The programs expanded and advanced during the administration of Thomas W. Mackesey who succeeded Clarke in 1950. He brought a number of outstanding faculty members to Cornell, actively developed the graduate component, helped initiate the visiting critic program, and launched interdisciplinary research in housing and urban development through the Center for Housing and Environmental Studies. In 1959 the College moved into its current home in Sibley Hall.

In the 1950s the architecture program defined itself as purely professional, but in the broadest sense. An architect was seen as an artist and an engineer, an administrator, and a coordinator of the work of experts in many fields. The program emphasized the architect’s obligation to society as well as to the client. Enrollment was restricted to sixty students per year in the architecture course, and thirty in the fine arts course.