The thoughts about ‘doctorateness’ in the creative fields that are put forward in this essay take architectural design as their discursive setting. However, they may also apply to other disci- plines in the creative fields that deal with the design of concrete objects. The essay focuses on Switzerland with its particular architectural and educational conditions, but, again, the obser- vations could well be valid elsewhere as well. The core competence of the architect – to design – forms the conceptual framework for the proposal here for two different types of doctoral programs in architecture. One of them is an extrapolation of design education at Masters level, with the doctorate leading to highly advanced expertise in dealing with complex architectural design tasks, resulting in the creation of a kind of ‘super-master’ designer; the other establishes the qualifications for an ‘expert theorist’ in architectural design. Both of these types of doctoral work are strongly oriented towards the creation of design knowledge that has a ‘practice-oriented’ focus, in the sense of providing knowledge about designing as and objectively appraisable form of added value within architecture.