Bachelor of Arts - Architectural Design

Grounded in environmental design, the Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Design (BA-ARH-D) degree provides a strong undergraduate education while allowing the student to experience and gain skills in architectural design, art, architectural, and urban history and theory, fundamentals of sustainability, materials, building construction and structures, as well as advanced design representation tools. To study the world through the architectural lens is an opportunity to examine the culture through the spaces and buildings that people create.

Undergraduate students will meet the following student performance criteria:

Conceptual Thinking and Process

• Communicate architectural concept verbally and in writing
• Articulate and extend architectural concept through diagrams
• Develop a rigorous material logic for model-making to test ideas
• Produce diagrams indicating critical analyses of relevant precedent buildings or the built environment recognizing the significance to the discipline of architecture
• Develop a design identity which synthesizes critical thought, architectural intent, and urban design strategies by developing decision-making criteria substantiated by research

Fundamental Design & Drawing and Making

• Develop criteria to generate and evaluate an architectural order and formal language
• Develop architectural proposals sensitive to the site context in scale and use based on research
• Produce architectural drawings with appropriate drawing conventions to convey spatial qualities and design intent

Presentation Skills

• Clearly explain and defend design projects in verbal presentations
• Create presentation boards, slides, and/or printed materials which exhibit logical sequencing and a hierarchy of information

Leadership and Community

• Demonstrate a commitment to community building and social equity through programming and organization of an architectural project
• Demonstrate sensitivity to diverse viewpoints of user groups in the design of a building

Integrated Design

• Conduct a user & programmatic analysis
• Communicate analyses of the urban and environmental conditions of a site with clear graphic devices
• Integrate structural systems into the design of a building
• Produce technical documentation describing the integration of architecture and building systems
• Accommodate accessibility and life safety requirements in the design of a building

*Note App Fee Waiver in effect for ApplyBoard to reduce the application fee to $50*