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 Fall 2025 Architecture Courses
Many courses offered by our department require an application. To receive full consideration for admission, you must fill out the course application in advance and also join the online course waitlist during an early registration period.
For Fall 2025 courses, our department will accept applications on a rolling basis through the end of August. However, applications will only be reviewed and admissions decisions will be processed during the following periods, with priority given to those who apply and join our waitlists in April.
April 21-25, 2025
August 18-29, 2025
Admission is at the discretion of the department and instructor. If a student is admitted from the waitlist, their status will change to "Approved, " and they will be automatically moved from the waitlist to the class roster overnight.
After August 29th, any students who have not been admitted yet must attend the first class session and speak with the instructor if they wish to stay on the waitlist and be considered for any spots that open up.
Events
Read About B+C|A Faculty, Students, and Alumni
Community members tuned into a cross-disciplinary faculty panel discussion on climate politics, research, and debates.
The New Year brings a multidimensional roster of classes to Barnard students this spring.
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."
