Graduate Certificate in Hospitality Design

Plan Description

Hospitality Design Leaders from Las Vegas based architecture firms (responsible for designing most of the resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and countless other national/international projects) are collaborating with UNLV School of Architecture (SoA) to  offer a graduate concentration in Hospitality Design/Entertainment Architecture. This concentration allows students to engage and learn from industry leaders and investigate the issues that shape this dynamic international design industry. For qualified  applicants including international students, practitioners in disciplines related to hospitality design, and students already holding an accredited architecture degree, the SoA would like to announce the HD Certificate.  

The HD Certificate program is an intensive one year course of study. To earn the certificate, students must engage in design/research under the guidance of faculty with diverse expertise and professionals with several years of experience, successfully defend their work before a panel of design critics, and demonstrate their ability to generate original material relevant to the profession and/or academia by completing a publishable work.

Plan Admission Requirements

Application deadlines

Applications available on the UNLV Graduate College website.

Hospitality Design (HD) Certificate applicants must meet the following minimum qualifications for consideration of admission to the HD Certificate program: an undergraduate degree, a strong design or research background, and professional or internship experience in the hospitality industry.

Applicants must submit a portfolio of original work (specify exact role on work generated in collaborative settings) and a one page letter of intent that describes their design and/or research agenda to be developed. Each year, the HD Concentration’s coordinator must receive student applications to the HD Certificate Program by July 1 in order to conduct the admissions process and make preparations for design-research proposals.

All domestic and international applicants must review and follow the Graduate College Admission and Registration Requirements.

Students are accepted into a degree program as described in the Graduate Catalog. The faculty and corresponding sub-disciplines and sub-plans within the described programs are subject to change at any time.

Plan Requirements

Total Credits Required: 21

Course Requirements

Required Courses – Credits: 9

AAE 775 - Tourist Facility Design and Development 

AAE 789 - Architecture Research Studio 

Elective Course – Credits: 3

Complete 3 credits of advisor-approved elective coursework.

Hospitality Elective Course – Credits: 3

Complete 3 credits from the following list of courses, or another advisor-approved course:

HOA 739 - Psychology of Hospitality Marketing 

HOA 797 - Philosophy of Science in Hospitality Research 

HOA 574 - Seminar in Hotel Research 

SLS 718 - Programming for Sport and Leisure Service Organizations 

Project Design Course – Credits: 6

AAE 790 - Professional Project Design 

Certificate Requirements 

1. Completion of a minimum of 21 credit hours with a minimum GPA of 3.00.
2. Ideally, students take one elective in the fall semester and one elective in the spring while they are engaged in independent design research projects focusing on hospitality design/entertainment architecture issues.
3. The Project Design course will be conducted as a design research project guided by the Hospitality Design Concentration Coordinator. The culminating experience must include successful defense of design/research presentation to the student’s critics and the submission of the work (or component thereof) to a refereed conference, journal, or equivalent.

Plan Certificate Completion Requirements

1. The student must submit all required forms to the Graduate College and then apply for graduation in MyUNLV by the appropriate deadline.
2. The student must successfully complete and defend his/her final project.