The Graduate School of Architecture (GSA) at the University of Johannesburg was founded in 2016 by Prof Lesley Lokko, and we are proud to be Africa’s only dedicated postgraduate architecture school. Built on the principle of Transformative Pedagogy, we promote diversity in perspectives, methods, and contexts across architectural teaching, research, and practice. Our SACAP-accredited Unit System Africa programme brings together Bachelor of Architecture (Honours) and Master’s students into small thematic teaching and research Units, where students from different years collaborate under the guidance of Unit leaders and tutors.
We run the Advanced Design Research (ADR) programme, which includes the Master’s in Architecture (Design, Theory and Practice), a PhD in Art and Design, and a practice-based MPhil in Architecture. Under the leadership of Prof Mark Raymond, we have further emphasised Transformative Practice, encouraging inclusive, contextually grounded architectural work across Africa and beyond.
Through our innovative teaching model, research programmes, and public lectures, we have become an influential centre for architectural education and thinking, with our graduates contributing to practice, research, and creative fields both locally and internationally.
Academic Programmes
■ BArch (Hons) ■ MArch
■ MArch (DTP) ■ PHD ■ DPhil
Join the GSA’s mission
by supporting our Transformative Futures
The Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg was founded to do more than teach architecture – it was founded to transform it.
Over the past decade, the GSA has expanded access to architectural education for students historically excluded by race, gender, and income. At the same time, it has redefined architectural pedagogy itself – questioning inherited canons, unsettling imported assumptions, and re-rooting knowledge in African contexts.
Here, architecture is not taught as a fixed discipline, but explored as a living, evolving practice – shaped by climate, craft, community, infrastructure, and the complex realities of our cities and landscapes. The GSA operates as a living laboratory, where new ideas are tested, new forms of knowledge are produced, and new futures are imagined.
But this work is far from complete.
Transformative Futures is our commitment to the next decade – an invitation to build an architectural future that is grounded in place, driven by innovation, and committed to equity and justice.
