Karen Nelson, Dean of Boston Architectural College. Image courtesy of BAC.

Archinect's Deans List is an interview series with the leaders of architecture schools, worldwide. The series profiles the school’s programs, pedagogical approaches, and academic goals, as defined by the dean–giving an invaluable perspective into the institution’s unique curriculum, faculty, and academic environment.

For our latest installment, and in conjunction with Archinect’s Spotlight on Boston, Archinect spoke with Karen Nelson, Dean of Boston Architectural College (BAC), one of just a handful of American universities that is accredited to offer an online Master of Architecture degree by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). 

In our conversation, Nelson highlights the history and specifics of BAC’s online masters program, the make up of the program’s student body, and how this unique academic offering has found increased relevance in recent weeks as distance learning and self-quarantining measures make online education a larger part of the experience of becoming an architect. 

For our readers who may not be familiar with Boston Architectural College, can you share some insight into the history and mission of the institution?

At the BAC School of Architecture, we educate students to become citizen architects who learn from faculty, from professionals, and from one another to change and sustain the city. We believe that architecture integrates personal expression, theoretical frameworks, and building technology, and that making and design practice - as tangible forms of applied research - accelerate change in society and in the professions.  Our community of students and educators work and build collectively – bringing together diverse personal identities and backgrounds to realize an interdisciplinary dialogue, critique, and transformation of place and the larger world.

The BAC has been recognized with distinction for its leadership role in educating an extraordinarily diverse student body to help bring about social equity through design – through the design of landscapes, of architecture, of interior architecture, of sustainable and historic spaces, and of spaces for human health. We continue to be at the forefront of learning from practice and academic study with guidance from our brilliant faculty members and splendid practitioners.  

In 2007, the BAC offered the first NAAB-accredited online track of the Master of Architecture with a low-residency intensive in Boston during the third week of the semester. In 2019, we rolled out an accredited entirely online track with a remote 8-day intensive.

One hundred and thirty years ago, the BAC began as a place of conversation about architecture and design. It became chartered as a club where all could join. After World War II, the club became a center.  And in 2006 it evolved into a college. 

The BAC’s Bachelor of Architecture certificate program was recognized and accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board as a first-professional degree in 1971. In 1996, the BAC began to offer first professional Master of Architecture and Master of Interior Design degrees. In the past fifteen years, we have added degree programs in Landscape Architecture and Design Studies (Sustainable Design, Historic Preservation, Design for Human Health, and, most recently, Real Estate). In 2007, the BAC offered the first NAAB-accredited online track of the Master of Architecture with a low-residency intensive in Boston during the third week of the semester. In 2019, we rolled out an accredited entirely online track with a remote 8-day intensive.

What is the overriding pedagogy of the program and how does the format of online/distance learning fit into that objective?

The college’s mission: The BAC provides excellence in design education emerging from practice and accessible to diverse communities.

The M. Arch, online track, grew out of our mission to make architectural education truly accessible. There is a community of learners who have earned pre-professional degrees and have begun working (and building lives) before they earned a professional degree. We designed our online track for this community - to help create a path towards licensure. Additionally, our M. Arch and B. Arch students are able to join the Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) to enable our students to take the Architect Registration Examination while they are still students.

The BAC’s educational model integrates learning from professional practice concurrently with academic study.  It is the only program in the nation to do so with an emphasis on qualitative assessment and evaluation alongside quantitative analysis.

The BAC’s educational model integrates learning from professional practice concurrently with academic study. It is the only program in the nation to do so with an emphasis on qualitative assessment and evaluation alongside quantitative analysis. Architecture students are required to work and learn in design firms for a minimum of 3,000 hours and an increasingly advanced set of competencies. 

Our pedagogy builds upon a cohort of students who are in the same studio with one another – first in the low residency model and then virtually studying and working together. We found that basing this community cohort on our studios, which typically hold 6 to 9 students per instructor, helps our students find a way to connect and support one another through life’s trials and triumphs.

What are the basics of the program in terms of duration, cost, format, and scope? 

The Master of Architecture degree, online track, typically lasts four semesters (with spring and fall starts) for eligible students who have a prior degree in architectural technology or environmental design.  We offer two formats for the M. Arch online: low-residency and remote. Most students participate in our low-residency Boston 8-day long intensive, filled with community building workshops, site and precedent visits, lectures, and studio work. Remote students experience this intensive at home. We stream lectures, Zoom workshops, upload videos of site itineraries, and share meaningful precedents. 

At the end of the intensive, online low-residency and remote students present their work to outside critics and their peers. They continue the semester learning online with additional reviews held synchronously.  

The typical cost for the 2019- 2020 semester tuition plus low residency fee is: $14,110.

Most students have at least two years professional practice experience. The typical cost for the 2019- 2020 semester tuition plus low residency fee is: $14,110. For students who have not completed sufficient pre-requisites, we ask them to complete additional coursework that may add time and tuition.  

Graduates of the M. Arch, online track, fulfill the same degree requirements as their onsite peers. Courses in Advanced Studios, Building Systems, Professional Practice, and History Theory are followed by a yearlong Thesis endeavor. All the while, students are working and learning productively in firms - and checking in each semester with their practice faculty members who help evaluate and advise them. 

Does BAC have industry partners that it works with to fulfill these requirements?

Hundreds of local Boston firms have mentored and employed our students for more than fifty years; new firms connected to our distance students have partnered with us to support their student-employee’s learning and professional advancement.  

For spring 2020, the School of Architecture has 426 students. Of these, we have 169 Bachelor of Architecture students, 15 B.S. in Architecture, and 242 Master of Architecture (of which, 86 are online).

How is the curriculum updated over time as methods or technologies change?

We updated the curriculum in fall 2016 to make our integrative studio join with our building systems course. Students apply their sustainable strategy and MEP lessons directly to their studio project. Additionally, we built in more opportunities for active collaboration in our renewed curriculum. Our History Theory courses evolve with the changing landscape of socio-spatial criticism.  

As technology evolves, most practitioner-educators have been finding creative ways to work collaboratively across offices and time zones.  This facility with the nature of collaboration makes them extremely well-suited to adapt our studio and building systems courses to online learning communities. 

studio faculty have been using Zoom to share screens, annotate on top of drawings and images of models. We can easily save the screenshots – so the student can return to them for deeper understanding and reflection.

How does studio education aspect of the curriculum work? 

As technology has evolved, so have the platforms for learning and connecting.  While our faculty post their syllabi and articulate weekly assignments on our Learning Management System (Moodle), studio faculty have been using Zoom to share screens, annotate on top of drawings and images of models. We can easily save the screenshots – so the student can return to them for deeper understanding and reflection. Zoom works for live lectures as well as desk critiques for three or four students at a time (so they all learn from one another and feel connected to one another as a subset of the studio). Some of our faculty use Google Slides as a repository for student work with newer assignments visible on top. This permits students to see and comment on one another’s work. We ask students to post weekly assignments to our LMS. This provides an archive that is useful for future accreditation evaluations!

Brief final presentations are conducted via Zoom, Skype, or Webex with students given a timed limit for slides/PowerPoint followed by extensive discussion by visiting critics and conducted by the host instructor. The review can be recorded. This way of presenting makes the students’ work almost portfolio ready. 

How does the accreditation process differ for online masters programs relative to traditional programs?

The accreditation process is the same for our Master of Architecture degree, onsite track. We present the work of online students, side by side with our onsite students. The learning objectives and standards are the same – the mode of educational delivery is different. 

The accreditation process is the same for our Master of Architecture degree, onsite track. We present the work of online students, side by side with our onsite students.

Who are the faculty that teach in the program and are the courses unique each year?  

The faculty members are comprised of full and part-time instructors.   The part-time faculty tend to be those who have taught with us for years onsite who move away for professional opportunities. Studio and thesis faculty tend to be ambitious practitioners who want to keep a foot in education. Those who teach online History and Theory are often making their careers as historians teaching at one or more institutions.  

 What are you excited about/looking forward to?

I am so honored that the BAC’s Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture have been recognized by Grad Reports™ to be the number one and four programs (respectively) in the country! Our students are empowered by our mission and our practice-based approach to architectural education. Our graduates embody our social justice mission – as graduates and as makers of their communities.   

Looking ahead, we hope that our leadership in online design education can enrich the conversation nationally and internationally – and we can help our peers. 

As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, remote learning has taken on a greater sense of urgency for architecture schools across the country. Have other schools come to BAC for help and if so, can you share some of the advice, approaches, or resources you have offered those programs?

We have shared insights, approaches, and resources with schools from the ProArts consortium (of which the BAC is a member). I also shared some ideas for online design crits and reviews with folks at Colorado University at Boulder while a colleague of mine was tapped to help a faculty member at the University of Miami with basic tools and things to consider with digital infrastructure. We participated in the ACSA’s Zoom meeting called, Pivot to Online Learning that included more than 40 member schools.