Bachelor of Science in Architecture

CU Denver Core Curriculum
The core curriculum is a campus-wide general education program applicable to all majors and independent of a student's home school or college. The core curriculum is designed to provide each undergraduate student with a high-quality general education based on a liberal arts foundation, while allowing students flexibility based on their individual backgrounds and specific career goals. The core curriculum develops multiple perspectives, stimulates creative thinking, and strives to engage students in developing sensitivity to diversity as well as developing their place in an urban environment and in the rapidly changing global community.

Leading Technologies
Students have access to digital tools and a state-of-the-art design fabrication shop, LIDAR 3D laser scanning technology to document structures, and the Visual Resource Center. We teach both digital and manual graphics skills with courses in sketching, drawing and ink wash, as well as the latest parametric and digital fabrication design technologies.

Study Abroad
Previous opportunities have taken students to Rome, Greece, Thailand, Finland, and Guatemala. CU Denver offers many academic opportunities for students to study in another country, from short-term (approximately two weeks) to a year.

Student Organizations
We have active chapters of American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), Freedom by Design, Students for Classical Architecture, and Design Build Institute of America (DBIA). These clubs are an excellent way for students to network with other students and professionals.

Internships
Students can complete up to six credit hours of internship credits as part of their degree program. Some internships may count toward Architectural Experience Program (AXP) that qualify candidates to sit for the Architect Registration Examination (ARE).

Portfolio Reviews and Career Fair
Faculty and advising staff provide workshops and guidance for students who wish to apply to graduate school at CU Denver or elsewhere. The college hosts a portfolio review event with local professionals as well as a large career fair where students can interview with firms from around the country.

The curriculum emphasizes:

• The development of the critical, analytical, interpretive, and creative abilities that are essential to engaging and effectively addressing the diverse bodies of knowledge that define architecture's realm and its practices;
• The use of design thinking as a highly effective means for dealing with complex situations, asking students to respond to design issues and situations that are often in conflict through analysis, interpretation, reason, argumentation ,and proof with both precision and accuracy;
• The ability to analyze, interpret, organize, arrange, and manipulate various bodies of knowledge; and
• Understanding and being able to apply appropriate methodologies
  
  

Required Credits:
120 minimum credits to graduate

• 49 credits outside the Architecture Program
  • 37 required Core Curriculum credits
  • 12 elective credits
    
• 71 credits in the Architecture Program
  • 54 required
  • 17 elective
    

Four Areas of Study
The curriculum is organized around four areas of study:

1. Design Studies (27 credits): Design studios assist students in developing their design thinking as applied to the complex process of analysis, interpretation, definition, and conclusion of design problems. Undergraduate students take five studio courses.
2. Cultural Studies (9 credits): Historical and cultural studies courses present particular methodologies for analyzing, organizing, categorizing, interpreting, and delivering information about the designed environment's past. Courses in this area include Introduction to Architecture and Urbanism, Architectural History I, and Architectural History II.
3. Technical Studies (18 credits): Technological studies investigate the science of building technology. Courses in this area include ARCH 3130: Construction Practices I; ARCH 3430: Construction Practices II; ARCH 3330: Building Systems I; ARCH 3130: Building Systems II; ARCH 3130: Theory of Structures I; and ARCH 3130: Theory of Structures II.
4. Architecture Electives (12 credits): Architecture electives allow students to focus their education in areas specific to their individual interests and career goals. Recent electives include Architecture Photography, 3D Design, Computation and Prototyping, Architecture Digital Media, Biomimicry, and Survival Sketching. Students may also have the opportunity to take courses in landscape architecture and urban planning.