Research doctorate (PhD)
Doctoral Program in Architecture and Sciences of the City (EDAR)
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) · Architecture section, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) · Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- Official award
- Doctoral program in Architecture and Sciences of the City (EDAR)
- Pathway
- ResearchStated for Switzerland
- Format
- On campusCompletion of a thesis typically takes 48 months
- Tuition
- Not published
About this program
EPFL doctoral school programme with more than thirty laboratories covering sciences of the city, history/theory/heritage and research in/by design.
- Subject
- Architecture
- Department
- Architecture section, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC)
- Awarding body
- Not stated on the pages we checked
Qualification and professional pathway
Pathway is classified only from a statement on an official page. A degree title such as B.Arch, BA, BSc, M.Arch or MSc does not decide it, and no degree by itself grants permission to practise as an architect.
- Degree level
- Research doctorate (PhD)A research doctorate focused on architecture (PhD, Dr.-Ing. and equivalents).
- Pathway
- Research degreeA research degree. It does not qualify anyone to practise as an architect.
- Why we classify it this way
- Doctoral programme completed by a thesis.“Completion of a thesis typically takes 48 months:”Source
- Previous architecture degree required
- Not published
- Applicants without an architecture degree
- Not published
Accreditation, validation and recognition
Recorded for this program and campus, with the authority’s role. Institutional recognition, degree-awarding authority, program accreditation, professional validation and eligibility toward registration are different things; none of them is full professional registration.
Verified in official recordswissuniversities (list of Swiss higher education institutions accredited under the Higher Education Act, HEdA)Institutional recognitionFull statusCH
Scope: Institution-wide listing of EPFL as an accredited Swiss university; not a programme accreditation or professional validation.
Study structure
- Delivery
- On campusTaught at the listed campus.
- Study mode
- Not published
- Duration
- Completion of a thesis typically takes 48 months
- Intakes
- Not published
- Campus
- EPFL (Lausanne)
Teaching language
- Taught in
- Not stated on the pages we checked
- English
- English teaching not verifiedAn English-language website does not mean a program is taught in English.
- Differences by campus or pathway
- UNCONFIRMED: the EDAR pages print no thesis language; fr/en follows EPFL's general statement that courses are given in French and/or English depending on level.
Admissions
- Portfolio
- Not published
- Interview
- Not published
- Documents
- Three letters of recommendation; only complete applications are analysed.
Research degree details
- Department
- EDAR, Doctoral School (EPFL)
- Research themes
- Sciences of the City
- History, Theory, and Heritage
- Research in/by Design
- Finding a supervisor
- Applicants find a thesis director during the qualifying year.
- Research proposal
- Research plan defended at the candidacy exam.
- Deadlines
- Applications accepted three times a year (January 15, April 30, September 15).
Fees and costs
Original currency is authoritative. Each price keeps its basis (per year, per credit, whole program), academic year and student category, and is never converted. Annual tuition and whole-program tuition are different figures.
The institution does not publish tuition for this program on the pages we checked. Ask for current fees, what they include and whether studio, materials, printing, software, equipment and field-trip costs are extra.
Sources and verification
Not published on the program’s source pages: tuition, full-time or part-time options, intakes, portfolio requirement, whether a previous architecture degree is required.
Sources and how this was checked
Last checked 19 October 2026. Each fact carries a verbatim quote that is re-checked against the live page. Research methodology.
Sources (checked 19 October 2026)