The Bachelor of Science in architecture (BS Arch) is a preprofessional baccalaureate degree designed to instill concepts and
skills upon which professional architecture studies at the graduate level are based. It allows students to complete prerequisites for eligibility to enter a two-year accredited professional master of architecture (MArch)
degree program. In 1994, the department expanded the preprofessional undergraduate architecture degree into a four-year, eight-semester format. This structure provides candidates for the preprofessional Bachelor of
Science in architecture with a liberal exposure to the applied arts, humanities, social sciences, technologies, and aesthetic expression. The goal is to convey architecture as a field of study and a way of viewing the
world. A minimum of 128 semester credit hours is required for the preprofessional Bachelor of Science in architecture and is a fall-only admission program.
The four-year, preprofessional Bachelor of Science in architecture, without the accredited first professional master of architecture degree, is not accredited by NAAB. The preprofessional Bachelor of Science
in architecture, as recognized by NAAB, NCARB, and the New York State Education Department, is useful for those who desire a foundation in the field of architecture as preparation for either continued education in an
accredited professional master of architecture (MArch) degree program or employment options in architecture-related professions. For additional information on the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), visit
their website. For further information on the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), visit their website. For information
on architecture with the New York State Education Department's Office of the Professions, visit here. For information on the accredited professional degrees awarded
by University at Buffalo Architecture, please visit our website.
Architecture Minor The Architecture minor, a non-studio based track offered by the Department of Architecture,
provides students with a liberal exposure to the humanities, technology, social sciences, and aesthetic expression through the lenses of the built and the natural environments. The study of architecture offers an indispensable
background for students in most fields of study in that it develops skills in critical thinking and making as well as furnishing tools for interpreting and understanding the ways in which we inhabit and shape the material
world. In addition, the architecture minor may enhance and provide additional knowledge for students interested in pursuing a 3+ year accredited professional master of architecture (MArch) degree upon completion of
their baccalaureate studies. The architecture minor is typically completed within five to six semesters.
Acceptance Criteria - Architecture Minimum GPA of 2.70 overall. Minimum GPA of 2.50 in architecture and architecture-related courses. Admission on a space available basis. The preprofessional
Bachelor of Science in architecture is a fall-only admission program.
Architecture and architecture-related courses may include introductory collegiate courses in architecture technology; 2-D and 3-D design; studio art; fine art; interior design; art history; urban environments;
urban studies; and drafting. Design studio courses completed at other colleges are accepted by University at Buffalo Architecture as transfer elective credit.
Acceptance Criteria - Architecture Minor Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall. Minimum GPA of 2.5 in two 100/200-level architecture courses.
Acceptance Information Deadlines: Freshmen Admission: Visit UB Undergraduate Admissions for application deadlines. Transfer Admission: Visit UB Transfer Admissions for UB Architecture transfer application deadlines.
Transfer admission applications received after February 28 will be reviewed on a space available basis until May 31, as guided by the Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning's admission statement. No additional
transfer application material will be reviewed after May 31. Contact School of Architecture and Planning Undergraduate Academic Services or visit this website for
further information.
Note: Fall semester only admission program; University at Buffalo Architecture is unable to accept and review applications for Spring semester admission. Declared pre-architecture majors are granted admission
as School of Architecture and Planning general studies majors.
Applicants with an earned baccalaureate degree should contact School of Architecture and Planning Undergraduate Academic Services prior to applying to the professional Bachelor of Science in architecture (BS
Arch) for alternative academic advisement and information on the accredited professional 3+ year master of architecture (MArch) degree.
Total number of majors currently enrolled (2013-2014): 305 Total number of minors currently enrolled (2010-2011): 65
Admissions Statement The Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning has an admission policy that actively encourages applicants from protected groups and does not discriminate on the basis of
race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or veteran status. Admission is competitive, and; applicants are reviewed according to the admission criteria. Acceptance of students in
the preprofessional, professional, and advanced graduate programs is determined on the basis of the applicants' qualifications and experience. However, since the school's size is limited, the programs may exercise discretionary
powers of selection. Courses and programs offered by the Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning may include an instructional support services fee. Contact School of Architecture and Planning Undergraduate Academic
Services or visit the Undergraduate Resources Website for additional information on admission and advisement.
Advising Information All students in the Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning have access to faculty mentors upon enrollment into the School's design studios. In addition, advisors with
School of Architecture and Planning Undergraduate Academic Services are available for assistance. Students are encouraged to consult regularly with advisors and faculty mentors in matters pertaining to academic options,
course selection, postbaccalaureate studies, and career opportunities. Students meet with advisors and faculty mentors as often as they choose to explore educational opportunities available within the Buffalo School
of Architecture and Planning and the University at Buffalo to plan a course of study that is consistent with their abilities, achievements, interests, and expectations. The ultimate goal of advisement is to to be active,
responsible learners who take full advantage of the many opportunities the university provides in the areas of academics, research, and community and global engagement. Visit the UB Undergraduate Academic Advisement webpage for additional information.
The Architecture and Planning Library is one of 10 libraries within the University at Buffalo. In addition to its
book and journal collections, the Architecture and Planning Library collection includes student theses, maps and plans, a vertical file, a collection of CD-ROMs, census materials, and computer-aided design work.
The Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning IT Services comprise two sets of facilities: a central collection of laboratories
and computing classrooms, and a collection of distributed facilities located in the graduate and undergraduate architecture and urban planning studios. A wide variety of software packages is provided to support the
specific needs of architecture and urban planning students. Input and output resources include a variety of specialized devices, including color scanners, a large-format scanner, a slide scanner, a film recorder, several
digital cameras, CD-R/CS-RW writers, and large- and small-format digitizers. Hard-copy output is provided through laser printers, color printers, and a large-format color postscript plotter.
The Digital Fabrication Workshop provides a range of the latest equipment dedicated to material research,
model making, and digital fabrication. The Digital Workshop includes two Universal Laser Cutters, two 3D printers, two CNC routers, and a desktop 3D scanner.
The design studios and workshops, located within the Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, have more than 63,000 net square feet of studio and studio support space, including four critique rooms, wet cells
for plaster and paint work, and a full-service plotting and printing facility. Digital technology is distributed throughout the studios, reflecting our belief that digital media should be seamlessly integrated with
the making and representation of architecture and urban planning.
The Architecture and Planning Materials Shop, located in Parker Hall, is available for schoolwide
projects and independent work. This complete machine and assembly shop, one of the largest in any U.S. architecture and urban planning school, contains 7,000 square feet of high-bay space and is supplied with full woodworking
capabilities, welding and milling equipment, lathes, sheet-metal machines, a vacuum-forming machine for molding plastic, and a variety of hand tools.
The Visual Resources Center directly supports the curriculum with its ever-growing collection of slides, audiovisual equipment and an extensive image database. It is
linked to the university's other collections through the University Libraries' online computerized index service. The center also produces video recordings of the school's lecture series and other events.
Publications Intersight is a schoolwide, student-edited scholarly journal published annually. The founders of the journal set out to create a participatory
forum for distinguished colleagues, graduates, and students to express their views and ideas about architecture and planning. The mission of Intersight is to publish writing, research, and design work that articulates
a speculative, theoretical, or pedagogical position, and reflects the intellectual life of the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning.
ARC 280 Environment and Landscape: Discovering Landscapes
The Typical Class Size Modes of instruction and class size vary according to course content and intended course objectives. Studio work is offered in extended class periods totaling up to 12 hours
per week with 15 students per instructor section. In addition to design studio, courses such as Structures 1, Structures 2, Architecture Media, and Construction Technology have strong hands-on components and are taught
in workshops and classes containing 25 to 65 students.
In the Department of Architecture, what do graduate teaching assistants do? They supplement instruction by professors in many courses in the undergraduate program. Often, graduate teaching assistants
instruct with professors in studios and conduct recitation or workshop sessions that offer students additional help with their coursework.
University at Buffalo Architecture faculty, diverse in their interests and international in their background, are well known and respected in the profession. Both full and part-time clinical faculty are involved in a variety of activities related to research,
design, and scholarship. Many part-time clinical faculty are also licensed practicing architects in the Western New York community.
Please visit our department website for additional information about our faculty.
Practical Experience and Special Academic Opportunities
Notable Program Features Studio Orientation to Architecture (SOAr) Program. The Studio Orientation to Architecture (SOAr) Program is a series of mandatory pre-architecture studio workshops for
all first year students admitted to the preprofessional Bachelor of Science in architecture, and is an integral educational component of the first year design studios. Enrolled first year studio students receive information
on the required SOAr program during summer academic orientation. For more information on the SOAr program, contact School of Architecture and Planning Undergraduate Academic Services.
Study Abroad Traveling can enhance architecture students' awareness of the world, bringing them closer to understanding global diversity
and appreciating what is universal and unique to a culture. Undergraduate students may participate in the following study abroad programs offered by the Department of Architecture:
Aarhus, Denmark The University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, and the School of Architecture (Arkitektskolen i Aarhus)
in Aarhus, Denmark, have a formal agreement outlining an exchange program for students and faculty. Students may attend classes and studio for one semester or one year abroad in Aarhus while continuing to pay tuition
at UB. Aarhus provides housing at no cost to visiting UB students. Individual courses of study are developed by faculty advisors at both institutions. Students participate in the daily activities of one of the ongoing
studios in Aarhus. Up to four full-time exchange positions are open each year (eight semester slots). Fluency in Danish is not required.
Barcelona, Spain This program offers a summer semester in two months of residence in Barcelona, Spain. The city of Barcelona is used as a design laboratory. Classes, lectures, pin-ups, reviews, and seminars
are conducted in the city's parks, squares, streets, cafes, museums, and monuments. Strong ties have been developed to both the Architecture School of the University of Barcelona and the Center for Contemporary Culture,
which offer the use of their facilities for studio work, seminars, and presentations. Studio projects and seminar topics and assignments relate directly to the city, its culture, its way of doing architecture, and the
messages of which its physical environment speaks. This ten-week graduate program, conducted on site in Barcelona, Spain, begins in late May. Fluency in Spanish is helpful but not required.
Darmstadt, Germany This official exchange program between the University at Buffalo and the Technische - Hochschule at the University of Darmstadt, Germany, provides opportunities for advanced undergraduate
students to continue their studies through coursework, tutorials, supervised independent study, or research though affiliation with an academic program in Darmstadt. Students may apply for one semester (fall or spring)
or the full academic year. Darmstadt will provide partially subsidized living accommodations in a university residence hall. Fluency in German is required.
Dublin, Ireland The Dublin summer abroad investigates myriad forces at work in contemporary architectural practice by studying both
urban and coastal environments. Dublin, Ireland is an urban environment in which to undertake this study since it underwent tremendous cultural and economic change in the decade from 1995 to 2005. The Ireland Study
Abroad Program will include a 30-day trip circumventing the Irish Coast studying the unique environmental conditions in each region. The intent of this studio is to explore the cultural and climatic variation between
sites and the resultant effect on architectural design.
Montaverde, Costa Rica This eight-week summer abroad course of study offers students the opportunity to live and work on ecological
and social projects in a rural, but rapidly developing, region in Costa Rica. This is a multidisciplinary program designed for students from various disciplines, including architecture, planning, landscape architecture,
resource management, and international development. Students participate in a seminar on sustainable development, enroll in Spanish language classes, and take an intensive 6-credit studio/internship with one of the
many organizations in the Monteverde zone working toward sustainability. There is a final report, plans or a design scheme, or actual environment intervention, depending on the nature of the work. In addition, there
is a series of lectures and field trips to local cooperatives, ecologically managed farms, and various forest reserves. This is a semester's worth of credits (12) in a small rural community next to the Monteverde Cloud
Forest Preserve in Costa Rica. Students work with community residents on various jointly defined projects . The program is sponsored jointly by the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, the SUNY
College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, and the University of Maryland at College Park Department of Natural Resource Sciences and Landscape Architecture. Fluency in Spanish is encouraged but not
required.
Other in-house study abroad programs, including India, China, France, and Japan, may be offered on an ad-hoc basis by the University of Buffalo Architecture and the UB Office of Study Abroad based upon faculty
and student interest.
Undergraduate Research and Practical Experience Research Centers. As a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), the University at Buffalo considers advanced research integral and fundamental to its mission. Consequently, the School
of Architecture and Planning faculty are actively involved in the creation of new knowledge through sponsored research, creative design work, and text-based scholarship. This research activity is intertwined with the
departmental curricula, allowing students to take full advantage of the faculty's expertise. The Department of Architecture is affiliated with the following centers that afford students opportunities for applied research
activities:
The Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access on South Campus, is dedicated to
improving the design of environments and products by making them more usable, safe, and appealing to people with a wide range of abilities through their life spans. The center is active in basic and applied research,
design development, community service, and education. Current programs focus on home modifications, functional assessment, and universal design. Since 1999, the center has been the home of the Rehabilitation Engineering
Research Center on Universal Design and the Built Environment; awarded a grant by the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, it is the only federally sponsored research and development center
in this field. The IDeA Center receives additional funding from state and local governments and private sources; it runs an active educational program in the university, sponsors continuing education activities for
professionals, completes basic and applied research, and offers technical services to the community.
The Center for Architecture and Situated Technologies on South Campus, is dedicated to the examination of new technologies and their relation to the study of architecture. This intention is pursued through
analytical, historical, theoretical, and design research methodologies. The Center for Architecture and Situated Technologies' research is located at the intersection of architecture, new media, and computational technologies.
CAST investigates possibilities offered by computational systems for rethinking human interaction with (and within) the built environment. Focus areas include learning environments, design environments, responsive architecture,
and locative media.
The University at Buffalo Regional Institute/Urban Design Project on Downtown Campus, is an alliance that brings together planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects, data analysts, policy
specialists, legal experts, researchers, information systems experts, technical writers, graphic designers, grant writers and others to provide research, policy advice, planning and design assistance to governments,
communities, businesses and not-for-profits in the region. Already two of UB's most active and relevant research centers, the UBRI/UDP alliance supports the School of Architecture and Planning to produce public scholarship
in service to the community and support faculty research on our natural, constructed, and urban environments.
Honors, Awards, and Scholarships
Matthew W. Del Gaudio Award. The New York Society of Architects presents this award to a graduating student who has demonstrated 'Total Design' excellence, defined by: 'an imaginative solution of an architectural
problem that is functionally ideal, structurally feasible, suitably sited, and employing available materials in a practical and aesthetically sound manner.'
Henry Adams Medal. The AIA awards an engraved medal and certificate of merit to the top-ranking graduating student in each architecture program accredited by NAAB. A certificate of merit is awarded to the second-ranking
student.
R. Buckminster Fuller Award. Awarded to the graduating senior who is continuing on for graduate studies within the UB School of Architecture and Planning and exemplifies attributes of creativity, inventiveness,
and intellectual excellence.
Design Excellence Award. Awarded to students with outstanding studio work.
Academic Achievement Award. Awarded to students with the highest overall GPA.
Departmental Honors. Awarded to graduating undergraduate architecture students who achieve a high level of academic excellence, creativity, and distinction within the Department of Architecture.
Extracurricular Activities
University at Buffalo Architecture sponsors a chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), as well as the Graduate Students Architecture (GSA), and Alpha Rho Chi (the fraternity of Architecture, the Applied Arts, and Environment
Design), and the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS). These student groups sponsor a variety of events, such as field trips to cities of architectural interest, films and lectures, an annual
Beaux-Arts Ball, Lunchtime Lecture Series, GSA Student Exhibit, Graduate Student Reception, Graduation Brunch, exhibits at local galleries, and annual design and building competitions. GSA also supports funding for
scholarly publications, grants for thesis work and conference attendance. For additional information, visit https://ap.buffalo.edu/People/related/student-organizations.html.
Note: As a professional school, the School of Architecture and Planning does not participate in undergraduate joint majors, but undergraduate minors are encouraged and recommended for University at Buffalo Architecture students.
Courses Outside Architecture that Could Improve Employment Opportunities
Courses in art history, urban and environmental planning, computer art, small business management, small business finance, economics, digital arts, photography, and statistics are particularly useful to architecture
students who want to enhance their employment opportunities.