Architecture research
Architecture is a subfield of Engineering. Science Explorer counts 44k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.
In short: both the process and product of planning, designing and construction.
- Research works
- 44k fractional, since 1950
- In the world top 10%
- 4.4k per year above
- Top-10% rate
- 10.1% share of its works in the world top 10%
- Topics
- 4
- Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
- -17% the tick is no change
- Largest producer
United States
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
What is Architecture research about, and what is growing?
By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Architectural Design, Digital Fabrication, Parametricism, Curriculum Development, Engineering Education, Architecture.
- Sustainable Development
- Architecture
- Curriculum Development
- Digital Fabrication
- Architectural Design
- Parametricism
- Engineering Education
- Urbanism
- Urban Planning
Size is the world's fractional works in 2021-25 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2011-15. Each links to the topic it comes from most.
All 9 words, with their numbers
- Architectural Design6,493◆ 1.01×2 topics
- Digital Fabrication5,842◆ 1.01×1 topic
- Parametricism5,842◆ 1.01×1 topic
- Curriculum Development2,148◆ 0.96×1 topic
- Engineering Education2,148◆ 0.96×1 topic
- Architecture1,487◆ 1.02×1 topic
- Urbanism1,487◆ 1.02×1 topic
- Sustainable Development651◆ 1.00×1 topic
- Urban Planning651◆ 1.00×1 topic
Which countries lead Architecture research?
On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, Germany and China rank highest in Architecture. By volume, the United States and Germany publish the most (2.4k and 585 works in 2022-now).
By research quality, 2022-now
- 1
United States #1 all time
0.97× citation excellence · 1.51× journals · 100% breadth
9.7% top 10% · 2.1k works
- 2
Germany #2 all time
1.14× citation excellence · 1.41× journals · 100% breadth
9.8% top 10% · 490 works
- 3
China #5 all time
1.19× citation excellence · 1.10× journals · 100% breadth
21.1% top 10% · 445 works
- 4
United Kingdom #3 all time
1.00× citation excellence · 1.42× journals · 100% breadth
14.5% top 10% · 337 works
- 5
Italy #10 all time
1.09× citation excellence · 0.65× journals · 100% breadth
8.6% top 10% · 461 works
- 6
Spain #6 all time
0.98× citation excellence · 0.99× journals · 100% breadth
7.2% top 10% · 263 works
- 7
India #18 all time
1.08× citation excellence · 0.44× journals · 100% breadth
9.5% top 10% · 232 works
- 8
Brazil #15 all time
0.61× citation excellence · 0.33× journals · 100% breadth
2.6% top 10% · 375 works
- 9
Türkiye #20 all time
1.23× citation excellence · 0.14× journals · 100% breadth
12.4% top 10% · 249 works
- 10
Russia #19 all time
0.86× citation excellence · 0.23× journals · 100% breadth
6.6% top 10% · 202 works
The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.
Of 11 countries ranked in Architecture. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.
All countries ranked in ArchitectureBy volume, 2022-now
- 1
United States
2.4k works
- 2
Germany
585 works
- 3
China
548 works
- 4
Italy
535 works
- 5
Brazil
495 works
- 6
United Kingdom
396 works
- 7
Spain
321 works
- 8
Türkiye
312 works
- 9
India
281 works
- 10
Russia
257 works
How concentrated that is
The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
Which institutions lead Architecture research?
Politecnico di Milano (Italy) ranks first in Architecture on research quality in 2022-now, followed by .
By research quality, 2022-now
- 1
Politecnico di Milano Italy · Milan · #14 all time
11.7% top 10% · 75 works
The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.
Of 1 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Architecture.
Top 100 Architecture institutionsBy volume, 2022-now
- 1
Politecnico di MilanoItaly
87 works
- 2
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
France
59 works
- 3
Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States
54 works
- 4
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulBrazil
45 works
- 5
Sapienza University of RomeItaly
45 works
- 6
Universidade de São PauloBrazil
45 works
- 7
Universidad Politécnica de MadridSpain
44 works
- 8
Purdue University West LafayetteUnited States
41 works
- 9
University College LondonUnited Kingdom
36 works
- 10
TU Wien
Austria
36 works
Who are the leading researchers in Architecture?
Counting only their work in Architecture, Achim Menges, Richard M. Felder and Carl W. Condit have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.
- 1
Achim Menges
Germany · #169,538 worldwide overall
32.1 of 72 papers here in the top 10%
- 2
Richard M. Felder
United States · #73,771 worldwide overall
17.2 of 27 papers here in the top 10%
- 3
Carl W. Condit
United States · #607,380 worldwide overall
12.8 of 33 papers here in the top 10%
- 4
Sheri Sheppard
United States · #638,696 worldwide overall
12.1 of 28 papers here in the top 10%
- 5
Robert E. Skelton
United States · #328,978 worldwide overall
11.2 of 24 papers here in the top 10%
- 6
Matthew Ohland
United States · #979,919 worldwide overall
15.0 of 46 papers here in the top 10%
- 7
Jan Knippers
Germany · #1,310,543 worldwide overall
14.3 of 34 papers here in the top 10%
- 8
Fabio Gramazio
Switzerland · #287,115 worldwide overall
11.2 of 27 papers here in the top 10%
- 9
Matthias Köhler
Switzerland · #490,512 worldwide overall
11.2 of 29 papers here in the top 10%
- 10
Mary Besterfield‐Sacre
United States · #632,894 worldwide overall
9.8 of 25 papers here in the top 10%
Ranked on their work in Architecture alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 121,670 ranked researchers with a paper here. Each paper counts once, so many strong papers outrank one famous one, and a long record of ordinary papers does not climb. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.
Top 100 Architecture researchersWhere is Architecture research done?
The largest centres of Architecture research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), São Paulo (Brazil), Istanbul (Türkiye) and Milan (Italy). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in San Luis Obispo.
Largest cities, 2022-now
Where it is the local speciality
- San Luis ObispoUS · 22.8 works26×
Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Architecture than the world average.
Architecture research by country
The best places for Architecture research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.
Where is the best place to study Architecture?
Among universities, judged by research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University College London and Georgia Institute of Technology score highest, combining standing in the field's ranking, citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.
Universities only. The score blends standing (50%), citation excellence (20%), size (15%), specialisation (5%), growth (5%), international reach (5%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise. Standing is the score in this field's institution ranking, three quarters over all time and a quarter 2022-now; excellence averages the two windows too. Four years alone undercount fields such as AI, where many conference and arXiv papers from 2022 on carry no affiliation in the data.
Every institution in Architecture, country by countryIs Architecture research growing?
Output in 2022-2025 was 17% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Real estate and construction management, Architecture and Computational Design and Architecture, Modernity, and Design.
The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.
Its share of all research
Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Architecture as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.051% in 2024.
Fractional works of Architecture over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.
How much of it reaches the world top 10%
Year by year.
Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.
Which topics inside it are moving
Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.
- Real estate and construction management+25%
- Architecture and Computational Design+22%
- Architecture, Modernity, and Design+20%
- Engineering Education and Pedagogy-61%
Growth in output from 2018-21 to 2022-25. Every topic is a page of its own.
What does Architecture include?
Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.
Share who leads Architecture
The leading institutions' badges1Each links to that institution's page and updates with every snapshot
Questions people ask
Where is the best place to study architecture?
Among universities, judged by research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University College London and Georgia Institute of Technology score highest, combining standing in the field's ranking, citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
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