Architectural Studies Learning Goals

Students who complete the major in Architectural Studies will be able to: 

• write and speak fluently and articulately in English, and employ a variety of rhetorical approaches and research methodologies in the analysis of a given text (building, drawing, image, design, theoretical or historical writing) of or about the built environment;

• examine a significant portion of architectural experience and define and discuss those theoretical, historical, cultural and compositional elements that have given it its unity and distinctiveness;

• demonstrate in-depth knowledge about aspects of architecture and the built environment;

• know how to make an argument and support it effectively with evidence;

• think critically about the relationship between materials of architectural production and the history, politics, performance and spatial context of their production;

• study architecture and the built environment in an independent and interdisciplinary manner;

• pursue research with current research tools;

• focus their coursework and interests within the major on a particular field or a specific research question;

• prepare, develop, and complete an extended research project in the form of the senior thesis.