Architecture
Welcome
Prospective students applying to Barnard College, Columbia College, or The School of General Studies who have questions about our courses and department are encouraged to review our Prospective Students pages.
For questions about the admissions requirements and process, please get in touch with the relevant admissions offices:
Columbia College or The School of Engineering
The School of General Studies
Barnard College
Current students who have questions about our course offerings or our programs of study in architecture are encouraged to review our Resources for Current Students and Frequently Asked Questions pages. Additionally, current students are welcome to schedule appointments with our faculty advisors to learn more about our courses and programs of study.
Apply for Spring 2026 Architecture Courses
Many courses offered by our department require an application.To receive full consideration for admission to a course with an application requirement, you must fill out the course application in advance and also join the online course waitlist during the early registration period.
Please note that for the Spring 2026 semester, our department will only review applications and process admissions during the following weeks, with priority given to those who both apply and join the waitlist by November 24th.
November 24-28, 2025
January 12-16, 2026
Admission decisions are made at the discretion of the department and instructor. If a student is admitted from the waitlist, their enrollment will automatically update in Vergil. Students who remain on the waitlist after the initial round should wait to see if they are admitted during the subsequent admission window.
After January 16, students who are still on the waitlist should attend the first class session and speak with the instructor if they wish to be considered for any available spots that open up during the add/drop period.
Events
Read About B+C|A Faculty, Students, and Alumni
In Ignacio G. Galán’s new book, the Barnard professor explores how furniture helped shape fascist ideology in Italy.
The woman dubbed the “Rosa Parks of Architecture” began her career path at Barnard.
Feeling at Home: Hazel Lu’s Journey with Architecture
For Hazel Lu, an architecture major who is also involved in graphic design and videography, creativity helped her to find new modes of expression.
The Space Where it All Starts
"The metal double doors click open. I step into 116B Lewisohn Hall, down the main aisle, where rows of desks are housed in an entirely white room: white-painted exposed brick walls, white plaster ceilings, and white linoleum floors. Inside, students and a professor critique one student’s architectural model. Huddled together, they squint, furrow their brows, and tilt their heads to the left and to the right. The way they all lean into the discussion draws me in and makes me want to join.
“The desk,” Professor Karen Fairbanks, chair of Barnard and Columbia’s Architecture Department, explains to me in a later interview, “is the beginning of our relationship with our students.” Having taught at Columbia and Barnard for over 21 years, Fairbanks has watched and worked with hundreds of students who, hunched over their desk spaces, toil over models and develop their minds as architects."
Barnard and Columbia Architecture’s New Year Show turns campus inside out
"Technical drawings, sketches, collages, and 3D models currently line the fourth and fifth floors of Barnard’s Diana Center and Louise McCagg Gallery as Barnard and Columbia Architecture transformed the space into a dynamic hotspot of architectural design for its annual New Year Show. Exhibitions of campus turned inside out, indoor-outdoor pigeon habitats, and wearable architecture are only a small sample of the vast repertoire of student work on display."
