College of Arts and Sciences
UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR IN ARCHITECTURE

GENERAL INFORMATION

Richard Wesley, Chair
Undergraduate Program 
rwesley@pobox.upenn.edu
215.898.5728
215.573.2192 (Fax)
Office Hours: By appointment.
 

Administrative Office:
Department of Architecture
207 Meyerson Hall
210 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6311
215.898.5728
215.573.2053 (Fax)
arch @pobox.upenn.edu

 

CONTENTS

Program Description

Curriculum:
Major: Design Concentration
Major: History, Theory, and Criticism Concentration
Intensive Major
Minor
Prerequisites for Graduate Study

Course Descriptions
Courses in the History of Art
Studios
Theory Courses
Elective Courses
Freshman Seminar

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Major in Architecture is a studio-based liberal arts program offering two tracks or concentrations in the study of architecture.  The Design Concentration includes a three-year sequence of design studios combined with courses in art history and architectural theory. The History, Theory, and Criticism Concentration includes a two-year sequence of design studios and courses in art history combined with additional coursework in art history, architectural theory, and related subjects.

Students declare the Major in Architecture upon completion of ARCH 202.  Admission into the Concentration in Design is dependent on a student earning a minimum 3.0 grade point average in ARCH 201 and 202.

CURRICULUM

Bachelor of Arts
Major in Architecture: Design Concentration

Sophomore Year

Fall

Course Units

ARCH 201

Visualization I 

1

 

ARTH 001

  
1
     

 

Spring 

 

ARCH 202

Visualization II 

 1

 

ARTH 002

  

  1
     

Junior Year

Fall 

 

ARCH 301

Design Fundamentals I 

2

 

ARTH**

  

 1
     

 

Spring

  

 

ARCH 302

Design Fundamentals II 

2

 

ARTH**

  

 1
     

Senior Year

Fall 

 

ARCH 401

Architecture & Landscape Design I 

2

ARCH 411

Poetics of Landscape Architecture 

1

 

 

 

Spring

  

 

 

ARCH 402

Architecture & Landscape Design II 

 2

 

ARCH 412

Poetics of Architecture 

 1

 

   
       

 

Total Course Units:

16

Bachelor of Arts
Major in Architecture: History, Theory, and Criticism Concentration

Sophomore Year

Fall

 

Course Units

ARCH 201

Visualization I 

1

 

ARTH 001

  
1
     

 

Spring 

 

ARCH 202

Visualization II 

1

 

ARTH 002

  

  1
     

Junior Year

Fall

  

 

ARCH 301

Design Fundamentals I 

2

 

ARTH**

  

 1
     

 

Spring

  

 

ARCH 302

Design Fundamentals II 

2

 

ARTH**

  

 1
     

Senior Year

Fall

  

 

ARCH 411

Poetics of Landscape Architecture 

1

 

ARTH 301

Undergraduate Seminar 

 1
  ***   
 1

 

Spring

  

 

 

ARCH 412

Poetics of Architecture 

 1

 

ARTH 398

Senior Thesis 

 1

 

***

  

1
      
 
      
 

 

Total Course Units:

16

* ARTH 001: Architect and History; ARTH 002: The Rise of Modern Visual Media

* * Any ARTH 200, 400, or 500-level

* * *Any course in the College, excluding courses in ARCH or ARTH, selected in consultation with an Academic Advisor.  Students are encouraged to select courses within a thematic cluster.

INTENSIVE MAJOR
A selected number of students may be admitted to an Intensive Major in Architecture within the Design Concentration. To be admitted to the Intensive Major a student must be in good academic standing and have a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average in ARCH 201, ARCH 202, and ARCH 301. Application for admission to the Intensive Major is made to the Director in the spring semester of the junior year. The application consists of a one-page statement of intent and a portfolio of work from ARCH 201, ARCH 202, and ARCH 301. Students who successfully complete the Intensive Major will be admitted into the second year of the 3-year Master of Architecture Professional Degree Program in the Department of Architecture in the School of Design with one year of Advanced Standing.

A student admitted to the Intensive Major will take the following three additional course units as non-College Free Electives: ARCH 431/2: Construction I & II, ARCH 433/4: Environmental Systems I & II, and ARCH 435/6: Structures I & II. Upon approval of the Undergraduate Chair, a student in the Intensive Major may be permitted to take ARCH 501 and ARCH 502 (in lieu of ARCH 401 and 402), and ARCH 511 and 512 (in lieu of ARCH 411 and ARCH 412). Those students who take ARCH 501 and ARCH 502, will also be required to take an additional course unit as a non-College Free Elective in ARCH 521/2: Visual Studies I & II.

MINOR
The Minor in Architecture is an 8 course-unit program of study.  The Minor consists of a two-year sequence of design studios and courses in art history including ARCH 201, ARCH 202, ARCH 301, ARCH 302, and two course units in the History of Art: ARTH 001, ARTH 002.

PREREQUISITES FOR GRADUATE STUDY
Students in the Minor or Major who intend to apply for enrollment in the Department of Architecture in the School of Design, with or without Advanced Standing, must fulfill the following prerequisites: ARTH 001 and ARTH 002; MATH 104 or MATH 105 and PHYS 008 and PHYS 009.

COURSES IN THE HISTORY OF ART
In addition to ARTH 001, 002, Majors in Architecture are required to take two courses selected from the ARTH 200, 400, or 500-level courses currently being offered by the Department of the History of Art. The courses offered will vary each year.

Please visit the website of the Department of the History of Art for a list of courses offered in the current academic year: http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Required Studios [10 cu]
ARCH 201: Visualization I: Drawing and Design [1 cu]. Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing. An introductory drawing and design studio exploring two-dimensional image-making as the foundation for visual communication and representation. In projects employing observed and imagined subject matter, conventional media and drawing techniques are used to investigate making and seeing.

ARCH 202: Visualization II: Drawing and Communication [1 cu]. Prerequisites: ARCH 201.  Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing. A continuing drawing and design studio exploring two-dimensional visual communication through advanced composition and media technique. With an emphasis on individual intent and analysis, imagination and craft are incorporated into projects investigating the relationship between culture and content, media and image, narrative and object, and historical and contemporary issues of representation and design.

ARCH 301: Design Fundamentals I: Perception [2 cu]. Prerequisites: ARCH 202.  An introduction to principles of visual perception and the language of visual form. Students explore the relationship between the two-dimensional images and their corresponding three-dimensional interpretations in plan, section, elevation, axonometric, one-point perspective, and two-point perspective. Moving back and forth between these dimensions leads to the development of a working design method.

ARCH 302: Design Fundamentals II: Structure and Metaphor [2 cu]  Prerequisites: ARCH 301.  An introduction to two-and three-dimensional design. Students explore the relationship between form and meaning, investigating the relationship between visual structure and metaphor, acquiring creative problem-solving skills in abstract and concrete processes, developing a sense of material and craft, and learning to communicate verbally and graphically.

ARCH 401: Architectural Design I [2 cu] Prerequisites: ARCH 302.  An introduction to fundamental topics in architecture and landscape architecture. Issues of mapping, placement, scale, and construction are explored through studio design exercises, site visits, and discussions. Course work focuses on the preparation and presentation of discrete design projects that emphasize the acquisition of representational and analytical skills, and the development of imaginative invention and judgment.

ARCH 402: Architectural Design II [2 cu] Prerequisites: ARCH 401.  A continuing exploration of architectural design. Content and technique in representation and construction are explored through various studio design exercises.

Required Theory Courses [2 cu]
ARCH 411: Poetics of Landscape Architecture [1 cu] Issues, topics, themes and forms of landscape architecture are explored through case studies of important historical and contemporary landscaped sites, drawn from different periods and cultures. Students develop their own critical concepts, rhetorical skills, and research potential through the study of a site of their own choice as well as of organized sites.

ARCH 412: Poetics of Architecture [1 cu] A study of architecture as the representation of the archetypal models of Arcadia and Utopia. A study of the complex relationships between artifice and nature as a means of revealing the ultimate sources of architecture and landscape architecture.

Elective Courses
ARCH 440: Introduction to Computers in Architecture [1 cu] This course provides an introduction to computer graphic technology in the context of current architectural practice. The primary software used is AutoCAD which is the most widely used architectural software and provides a good grounding for exploration of other programs. Topics include basic vector graphics, two dimensional drawing and drafting and basic three dimensional modeling. The course is organized around a series of structured exercises that illustrate basic principles and enable students to develop greater facility with the software. The final project will be a computer studymodel of the student's choosing which will be incorporated into a class wide project. There is also a field trip to the offices of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates to see the use of computers in their practice. No experience with Auto CAD software is required.

ARCH 462: Design & Development [1 cu] Many factors affect architectural design, including architectural style, building technology, functional demands, social needs, and the forces of the marketplace. The examples discussed focus on the places where we live, work, shop, and play. Topics include domestic design, planned communities, and new urbanism. The course consists of lectures, reading assignments, short essays, a group project, and an exam. Invited lecturers include architects, real estate developers, and homebuilders. Readings consist of a Bulkpack available from Wharton Reprographics. There are two books recommended for additional background reading. Douglas Frantz, "From the Ground Up: The Business of Building in the Age of Money," and Witold Rybczynski,"Looking Around: A Journey Through Architecture."

Freshman Seminar
ARCH 102: Architecture Today [1 cu] [Distribution III: Arts and Letters] Why do buildings by different architects look so different? The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, for example, is quite different from the Bilbao Guggenheim; Rem Koolhas' proposed library in Seattle is world's apart from Tom Beeby's Harold T. Washington Library in Chicago. In addition to site, function, and construction, architecture is affected by style, and today there are many different stylistic approaches. Style is neglected in most discussions of architecture yet it is central to the design and appreciation of buildings. The seminar will examine the role that style plays in the work of prominent contemporary architects (e.g., Frank Gehry, Robert Venturi, Robert A.M. Stern, Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel) both in the United States and abroad. Selected readings will form the basis for written assignments that will include two 5-page papers and one 10-page term paper.

To request an application, click here

Updated 11 September 2003