School of Architecture and Planning

The School of Architecture and Planning’s core activity is the provision of an excellent learning environment towards accredited professional degrees in 

• architecture 
• planning
• postgraduate qualification in related fields such as housing, urban design, sustainable and energy efficient cities and wider urban studies

The School also supports research degrees at masters and PhD level. Two research entities are located with the School:

• Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES)
• NRF SARChI Chair programme in Development Planning and Modelling.

Through its teaching, research, creative work, community engagement and public debate, the School of Architecture & Planning has a large and positive influence on our society. For over 80 years, it has responded to the changing cities, communities and built environment in South Africa and to the rapidly globalizing, and urbanised world.

Young students who are serious about a career in architecture and planning will do well to study with us. Those seeking to build on their existing degrees and careers will find opportunities for specialization as well as research enquiry within our degree offering.

Our location in the heart of metropolitan Johannesburg gives our students and researchers an ‘urban laboratory’ for

• exploration and analysis
• problem solving and innovation
• creative engagement and design
• reflection and theorizing and   
• critical engagement and debate.

Many of our graduates have progressed to become esteemed professionals while others are leading academics at universities across the globe.

Architects and planners as well as people with the interdisciplinary specialisations we offer are essential in our 21st century world as we work hard to develop living and working environments

• in which all are included,
• of which all people can be proud,
• in which they can move around with ease, and
• from which they can access the opportunities cities have to offer.

The Architecture degrees (BAS, BAS (Hon) and MArch (Prof)) are together validated by the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP), and through SACAP they are validated by the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA). The Planning Degrees (BSc (URP) and MSc (DP)) are each accredited by the South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN). The School is currently exploring accreditation with the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), the only agency that currently undertakes some form of international accreditation.

Through the School of Architecture and Planning (as well as the Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute - GCSRI), Wits University is an organisational member of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). Read more