Program Requirements

Architecture at Bard approaches the discipline and practice as a matter of public concern—an aesthetic spatial practice whose propositions aim to reconfigure our collective present toward more just futures. The program builds connections across architectural cultures, design techniques, histories, and research to equip students with an expansive and experimental attitude toward the field that simultaneously opens paths for engaging other disciplines spatially. The curriculum is designed to frame architecture as both an art form and an argument: it presents architecture as a historically situated and intellectually rigorous field in which the practice of design intersects with and draws from discourses external to its own. The program teaches students that architecture is both entangled with and operative in worlds beyond its disciplinary boundaries, but that it is also a site for transformative, insurgent spatial and material possibilities with which to imagine our worlds otherwise.

Moderation Requirements:

1. ARCH 111 Architecture as Media

2. ARTH 126 Situating Architecture

3. ARCH 130 Open Practices Workshop (2 credits)

4. 100-200 level Elective on Space

In addition to these course requirements, students wishing to moderate into architecture must submit the two essays as required by the college as well as a portfolio of work to date including at least one featured project. The Architecture Program treats moderation as an opportunity for in-depth discussion with key faculty at a crucial point in students' development; it is a moment of shared reflection and constructive speculation aimed at building toward a Senior Project.

Graduation Requirements:

5. ARCH 221 Planetary: Introductory Design Studio-Seminar (pre-req: ARCH 111)

6. ARCH 321 Constituencies: Core Design Studio-Seminar (pre-req: ARCH 221)

7. ARCH 421 Futures: Advanced Design Studio-Seminar (pre-req: ARCH 221)

or ARCH 411 Architecture as Research (pre-req: ARCH 221)

8. ARCH 331 Open Practices Workshop (2 credits) (pre-req: ARCH 221)

9. 300-400 level Elective on Space

10. Senior Project I

11. Senior Project II

The senior project is developed across two terms. Senior Project I (term 1) offers space in which students will formulate a research/design question and culminates in a student-led colloquium with external and internal critics. Senior Project II (term 2) is dedicated to the development and completion of the proposed project. The conclusion of the Senior Project consists of the submission of a portfolio fully documenting the Project and participation in an annual Senior Show.

Sample Program of Study

First Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

• ARCH 111

• ARTH 126

• FYSEM I (fall)

• FYSEM II (spring)

• ARCH 130

• Elective on Space (100-200)

• ARCH 221

Moderation (spring)

• ARCH 321

• ARCH 322 or 311

• ARCH 331

• Elective on Space (300-400)

• Senior Project I (fall)

• Senior Project II (spring)

ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM

Program Requirements