Nowness - Illinois Institute of Technology

Bachelor
of Architecture
The program begins with an introduction
to the history of architecture and to the
contemporary profession, helping students
understand the variety of paths that their
architectural education could follow. Initial
studio assignments develop communication
skills—verbal, graphic, and written—that
enable students to navigate their field while
also introducing them to the elements that
comprise architecture—surface, wall, door,
opening, stair, room. With an emphasis on
how things are made, students will be asked
to consider fundamental questions: What
is a door? How does its making inform its
design? How does its design impact the wall
surrounding it? This initial period culminates
in the design of a small structure encompassing
all of the elements explored in the
preceding exercises.
In the second year, studio assignments
center on urban dwelling via the study of a
small house in the city. The student is introduced
to fundamental aspects of building:
space, structure, materials, and construction.
Students begin by researching historical
precedents and analyzing how the concept of
living in the city has changed over time, and
proceed with a study of contemporary issues
and building methods that will inform their
design. Driven by informed speculation, this
period concludes with an exercise in imagining
the home of the future. How will changing
demographics and family patterns affect the
home of the future? What impact will climate
change have on how we live?
The third year of design studios introduce
more complex sites and programs in the study
of multiple and hybrid buildings in the city.
Students move beyond the single building
to consider the spaces between buildings,
infrastructural elements, and neighborhoods.
Initial research phases are followed by studio
assignments that include the design of
mixed-use buildings with hybrid structures,
and projects comprised of multiple building
elements. Students explore the architect’s role
in the making of a neighborhood and end with
a project on the neighborhood of the future.
54 55
Leading to a professional degree,
the Bachelor of Architecture program
is centered on a studio sequence
that increases in complexity as the
student advances over the course
of five years, proceeding from the
basic elements of architecture,
to buildings, and then to the city.
In addition to design studios, the
curriculum of required and elective
courses includes architectural history
and theory, building technologies,
structures, representation, and professional
practice, as well as a range
of courses beyond architecture that
form a well-rounded undergraduate
education.
The fourth year of the studio sequence is
focused on comprehensive building design.
Here, students consider contemporary building
practices in a more in-depth manner that
stresses the integration of structure, envelope,
and building systems into a unified whole.
Studio assignments are large institutional
buildings in the city with more complex programs
and students are asked to consider the
nature of how such institutions interface with
the urban environment. How does the institution
engage the city in a dialogue? What is
changed or activated by its presence? What
does the building say about its urban context?
Finally, the fifth year is focused on urban
design and is more speculative in nature.
Students select from a menu of studio
options and work side-by-side with Master
of Architecture, Master of Science, and
Ph.D. degree candidates in research-based,
forward-looking studios that speculate on
the city of the future. What is our vision of an
urban future? What is the role of the architect
in its realization? These and other questions
are explored in studios, related coursework,
and special seminars that focus on the emerging
issues of the global city organized by a
yearly theme under the umbrella of “The New
Metropolis.” This yearly theme binds the
studios together thematically, and underpins
the discourse of IIT Architecture. Lectures,
symposia, exhibitions and master classes all
intersect with this theme and, together with
the advanced studios, define IIT’s position
within the discipline of Architecture and constitute
its statement to the world at large.
Programs of Study
Programs of Study