Brown University

Source: https://bulletin.brown.edu/the-college/concentrations/arct/ Parent: https://bulletin.brown.edu/azindex/

The Architecture concentration introduces students to a broad understanding of concepts and methods for the planning and design of buildings and urban environments. It connects architectural education firmly to the humanities and provides a greater awareness of historical, global, environmental, social and economic issues in the built environment. This approach to the education of architects and urban planners aims to provide them with the tools needed in today’s fractured urban society. Apart from training careful observation, critical analysis and problem solving, students will acquire skills in sketching, drafting, model-making, and digital rendering. By combining a carefully selected range of classes in architectural design, the humanities, engineering and technology, and urban life and theory, students will acquire necessary proficiency for pursuing a graduate degree in architecture after Brown.

NOTE:  The Architecture concentration is open for current concentrators and for prospective concentrators admitted to the University in Fall 2024. Starting in Fall 2025, the department will no longer offer this concentration as an option for incoming first year students. More information is available here.

Self-Assessment

All concentrators are required to write an essay when they file for the concentration that lays out what they expect to gain from the course of study they propose. All second-semester seniors will be required to write a final essay that takes measure of what they have learned from the concentration, including their capstone and other experiences relating to their study of architecture. The self-assessment should be submitted through ASK with a revised list of courses actually taken at least one month prior to graduation.

Summary of Concentration Requirements1

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1 : A maximum of four credits may be allowed for courses taken at other universities (transfer credits or from study abroad) or courses on architectural subjects taken in other departments. No concentration credit will be granted for AP/A-level scores.

2 : Electives should be chosen in consultation with your concentration advisor.

Honors

During the second semester of the junior year all concentrators will be invited to apply for admission to the Honors Program in Architecture. The honors program is an opportunity for you to mobilize what you have learned to make an original research contribution to the field.

There are two pathways to honors in the Architecture concentration: thesis and project-based.

Those pursuing the thesis option research and write a historical or theoretical essay on a topic of their choice over the course of their senior year. The thesis should be no more than 35 pages in length, plus bibliography and illustrations.

Those pursuing the project option further develop a design project that they initiated in an Intermediate or Advanced Studio in their junior year or in the first semester of their senior year. They devote a minimum of one additional semester further developing their project in regular consultation with a faculty advisor. (This can mean building an additional, more elaborate model, creating more renderings, or refining the concept.)

Students wishing to pursue Honors should have produced consistently excellent work and maintained a high level of achievement (i.e. a majority of “A” or “S with distinction” grades) in all concentration courses. Acceptance into the Honors program depends on the persuasiveness of the thesis topic and the availability of relevant faculty to advise the thesis. Students may refine their proposals by speaking in advance with potential advisors. No honors student may take more than four courses either semester of their senior year—with the honors seminar being considered one of the four courses. Students interested in honors who are expecting to graduate in the middle of the year should contact the concentration advisor no later than the beginning of their junior year.

During both fall and spring semesters you will participate in the monthly meetings of the Honors cohort, in which honors students in both HIAA concentrations share their work-in-progress with each other and with the faculty member who supervises the seminar. These monthly meetings, usually three per semester, are mandatory. Students must enroll in HIAA 1990 (Honors Thesis) in both semesters. S tudents are also expected to meet separately and regularly with their own thesis advisor.

Theses and projects will be due to the advisor and second reader by March 1 of the Spring semester or by November 1 of the Fall semester if you plan on graduating in December. Comments will be returned to the students for final corrections at that point. There will be a public presentation of Honors work at the end of the Spring semester.