Architecture majors work the hardest in college, study reveals

2017-02-07T12:44:00-05:00

A study conducted by Indiana University's National Study of Student Engagement reveals that architecture majors spend the most time outside of their classes studying, beating out even engineers. On average, an architecture major will spend 22.2 hours a week working on projects and generally furrowing their brows, while those head-in-the-clouds chemical engineers spend only 19.66 hours a week. Before taking home the "Living on Ramen in the Studio" prize, however, it's worth noting that pretty much every major has to spend some time outside of classes studying: even those undertaking PR + advertising spend an average of 12.17 hours in exterior academic pursuit, according to The Tab.

Which major works the most hours?

Architecture 22.2
Chemical engineering 19.66
Aero and astronautical engineering 19.24
Biomedical engineering 18.82
Cell and molecular biology 18.67
Physics 18.62
Astronomy 18.59
Biochemistry or biophysics 18.49
Bioengineering 18.43
Petroleum engineering 18.41
Mechanical engineerin...

Designing and understanding the "Happy City"

2013-12-09T20:24:00-05:00

"For years, urban designers and architects have claimed happiness as their goal," Montgomery says. "And yet none of the claims have been supported by empirical evidence. Which isn't to say they're not right. It's just to say that we don't know. That we haven't known." In this spirit of empirical discovery, Montgomery takes readers around the world in search of the places where urban design has (and has not) improved quality-of-life.

Human behavior can be extremely difficult to quantify, and determining its exact context even harder. But some cities just seem happier than others, no matter how difficult that status is to qualify. In his book, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, Charles Montgomery tries to create an empirical basis for that causal link between happiness and urban design, through case studies of cities where those two concepts are clearly intertwined. Montgomery spoke with Eric Jaffe at The Atlantic Cities about his research for the book, and how we measure happiness.

Sensitive to the fact that what works in Bogotá might not fly in Oslo, Montgomery is not out to find hard-and-fast rules for happiness. He instead wants to tease out methods of urban design that civic governments may use to become more sensitive, responsive and accountable to their citizens' well-being.

Archinect - News

Architecture majors work the hardest in college, study reveals

Designing and understanding the "Happy City"