Department of Architecture
School of Architecture and Allied Arts
Undergraduate degrees: B.Arch.
Blueprint to Success
In the School of Architecture and Allied Arts (AAA), you’ll learn about design of the built environment, help communities grow and change, and take responsibility for sustainable development. Through the multi-disciplinary structure represented by the departments and programs comprising the AAA school, you’ll be part of a diverse, learning community. Within the school, you can focus on architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, historic preservation, and planning, public policy, and management, as well as related programs in art, digital arts, product design, art history, and arts and administration.
The Department of Architecture offers rigorous undergraduate professional degree programs in architecture and interior architecture, as well as graduate professional and post-professional degree programs. As an advanced student, you may complete your final studio in Portland during your fifth year. You can take advantage of Portland’s urban setting and proximity to many of the region’s leading design firms. You’ll have access to some of the nation’s most talented faculty, excellent facilities, international programs, and a wide scope of educational opportunities.
Resources available on site include the AAA Library and Visual Resources Collection, as well as the Portland Architecture Library. You’ll have access to high quality digital output printers, a model shop, computer labs, and the Materials Resource Center.
You’ll not only have access to highly regarded faculty, but the opportunity to practice your skills in international settings. Several 12-credit study abroad programs are open to to you—in Macerata and Rome, Italy (architecture); Kyoto, Japan (landscape architecture and architecture); Oira, Italy (historic preservation); and Finland (architecture). The school also works with the Danish International Study Program in architecture and urban design, facilitating student travel to Copenhagen. You might also choose to participate in an exchange program in Stuttgart, Germany.
Dean Frances Bronet is an architect, an engineer, and a strong advocate for students. She encourages student leadership and active participation. For example, the Ecological Design Center sponsors a major ecological design arts conference, Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability (HOPES), each spring. Another student group, the Associated Students for Historic Preservation, publish a national journal that showcases the best student papers. Other groups lead community design charettes and join in the local arts community in unique and inspiring ways.
Department of Architecture
Architecture is about learning to make physical changes to our surroundings that enhance the quality of the built environment and our experience of life. This broad purpose includes providing shelter and environmental protection with the highest standards for energy efficiency and sustainable architecture, designing appropriate settings for human activities, and creating forms that are aesthetically pleasing and supportive of social well-being and environmental health.
The Department of Architecture at the UO offers a large number of special topic courses, with focus areas in a variety of concentrations and a robust program of visiting architects from around the world, who visit campus to lecture and teach. The department’s exceptional faculty bring strengths to a wide variety of areas that include:
- structures and construction technology
- energy-conscious design and sustainability
- housing and urban design
- design process and theory
- computer-aided design
- lighting and lighting design
- environment and behavior
- vernacular architecture
To gain admission to the UO’s five-year architecture program, you must complete a departmental application in addition to the university application for admission. You must also have a portfolio that includes samples of your creative work, a personal essay, letters of recommendation, and academic transcripts that meet the department’s own standards of academic excellence. The department deadline is January 15.
Points of Interest
- The Department of Architecture offers accredited degree programs in architecture and interior architecture at both the undergraduate and graduate degree levels
- The Interior Architecture Program consistently ranks in the nation’s top 10 among accredited programs, the architecture program in the top 15
- The Historic Preservation Program is the only program of its kind in the western U.S.
- The Department of Landscape Architecture’s program brings ecological perspectives into local and regional landscape planning and design
- The Planning, Public Policy and Management Department prepares students to manage community development, health care, disaster preparation, or social and environmental planning
Sample Courses
- Architectural Design I, II is an introductory design studio sequence that introduces fundamental concepts and considerations in environmental design. Through design exercises and studio critique, you’ll develop basic knowledge and skills to continue with intermediate studios and professional course work
- Seminars cover a variety of topics, including the following recent offerings: Case Studies in Sustainable Design, The Façade, The Window, and Theory of Urban Design
- Architectural Contexts: Place and Culture uses historical and contemporary examples to help students develop a deeper understanding of how the design of buildings interacts with the physical and cultural contexts of human traditions, landscapes, settlements, cities and suburbs
- Introduction to Architecture examines places, design procedures, and the use of architectural principles. Open to nonmajors as a general education satisfying course
Student Work
Alumna Megan Espinoza combined her studies in architecture with a historic preservation minor. Her interests led her to a summer internship in Alaska, where she documented the measurements of a power plant in the abandoned mining town of Kennecott for the National Park Service.
PPPM alumna Kate Lenzser helped distribute funds to a local charity with her American philanthropy class during her freshman year. In her junior year, she worked with an award-winning student team on the Lane County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Selected Faculty Work
Associate Professor Ihab Elzeyadi’s architecture research focuses on the relationship between people, buildings, and healthy environments, His research also includes post-occupancy evaluations of work environment, lighting and daylighting guidelines, and adaptive re-use of historical buildings.
An assistant professor in PPPM, Jessica Greene teaches about healthy communities and studies walkability measures and neighborhood safety and their affect on children’s overall physical activity and obesity.
Architecture Assistant Professor Nico Larco is leading designBridge, a student-run design/build program that focuses on designing and constructing structures for community organizations.