Program Description
- STEM Designated Program
Jefferson’s MS in Historic Preservation not only prepares graduates to preserve historic buildings and sites, but also to re-envision and re-purpose the past to serve present and future needs. The curriculum foregrounds adaptive reuse of historic structures as well as in-depth analysis through historical research and graphic documentation. Students develop skills fundamental to assess the condition and evolution of buildings and promote the ways historic structures order the urban fabric, contribute to healthy communities, and facilitate “place-making” as a catalyst for community revitalization. Students apply new and rapidly evolving digital technologies for managing, documenting and interpreting culturally significant structures and places.
Philadelphia, the first UNESCO World Heritage City in the US, a living laboratory of architectural styles and periods, offering a wealth of real-world projects and internships. Study Away Options—Spring semester studying preservation of Modernism at Bauhaus, Anhalt University, Dessau, Germany and research at Terragni Archives, Como Italy.
Customize study by selecting one of two tracks:
- Research and Documentation
- Preservation Design
Learning Goals/Outcomes
- Develop preservation protocols tailored to unique character of early and mid-century modern architecture
- Implement physical documentation and forensic analysis in the assessment of individual structures and sites as intrinsic to the current practice of architecture and preservation.
- Acquire competency in the application of analogue and digital techniques and software, particularly freehand sketching, constructed hand drawn drawings, model building, and CAD, 3-D modeling, LIDAR, Photogrammetry, and GIS.
- Assess and implement sustainable methods in the retrofitting of historic structures.
- Execute a holistic approach to preservation planning, as applied to the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and their role in urban regeneration via real world, community-based projects
- Evaluate preservation strategies, policies and methods as part of broad historic and social contexts
- Research, analyze, and compare preservation methodologies within a global context
- Apply economic and legal aspects of preservation to projects at multiple scales from micro to macro
- Support preservation as a model of embodied energy and as a sustainable solution to our environmental crisis via the adaptive reuse of historic structures
- Master archival research skills and digital technologies as applied to preservation.
Curriculum: 2 Year, 49 Credits
| Pre-Fall Semester | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Year 1 (based upon evaluation): | ||
| ARCH 602 | Visualization 1 | 3 |
| Credits | 3 | |
| First Year | ||
| MHP 602 | Uncovering the Past: Tools, Me | 3 |
| MHP 626 | Building Conservation | 3 |
| MHP 624 | Architectural Forensic and Doc | 3 |
| MHP 621 | Issues of Contemporary Preserv | 3 |
| MHP 603 | Rest & Rehab of Modernst Bldgs | 3 |
| ARCH 672 | American Architecture | 3 |
| GEOD 610 | Introduction to GIS | 3 |
| MHP 623 | Preservation Economics | 3 |
| Credits | 24 | |
| Second Year | ||
| MHP 605 | Preservation Thesis | 4 |
| MHP 620 | Thesis Preparation | 3 |
| MHP 622 | Adptv Reuse & Urb Revitlzn | 3 |
| ARCH 671 | Vernacular Architecture | 3 |
| Three Designated Electives | 9 | |
| SDN 601 | Princ & Methods of Sust Design | 3 |
| Credits | 25 | |
| Total Credits | 52 | |