Archinect - News

2020 "most admired" architecture schools according to DesignIntelligence

2019-10-03T09:53:00-04:00

We also survey students, and this year two unexpected results stood out from the 4,000-plus responses we received. First was the 5 percent drop in architecture undergraduate students wishing to go on to graduate school. [...] The second standout was the answer to the following question: “If there were no barriers, what firm would you want to work for?” The No. 1 response overall was to be self-employed.

The DesignIntelligence 2020 architecture school rankings are out! The annual design industry survey asks hiring professionals two basic questions:

"What schools do you most admire for a combination of faculty, programs, culture, and student preparation for the profession?”
“From which schools have you hired the greatest number of (undergraduate or graduate) students in the last five years?”

The responses record the degree to which students have the ability to hit the ground running in their new jobs following graduation, among other factors. The survey, according to DesignIntelligence, assesses how recent graduates perform according to 12 skill areas encompassing knowledge of how buildings come together, communication and decision-making abilities, and digital technology skills. Using the accumulated responses, the organization tabulates top 10 rankings for both graduate and undergraduate programs, shown below.

The Top 10 Most Admired Architecture Undergraduate Programs

1. Cornell Un...

2018 top 10 architecture schools according to DesignIntelligence's new survey questions

2018-09-05T13:18:00-04:00

Each year for the past 19 years, DesignIntelligence has conducted the same survey across the design industry regarding architecture-school rankings. The number of valid responses from hiring managers of architecture and design-professional firms typically range between 2,600 and 3,200, year over year. But this year was markedly different: we had more than 4,500 valid responses, which may reflect the urgency of improving architectural education.

DesignIntelligence has been conducting a yearly design industry survey to rank architecture undergraduate and graduate programs for the past 19 years. For this year's ranking DI has changed their primary question of “Which programs are best preparing students for a future in the profession?” to asking two different questions:

"What schools do you most admire for a combination of faculty, programs, culture, and student preparation for the profession?”
“From which schools have you hired the greatest number of (undergraduate or graduate) students in the last five years?”

Through asking these two questions in the design industry DesignIntelligence has ranked the following schools in the top 10 for 2018.

The Top 10 Architecture Undergraduate Programs

1 Cornell University
2 Rice University
3 Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (SLO)
4 Syracuse University
5 Cooper Union
6 Rhode Island School of Design
7 Pratt Institute
8 Virginia Tech
9 Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
10 University of...

AIA leadership contend steel & aluminum tariffs will negatively impact architecture industry

2018-03-06T14:03:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) President Carl Elefante, FAIA, and EVP/Chief Executive Officer Robert Ivy, FAIA, released the following statement today in response to the Administration’s plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

"The Administration’s announcement of new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports threatens to drastically increase the prices of many building materials specified by architects. These metal products are some of the largest material inputs in the construction of buildings. Structural metal beams, window frames, mechanical systems and exterior cladding are largely derived from these important metals.

“As creative problem solvers, architects rely on a variety of these materials to achieve functional and performance goals for their clients. Inflating the cost of materials will limit the range of options they can use while adhering to budgetary constraints for a building.

“By the same token, the Administration’s proposed infrastructure fund...

How elevators could fix the affordable housing crisis

2016-06-17T15:32:00-04:00

Elevators are [the] transportation breakthrough that made steel frame construction genuinely useful... tall apartment buildings make it possible for there to be plenty of housing for everyone even where land is scarce. If elevators were more widely used, they could unleash not just a boom of new construction in America's most expensive areas but an important secondary boom of higher wages for workers at all skill levels.

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AIA creates new Commission to further investigate equity in architecture

2015-12-17T17:45:00-05:00

Six months after the AIA voted in favor of the Equity in Architecture resolution, it looks like the organization is turning their words into actions. Most recently, they announced the establishment of the Equity in Architecture Commission, a 20-member panel of leading architects, educators, and specialized experts (whose names haven't been released) who will be in charge of investigating diversity and inclusion in the architecture profession, which — like in many other areas in American society — has long been dominated by people who identify as white and male.

The Commission's objectives include:

"Develop specific recommendations that will lead to equitable practices"
"Create measurable goals and develop mechanisms for assessing ongoing progress"
"Present a plan of action based on the Commission’s recommendations"

"Diversity and inclusion is a priority of the AIA. We have made progress, but not fast enough. The world around us is changing much faster and we can do better,' stated Elizab...

A look inside Tesla's growing Gigafactory: "It will blow your mind."

2015-11-19T13:24:00-05:00

Musk had warned me that the scale of the place would be overwhelming. "It will blow your mind. You see it in person and then realize, Fuck, this is big." He was right. It was impossible not to feel awestruck by the sprawling, 71-foot-tall structure stretched out, miragelike, before me as I drove into a shallow canyon. [...] When the Gigafactory is finished, it will be only slightly smaller than Boeing’s Everett, Washington, plant, which is the world’s largest building by volume.

NCARB gives preview of data report to be released in July, says profession is "healthy and growing"

2015-05-14T13:22:00-04:00

A record-high number of candidates actively working toward an architect license provides more evidence of a thriving talent pool for the architect profession, according to new 2014 data released today by [NCARB]. More than 37,000 aspiring architects were testing and/or reporting experience hours last year, a substantial part of the path to architectural licensure required by the 54 U.S. state and jurisdiction licensing boards.

NCARB CEO Michael Armstrong gave a first glimpse of key findings in the "NCARB by the Numbers" report today at the AIA Convention in Atlanta. Read the full press release here.

Previously:

Vernon CA, known for meatpacking, corruption and Tapatío, featured in LA Forum's submission to the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam

2014-06-04T19:41:00-04:00

Forty years after "Reyner Banham loves Los Angeles" another architect with the gaze of the foreigner takes us on a ride through the City of Angels, or as the Turkish architect Orhan Ayyüce likes to refer to it: "La Citta Capitalista". [...] An ‘exclusive industrial town,’ Vernon borders on the cosmopolitan downtown of Los Angeles... Are alternative forms of housing, agriculture, and nature imaginable in a town that relies solely on industry and transport?

Los Angeles architect Orhan Ayyüce takes a weekend drive through a vacant Vernon, in the following short film for the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam. Submitted by the LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design and run by Ayyüce, The Vernon City Project is being featured in IABR's main exhibition, "Urban By Nature".

Watch The Vernon City Project below.