In the age of evolving and growing cities, communities, and an uptick in denser housing requirements to accommodate an ever-growing world, architecture is a growing interest for young people. What makes up urban and suburban spaces are changing. That said, architecture is often a degree pursued at a postgraduate level, so it can be challenging to find a liberal arts institution that enables you to pursue architecture at an undergraduate level. If you do your research, though, you’ll find that undergraduate architecture programs are home to some of the most unique program structures and focus out there for those interested in pursuing anything related to urban planning, design, city structure, and architectural development.
Connecticut College
Students who choose to major in architectural studies at Connecticut College must take a variety of concentrated art and design, humanities, architecture and art history, math/science, and seminar courses, with a required Integrative Project completed at the end of their course of study. This project can be completed through a non-funded internship or an individual project that is approved by the school and department. They intentionally include “studies” in the program name to make clear that the program goals are distinct from that of a professional program. In true liberal arts fashion, Conn College’s goals for their graduates focus on emphasizing the cultural landscape of structures and communities, how routines impact the creation and maintenance of social interactions and norms, and integrating knowledge from multiple interdisciplinary fields.
Rhode Island School of Design
Predictably, pursuing a B.Arch at a school of design has a significant focus on the creative and design-oriented elements of an architecture degree. It’s a five-year program and during the fifth year all students are required to complete a thesis seminar or scope (directed research) seminar and integrated building course during the fall. Thesis projects aim to act as an “intensive investigation and analysis of building systems, professional practice and design.” Because RISD is an art and design school, the technical resources like hardware, digital fabrication, software, and model shop tools available to students are brag-worthy.
The Cooper Union
The architecture degree within The School of Architecture at Cooper Union is a rigorous, five-year program. The outcome is graduating with a B.Arch., which is the professional degree accredited by the National Architecture Accrediting Board. The School of Architecture partners across Cooper Union’s Schools of Art and Engineering and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences to create a comprehensive and interdisciplinary degree.
Rice University
The Architecture Program at Rice is unique in that you have the option to sign up for an undergraduate and professional degree in one swoop. Students spend the first four years working towards a Bachelor of Arts in architecture degree and then immediately enroll to complete a Bachelor of Architecture professional degree. Enrollment into the six-year program enables seniors to participate in Rice’s Totalization Studios, where consultants are embedded into the studios to offer feedback, insight, and analysis for students’ work. Students spend one of the two following postgraduate years completing the Rice Architecture Preceptorship program, which enables students to complete a 9-month internship at competitive architecture firms around the country. That said, students can choose to opt-out of the 6 year-commitment after their second year, but we certainly think that the two-year professional program is what makes Rice’s program structure so unique.
Hobart William Smith Colleges
The pre-professional liberal arts Architectural Studies (B.A.) program at HWSC emphasizes an intersection of interests for students that enroll in design, the history of urban landscapes, and urbanism. The program at HWSC specializes in matching their Architectural Studies students with summer internships, similar to more professionally-oriented B.Arch programs. They are the only liberal arts architecture program that have three professionally-trained designers as full-time faculty. The school also has an impressive design studios that rival B.Arch programs and emphasize their “co-curriculum” which focuses on every student making connections between creative expression and social and environmental factors through real-world experience like lectures, independent study, workshops, honors theses, and internship opportunities.
Middlebury College
The Architectural Studies track at Middlebury is housed within the Art History department, which tells you a lot about the unique emphases of the program itself. The school welcomes world-renowned architects through their Cameron Visiting Architect Program, which enables students to participate in varying studio opportunities with rotating design mentors. Another distinct offering is Middlebury’s Island Design Assembly, which offers Architectural Studies students (and other students from other undergraduate institutions) and architects the chance to spend eight days designing and building a project in Penobscot Bay, Maine. If your interest is in the rural environment, Middlebury offers numerous opportunities to engage in that specific landscape in addition to the Architecture and the Environment specialization.
Bennington
Visual arts students at Bennington can choose from a list of specializations under the VA umbrella, and architecture is one of those focuses. Bennington emphasizes the importance of fieldwork, and every student participates in a 6-week-long job, internship, or entrepreneurial endeavor related to their own academic and professional focuses. Because Bennington is so small (around 750 undergraduates), their advising programs are robust. All students are paired with a faculty member for one-on-one graduate-style advising and academic planning to ensure students are able to specialize in and study their specific interests.
Barnard
There are many ways and approaches through which to study architecture at Barnard across the various colleges and partner colleges. While there is a dedicated architecture major (also known as the studio major) within Barnard College, the College also offers majors in the History and Theory of Architecture. Students at Columbia College and the School of General Studies can only pursue an architecture major through Barnard’s college, though they can pursue the History and Theory of Architecture major through the dedicated Art History and Archaeology Department at Columbia. Receiving an architecture degree at Barnard means that you’re in New York City, which the school helps students take full advantage of in terms of field trips, events, and internship opportunities.
Lehigh University
Lehigh has the many strengths of a liberal arts school (size, diversity of academic offerings, strong humanities focus) while offering the structure of an architecture degree, which is ideal. The program is pre-professional and graduates obtain a B.A. in Architecture (not a B.Arch). Core requirements provide students with a strong foundation in drawing and modeling (3D and physical), architectural history, and urban design while giving students the flexibility to double major or minor in other areas of interest, like Lehigh’s unique Science, Technology, and Society major, Product Design minor, or Integrated Real Estate minor.
Smith
Students at Smith who want to focus on architecture can major in Architecture and Urbanism within the Art Department. The degree has a distinct emphasis on architectural history, urban space, public architecture, and landscape design. The “studios” offer students a chance to build models with laser cutters and computing technology. Smith’s MacLeish Field Station, 260 acres of forest and farm with environmental classrooms and recreation opportunities, offers many of Smith’s architecture students the chance to work and research the complexities of environmentally-sustainable architecture and landscaping.
While there are many more specialized schools that have incredible programs, we think that this list is a starting off point if you’re looking for a small liberal arts school with an architectural studies offering.
Please let us know if you have any questions or want some more guidance with finding the perfect architecturally-focused degree. We love doing research, so don’t hesitate to call or email us.