i. institutional support and commitment to continuous improvement

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
Master of Architecture
Master of Architecture with emphasis in Interior Architecture
I. INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT AND COMMITMENT TO
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
I.1. IDENTITY AND SELF ASSESSMENT
I.1.1. History and Mission
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), which predates the lauded museum, the Art Institute
of Chicago (AIC), is an artist-centric institution, founded, run, and transformed by the many visual
artists, designers, performers, scholars, and architects who have shaped the School. Since 1866, the
vision and growth of SAIC has been a reflection of the vanguard and myriad trajectories art has
undertaken. This has lead to a flexible curriculum, strongly steeped in the sound scholarship of liberal
arts curricula, that reflects contemporary practice in art and design and its interface with the world.
A reflection of that ongoing innovation is the department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and
Designed Objects (AIADO)—the result of institutional efforts to strengthen, expand, and integrate
its established design programs. Within AIADO’s academic unit (which also provides administrative
support for the department of Historic Preservation), the Master of Architecture program offers a
structured degree, while still reflecting the engaged, collaborative nature of SAIC, drawing on the
institution’s history and other programs to explore new systems and opportunities for engagement
with architecture in the world.
A) Mission of the institution
Both the mission and objectives have served as historical documents for an institution established
nearly 150 years ago. The Art Institute of Chicago’s corporate charter (Articles of Incorporation) was
originally obtained from the State of Illinois in 1879, and the original mission and objectives were
found in that charter. The mission was amended in 1925, 1982, and, most recently, 2004 when both the
mission and objectives were revised to more specifically reflect the current nature of the School.
Mission Statement, as revised in 2004
To provide excellence in the delivery of a global education in visual, design, media and related
arts, with attendant studies in the history and theory of those disciplines set within a broad-based
humanistic curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences. To provide instruction for this education in a
range of formats: written, spoken, media and exhibition-based.
Statement of Objectives, as revised in 2004
To assemble a diverse body of intelligent and creative students and faculty in an innovative,
transdisciplinary environment designed to facilitate and encourage the creation and discovery of
significant ideas, objects and images; to provide for the development of individual excellence in the
visual, design, media and related arts and in relevant professional and academic disciplines.
B) History of the institution
SAIC is one of the largest and oldest visual art and design schools in the nation, and one of only three
to retain their original affiliation with a partner museum. SAIC has evolved from a professional fine art
“museum school” to a college of art that, in addition to the time-honored study of painting, sculpture,
and printmaking, also embraces media and time arts; design; and, transdisciplinary fields such as visual
and critical studies. Studio graduate programs are complemented by degrees offered in art history,
theory, and criticism; writing; arts administration; visual and critical studies; historic preservation; new
arts journalism; art therapy; and art education. A full detailing of the Institution’s corporate structure,
programs, and degrees can be found in section 3.11 of the APR.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, founded by a small group of Chicago artists in 1866, was
designed after a drawing-based, European academy model that emphasized traditional artmaking
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