Architectural Studies

Architecture is the art and science of the built environment: buildings, groups of buildings, communities, and their surroundings. As a profession, it is an art, science, and business with careers available in private firms, government, theater and film, industrial corporations, manufacturing, design, planning, public and private institutions, academia, and in architectural research.

The School of Architecture + Art fosters a natural and effective mentoring relationship between faculty and students. Courses take a balanced approach to both the art and science of architecture, embrace environmental sustainability and resiliency, and allows students to develop their own visions as designers.

The Architectural Studies major is a four-year pre-professional program that prepares students for the Norwich one-year (plus one summer), NAAB accredited Master of Architecture program.  It is an introduction to the profession, where students learn vital technical, artistic, design, leadership and communication skills. 

The architecture major will study in a studio environment that encourages creativity, critical thinking, independent learning, and the exploration of ideas through hands-on making. The studio environment in some ways resembles a large architectural office with 10 to 15 students assigned to one faculty member. The small size encourages both the exchange of ideas and intense effort.  Studio encourages personal responsibility, teamwork, a sense of community, and a commitment to working on real-world problems. The integration of design build studios, as well as close collaboration between our technical courses and design studios, creates an education deeply rooted in practical solutions and technical invention. All students majoring in Architecture are required to spend a semester or summer studying abroad, which can most easily be accommodated at Norwich University’s CityLAB:Berlin, Germany.

Design+ Build: For over 20 years, students have been addressing the local community needs through the design and construction of full-scale projects.  Since 2011, we have produced 8 different affordable housing prototypes for northern New England's climate, construction methods, and communities.  In addition, we have designed and built a day-camp and classroom building, a passive solar recreational facility, a mobile solar-powered geology lab, three outdoor classrooms, and a mobile classroom, design gallery, and resource center for the Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

We offer our students the education necessary for the practice of architecture and art in their fullest sense:  to design, make, and build in a way that embodies cultural meaning, employs technology wisely, and contributes to social and environmental justice. To this end, we seek to instill in students the core values of comprehensive knowledge, holistic awareness, continual innovation, active cooperation, and ethical responsibility through a balanced curriculum comprising observation, analysis, exploration, iteration, and synthesis, grappling throughout with abstract as well as concrete material, intellectual as well as hands-on experience. 

We endeavor to contribute to the making of meaning and the meaning of making.

Goals

Students  (majors and minors) of the Architecture Program will:

• Be respected and recognized for technical competence in the creation of solutions that balance sustainability, resiliency, and societal and economic issues.

• Acquire a range of capabilities that can be used at different scales of architecture projects, including residential design, small and large institutional project design, civic projects, and urban planning projects.

• Help their communities by advocating and implementing good design principles at a broad range of scales.

• Communicate to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Actively engage in continuing education throughout life.

• Be recognized for their leadership skills and their abilities to work with all people.

Careers for this Major

• Private architectural firms

• Commercial, industrial, and retail design

• Facilities management

• Real estate and development

• Engineering

• Sales and manufacturing

• Government

• Industrial corporations

• Public and private institutions

• Academia
   

Accreditation

Combined, the bachelor's and master's programs form a five-year professional degree accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), www.naab.org, 1101 Connecticut Ave NW #410, Washington, DC 20036, phone, 202-783-2007.

Residential programs admission. There are no additional criteria to declare this major.