The Architecture Major
The Architecture Major (studio-based)
14 classes required
The required classes are broken down into four categories: studio, lectures seminars and workshops, senior courses, and the specialization. To track your progress for the Architecture major please refer to the Architecture Major Worksheet and The Sample Sequence of Courses for the Architecture Major.
Studio Requirement – 4 Courses
• Architectural Design: Systems and Materials
• Architectural Design: Environments and Mediations
• Advanced Architectural Design I
• Advanced Architectural Design II
Lectures, Seminars, and Workshops Requirement – 5 Courses
• Modern Architecture in the World
• Architectural Elective: History
• Architectural Elective: Society, Environment, and the Global
• Architectural Elective: Design, Media, and Technology
• Architectural Elective
Senior Courses Requirement – 2 Courses
• Senior Seminar
• Elective Architecture seminar (another Senior Seminar in the Department, Advanced Architectural Research and Design, or Independent Research)
Specialization – 3 Courses
All majors are asked to complement their work with a thematic unit (three courses) called the "specialization." Each student develops a specific specialization that broadens their architectural studies in one of the following areas or combination of areas: History, Society, Environment, Global, Design, Media, and Technology. Courses may be taken from across various departments. All majors, in consultation with their advisers, will develop a short (100 word) description of their specialization and advisers will approve their course selections. Students can request and develop other areas of specialization with adviser approval.
Graduation Requirements
The major also requires that students submit a portfolio and a writing sample before graduation. The design portfolio includes representative work from all design studios and the writing sample is a paper or essay from a senior level architecture or architecture-related course. Final submissions are archived in the department, the portfolios are displayed at the end of the year show, and both are used to award graduation honors.