Archinect - Features

Applying to architecture school? Don't miss these info sessions and open houses this fall

2024-10-29T12:55:00-04:00

Application deadlines for 2025 architecture academic programs are coming up soon! To learn more about exciting undergraduate and graduate degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning, take a look below at Archinect's latest highlight of upcoming information sessions and open houses (online and in-person) as a guide to your application process.

2024 Summer Architecture Programs for Adults and High School Graduates

2024-03-20T10:00:00-04:00

Archinect's 2024 highlight of summer architecture programs continues with Part 2, where we focus on courses and workshops for adults, high school graduates, and current college students.

Take a look below at our curated selection of educational events at academic institutions and architectural organizations across the United States and Canada. Make sure to apply early — spots are filling up quickly.

If you're interested in summer programs for kids and high school students, check out our recently published Part 1.

2024 Summer Architecture Programs for Kids and High School Students

2024-03-18T10:00:00-04:00

If you are a parent looking for engaging architecture-focused programs for your kids, or a high school student interested in gaining valuable pre-college experience, take a look below at Archinect's latest highlight of summer architecture programs.

For the 2024 season, we have curated another two-part special featuring educational events for all ages and regions across the United States and Canada. With spring quickly approaching, now is the time to secure your spots.

Part 1 focuses on summer courses and workshops for elementary, middle, and high school students ready to discover architecture's basics.

'Leadership Is Not Linear': A Conversation with Mary Anne Alabanza Akers, the New Dean of Cal Poly Pomona's College of Environmental Design

2023-03-27T10:00:00-04:00

The fabric of architectural academia is changing. As leadership turnover is more apparent than ever before, I wondered if the demands of an academic leader have outgrown the stereotypical "profile" of what qualifies a dean or department chair. Is there room for deans to lead and make changes beyond their bureaucratic administrative duties? How much experience is enough experience to be "qualified to lead?"

I discussed these questions when I got the opportunity to connect with Cal Poly Pomona's new dean for their College of Environmental Design, Mary Anne Alabanza Akers. She joins the institution after heading Morgan State University's School of Architecture + Planning as its dean for 14 years. Not only has Akers served at a prominent HBCU — she was also its founding dean.

During our conversation, for our latest Deans List series, we unpacked her childhood in the Philippines, her journey to attending school and working in the United States, her commitment to academia, and what it m...

2023 Summer Architecture Programs, Workshops, and Intensives for Adults and High School Graduates

2023-03-15T09:16:00-04:00

Archinect's featured list of summer architecture programs continues with Part II, where we focus on opportunities for recent high school graduates and adults.

Echoing a similar message as provided in Part I, these courses and workshops offer recent high school graduates and adults (at any age range), even without prior design experience, access to the fundamentals of an architectural education. Our list also includes programs for those with existing backgrounds adjacent to architecture looking to explore specific topics with a design emphasis.

2023 Summer Architecture Programs for Kids and High School Students

2023-03-08T15:04:00-05:00

Are you a parent looking for fun and stimulating spring and summer programs to keep your young ones busy? Or are you a high school student interested in exploring the world of architecture and getting college credit? As we enter the spring season and with summer just around the corner, there are plenty of architecture-focused programs young designers can explore in the coming months. For the 2023 summer season, Archinect highlights programs that could be the perfect fit for the budding architect or designer in your life.

Our two-part feature will highlight architecture programs for all ages ranging from young children to adults looking to explore the world of architecture. To kick things off, this first installment lists courses, programs, and workshops for young minds ready to discover architecture's basics. Explore over 30+ programs from across the United States and Canada. We've also included a few programs available for little ones to take during the spring months.

Summer Architecture Programs, Workshops, and Design Intensives for High School Graduates and Adults

2022-05-09T12:28:00-04:00

Continuing with our list of architecture programs to explore during the summer, Part II focuses on opportunities for recent high school graduates and adults. Echoing a similar message as provided in Part I, these courses and workshops offer adults young and old, even without prior design experience, access to the fundamentals of an architecture education.

Our list also includes programs for those with existing backgrounds adjacent to architecture looking to explore specific topics with design emphasis.

Architecture Courses and Workshops for Kids and High School Students

2022-04-29T17:03:00-04:00

Are you a parent looking for fun and stimulating summer programs to keep your young ones busy? Are you a high school student excited to explore the world of architecture? With summer just around the corner, there are plenty of architecture-focused initiatives to explore in the coming months.

For the 2022 summer season, Archinect has created a special two-part feature highlighting architecture programs for all ages. Part I focuses on summer courses and workshops for young minds ready to discover architecture's basics.

How to get a PhD in Architecture

2021-03-30T14:26:00-04:00

Whether you’re at a crossroad in your professional career as an architect or in the middle of your BArch or MArch with some doubts on whether you want to practice architecture, pursuing a doctoral program in architecture might be an opportunity to still be involved with the world of architecture albeit not by practicing professionally. Pursuing a PhD in Architecture can easily be seen as a career shift since the point of getting a degree in architecture is to become an architect, however, there is another side to architecture that is less concerned with creating buildings and more on research, a route that can be as important and fulfilling. Nowadays, this can come in different forms of non-professional degrees, one of which is a Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture. In this article, I hope to provide some insight to those who are interested in doing research work in architecture.

Equity in Architectural Academia: A Conversation with Cory Henry

2021-01-11T09:00:00-05:00

Last year, my family and I moved to a new home. After we were settled in, I shared with one of our neighbors that I taught and wrote about architecture. She was stunned and told me that there was another neighbor, right next door to me, who taught and practiced architecture also.

Shortly after, I met Cory Henry, and we began having regular discussions about architectural education and practice. Cory is the Principal and Founder of Atelier Cory Henry, a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary design practice. He is currently a Kea Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, a Visiting Critic at Syracuse University, and has served as a Visiting Critic at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in Architecture at Penn State University.

Cory has also helped me with some of my writing, most recently, my essay on tokenism in architectural practice. In our discussions, we soon dove into issues of equity in architectural education and decided it would be in...

How To Choose Between Architecture Schools

2020-05-12T16:06:00-04:00

One of our most popular questions in the Archinect Discussion Forum is how to choose between architecture degree programs. Some students might already be accepted to multiple programs and are uncertain which to choose while others may have yet to apply and are unsure of which to pursue. The question is usually along the lines of, “which school is better?” or, “which school should I go to?” and even sometimes, “can someone give me insight into these programs?”

It’s a tough position, and candidates want to make the right decision for their future, so they turn to the Archinect community for guidance only to be met with conflicting opinions or harsh feedback. When it comes to this crossroad, one that will influence the trajectory of the next 2 to 5 years of your life, turning to strangers isn’t always the best idea. In this article I hope to provide prospective students with some essential techniques in making a good decision about which school to attend and how to decide between diff...

USC Architecture Faculty Share Insights on Virtual Learning

2020-03-27T12:24:00-04:00

As institutions of higher learning round out the shift to online instruction, architecture schools also have had to address the pivot. However, the tactile nature of architectural education lends itself to the curious case of duplicating the tactile benefits of studio digitally. There's no doubt schools of architecture across the country have risen to the task at hand. Archinect has even reached out to educators and students across our international community to learn more about the diverse experiences and approaches to this unorthodox learning model.

In this piece, I had the pleasure to connect with the faculty over at the USC School of Architecture to discuss everything from how they mobilized so quickly, solving this debacle of online learning in design to the challenges they faced along the way. While only a perspective of one institution, this exploration should prove valuable to students, professionals, and educators alike.

Demystifying SCI-Arc's M.Arch I Program With Rebecca Fitzgerald

2020-01-16T14:00:00-05:00

Pursuing a graduate degree in architecture can be a daunting task for any prospective student. Earning an M.Arch I degree requires that individuals undergo a "crash course" in architecture, for one. But before that can happen, they must also find the right institution, typically one that not only provides them with the support, tools, and resources they need to foster their sense of architectural exploration but that also helps nurture a critical disciplinary perspective.

To learn more about the journey of an M.Arch I student, Archinect spoke with recent Southern California Institute of Architecture's (SCI-Arc) graduate Rebecca Fitzgerald. Part reflection, part interview, we unpack the journey of an individual whose robust liberal arts background and passion for architecture's multifarious nature activated a desire to chart out her own architectural trajectory. Together, Rebecca and I discuss her academic journey, how research furthered her architectural thinking, and her interests ...

Postgraduate Students Present Final Projects at SCI-Arc’s EDGE Symposium

2019-10-04T06:00:00-04:00

For SCI-Arc’s 2019 academic year, each of the school’s four postgraduate programs engaged with a different design phenomenon or technological paradigm. The culmination of the year-long postgraduate degree cycle was marked by a celebration of student work, the EDGE Symposium. Now in its third installment, the symposium was orchestrated in collaboration with the A+D Museum and presented an exhibition of collected graduate work entitled Speculations at the Edge. The two-day symposium consisted of presentations, reviews, project screenings, and a closing celebration at the A+D Museum.

Archinect connected with a few students to learn more about their year-long program experience. Below are thesis projects and comments from Laure Michelon, Pedro Ferrazini, Potsung Huang, Marine Lemarié, Juan Rincon, and Jeremy Kamal.

Deans List: University of Detroit Mercy's Dan Pitera and the Three Questions That Drive His Career

2019-08-30T09:00:00-04:00

The Deans List is an interview series with the leaders of architecture schools, worldwide. The series profiles the school’s programming, as defined by the dean—giving an invaluable perspective into the institution’s unique curriculum, faculty, and academic environment.

For this installment, Archinect spoke with Dan Pitera, newly appointed dean at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture. An influential leader in architectural academia, social justice practices, and community engagement in the city of Detroit, Pitera brings a passion for education and dedication to creating "practice-ready graduates." According to Pitera, "design is really an issue of social justice, which our School defines as the distribution of both advantages and disadvantages across the full cross-section of society."

A Day At Space Saloon: Exploring Experimental Architecture in the High Desert of California

2019-06-26T12:54:00-04:00

Tucked between Palm Springs and Joshua Tree lies the Morongo Valley. This desert landscape may be an obscure location to hold a week-long student workshop. However, if there is one thing architects like Arata Isozaki and Albert Frey have taught us, it is that the desert is often a perfect backdrop for exploring materials, form, color, and spatial design.

The non-profit organization founded by Danny Wills and Gian Maria Socci provide a unique design laboratory experience for students to collect, explore, research, and experiment new potentials for design education. Not only do the students have the ability to prototype, build, and engage in transdisciplinary forms of architecture and design knowledge, they are also able to engage with practicing architects through site-specific projects. This year's Space Saloon experience titled "FIELDWORKS" allowed students to question various processes and techniques through data and data application.

The Architecture Student’s Guide to Studio

2019-05-30T12:53:00-04:00

Throughout your years in architecture school, one thing is always true — everything revolves around studio. It’s your living quarters for five years, where you’ll succeed and fail with a small group of comrades crazy enough to choose a career path in architecture. Studio is a kind of ecosystem we learn to obsess over. Every other class kind of becomes an afterthought. Your time in school is dominated by this phenomenon, and it comes with many cultural and social nuances, things that have been passed down year after year. In this article, we’ll look at some aspects that you, as an architecture student, experience every day, whether you’re aware of it or not. We’ll also explore some of the bizarre characteristics of studio culture and how it influences your time as a student.

Dip Your Toes in Architecture This Summer With These 10 Summer Architecture Intensives

2019-04-24T12:00:00-04:00

For some, the summer season is filled with traveling and vacation, but for others, summer is a time to dive into workshops and intensives. Whether in or out of school—architecture, or otherwise—the months of June, July and August, are a great time to beef up that portfolio, enhance a skill set, or participate in an immersive program to explore side interests and subtopics.

Spanning anywhere from one week to a full-month, summer programs enable architecture students and adults without architecture backgrounds to explore and expand their exposure to the field. Below, Archinect has gathered a list of summer opportunities that will push you and your architectural stamina to the limit.

Generation Z, It's Your Turn; A Look at 11 of This Year's Most Exciting Architecture Summer Camps

2019-04-10T12:19:00-04:00

In July, about 10 students, ages 14 to 18, will gather at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to explore the possibilities of computer-controlled furniture. They will be researching, conceptualizing, innovating, designing and making things like self-sorting bookshelves and alarm clocks that force you out of bed. Titled “Robotic Living”, the two-week course is one of nine studio classes on offer this summer through NuVu, an innovation school geared towards middle and high school students.

SoapBox: Pedagogy

2017-12-06T13:15:00-05:00

Soapbox is a weekly series delivering a curated set of lectures, talks and symposia concerning contemporary themes but explored through the archives of lectures past and present. With the plethora of lectures, talks, symposia and panels occurring world wide on a daily basis, how can we begin to keep up and if not, find them once they are gone? Soapbox looks to assemble a selection of recent, archived and outlier lectures surrounding a given theme. Soapbox looks to curate this never-ending library of ideas into an engaging and diverse list of thoughts and provocations. Soapbox is just that, a collection aimed at discovering the occasional needle in a haystack.

The Proust Questionnaire: Diana Agrest

2017-09-28T09:29:00-04:00

Diana Agrest is a practicing architect, urban designer, and theorist known for her unique and pioneering approach. She has been teaching since 1972—at Cooper Union, where she currently is, since 1977—and has been profiled as one of 50 Great Teachers by NPR.

Read her answers to our Proust Questionnaire below to find out her favorite architect, both living and dead, her favorite type of project, her greatest indulgence and more!

What Are Your Kids Doing This Summer? A Look at Architecture Summer Camps Around the Country

2017-04-27T11:47:00-04:00

At least in Los Angeles, we have already started hitting temperatures over 90 degrees Fahrenheit signaling the coming of summer. For parents, this is often an urgent reminder that the school year will be ending soon and plans need to be in place for the summer. For those already expecting little builders out of their offspring, here are a few summer camp options to tide them over.