transition to carbon neutral, equitable and resilient design practice while simultaneously raising the bar for design excellence. It creates leaders in architectural technology - the intricacies of structure, environmental controls, sustainability, materials and methods, façade design, wellness, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), BIM, and digital technologies. Students are strongly encouraged through classwork or thesis to participate in zero energy building design and learning about strategies of building decarbonization. Our students have participated in summer internships at noted firms, won design competitions, and published papers in prestigious journals and peer-reviewed conference proceedings. Our graduates go on to become building science consultants, specialists in architecture firms, government advisors, owners of their own companies, and PhD students for those wishing to continue into teaching.

Some of the great innovators of our field are either graduates or faculty associated with our program. The confluence of an outstanding faculty, dedicated students, an exceptional curricular structure, good facilities and a long history of collaborative scholarly achievement creates an unparalleled academic home for those interested in cutting-edge research and technological innovation. We are a global leader in architectural technology education - the intricacies of structure, environmental controls, sustainability, materials and methods, and computing, with a special strength in façade research.

The Master of Building Science curriculum encourages “breadth with depth,” providing students with a solid platform of core knowledge that they can then amplify through their individual research and thesis projects. Electives allow students to stretch in a variety of directions, both within the field and beyond into the related disciplines of heritage conservation, landscape architecture, and architecture and overall to achieve a mastery of topics related to building science. We also encourage innovative student studies such as machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence. The final achievement of the program is a thesis research project that is based on the student’s interests and is crafted with the advice of a faculty committee that mentors the work.