Prerequisites
Program prerequisites include Arch 200: Architecture and Society, a course that introduces students to architectural concepts and histories, and an English course. Arch 200 must be taken at UIC. Students transferring into the BA from another institution take Arch 200 once admitted to the program.
Year 1
The first-year BA curriculum introduces various techniques in drawing, model building, and digital production as organizers and generators of both architectural design (first semester) and urban design (second semester). Critical observation, inquiry, and thinking methodologies are introduced through a sequence of short assignments that build on one another and focus on architectural concepts such as form, space, proportion, and scale. In addition to design studio, students takes a concurrent two-semester sequence in architectural theory/criticism, with a focus on oral and written communication, as well as art history and CADA courses and open electives.
Year 2
In the fall semester of senior year, students enroll in a seminar focused on one of several topics with contemporary relevance defined by a range of faculty; students have the opportunity to express which course option they prefer to take. The theory/history class sequence introduces critical and generative approaches to twentieth-century architecture and theory. The focus in the 440 and 499 seminars shifts to technologies within architecture. Projects address the concepts and principles of module and materiality through physical models and advanced digital modeling.
