NAAB Architecture Program Report (APR) 2013 - Tulane School of ...

Tulane UniversityArchitecture Program ReportSeptember 2013Part Three (III). Progress Since Last Site VisitIII.1. Summary of Responses to the Team Findings [2008]72a. Responses to Conditions Not Met13.14 AccessibilityComment from previous VTR [2008]This condition is not met. The team is concerned with the inconsistency in addressingsite and building circulation and access needs. Clear and concise graphic solutions torestroom, elevator, parking and pedestrian access needs should be commonplace instudio design work.Response from Program [2013]:The program has focused on universal design issues in two main venues of the requiredcurriculum. Professional Concerns (our name for Professional Practice) has a clearsegment identifying and exploring the legal and ethical dimensions of these issues. Inaddition, the design studio curriculum has incorporated clear expectations that projectsmuch embrace universal design to the fullest extent possible at several key points.Particular attention is directed toward these issues in the fall and spring of the student’sthird year (second year for graduate students). The spring is the Comprehensive Projectsemester and all projects in this studio are expected to be accessible and are judgedaccordingly. Each year, the school circulates to all students and faculty an excellentGuide to ADA produced by Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Accessibility.b. Responses to Causes of ConcernGraduate ProgramComment from previous VTR [2008]The M.Arch. program is experiencing a growth in students who come from a range ofacademic backgrounds. Both students and faculty have raised concern in the level offunding for these students to pursue graduate study as well as to attract future studentsto TSA. In addition, students feel there is a need for a distinctive quality about theirprogram that establishes an identity unique to the graduate program that requires a morein-depth advanced study. This is less in terms of the curriculum and more about thehigher level of maturity of the current TSA graduate (program, sic.) [students] have andthe desire for a heightened level of requirements.Response from Program [2013]:We have focused a good deal of energy and money toward growing the graduateprogram. Quantitatively and qualitatively the program has progressed in every possiblemeasure. We have tripled the size of the graduate program since 2008 and tripled thenumber of applicants. Qualitative measures in every respect have improved as well. Anew Director of Graduate Architecture program was appointed in 2009 (Doug Harmon) in2009, and he has played a major role in advancing the program along with many facultymembers and most recently Associate Dean for Academics Wendy Redfield (since2011.) $10,000 in funding has been provided in each of the past four years for aGraduate Colloquium in the spring, and financial support has been provided for studenttravel and several graduate student publications. Scholarship support has increased aswell. Funding has been provided for special events in Preservation (2 symposia titled“Preservation Matters 1, 2, and 3 over the past five years) and focused lecture serieshave been developed for the new graduate program in Sustainable Real EstateDevelopment over the past three years. Graduate students and students in general have