The two-year structure of SAC’s programme is sequential where the second year builds on the content of the first year. The goals and content of the programme takes on its specific form through a series of units referred to as teaching modules. Throughout the two years, these modules cover specific areas of study, often building sequentially on one another and reflecting the progressive structure of the overall programme.

SAC’s programme content is organised on the basis of two sub-categorisations of the modules. These are Module Sets and Module Groups. A Module Set is a collection of modules that are disciplinary or thematically identical or closely related. For instance, all modules in history and theory make up one Module Set. A Module Group consists of modules from different Module Sets that form a thematic collection and address a particular task or phase during the study. The programme consists of seven Module Sets. These are:

• history and theory;
• technical skills and techniques;
• architectural design;
• lecture series and public events;
• research;
• material and structural systems studies;
• complimentary training.

Thus the Module Sets comprise a library from which the Module Groups are composed. The academic content in each year is structured more or less in a consecutive series of singular modules or Module Groups. Occasionally temporal overlap between modules and/or Module Groups may occur insofar as this does not present a basic conflict in the programme and results in a too large workload.

The first year consists of a series of teaching modules that are common to all. The content and structure of the first year equips the students with the ability to flourish in their chosen specialisation during the second year. The first year also introduces the students to the basic aspects of the three specialisations and thus prepares them for making their choice towards the end of the year. It focuses particularly on the following:

• Introduction to Research and Experiments
• Modelling and Design Strategies
• Advanced Architectural Modelling
• Architectural Research and Design

(for more details on the first year)

The second year has a few modules common to all but otherwise consists of teaching modules specific to the respective specialisations. The Master Degree Thesis is the final component of the programme culminating each student’s studies. For the Master Degree, students in the respective specialisations must demonstrate that they can produce a mature, state-of-the-art and highly personal project whose propositions are bolstered by their own individual experiments and practical and theoretical research. In this sense the thesis propositions must be discursive showcasing what the students have learned within the programme. Each thesis consists of:

• Thesis Project (which serves as ‘proof of concept’)
• Complimentary Thesis Project
• Thesis Paper

(for more details on the second year)

Both first and second year see the core of the work undertaken structured through a series of thematic Module Groups. These are collections of modules drawn from the technical skills and techniques Module Set, the architectural design Module Set and the research Module Set. Each Module Group addresses a specific theme or task to which the individual modules in the group contribute to the training of the students and their respective thesis development. Modules from the other Module Sets support the core work undertaken in the thematic Module Groups.