Program Placement Rate:

92%

Source 2019-20 Dunwoody Career Services Annual Report

Architecture

Pursue a five-year professional Bachelor of Architecture degree (two-year associate’s degree + three-year Bachelor of Architecture completion degree).

11.7

Job Inquiries Per Graduate

Source 2019-20 Dunwoody Career Services Annual Report

ACCREDITED BY NAAB (NATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL ACCREDITING BOARD)

2+3 Years

GRADUATES EARN A BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE DEGREE

DAYTIME CLASSES ONLY AND ON CAMPUS ONLY

Dunwoody Architecture

Dunwoody Architecture is uniquely structured as a two plus three stackable credential, awarding a technical Associate of Applied Science degree after the first two years and a comprehensive professional Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) degree after the final three years. This structure allows students from other technical and community colleges to seamlessly transfer into year three of Dunwoody’s program.

The school roots its architectural education in a tradition of community engagement, social responsibility, and leadership in the profession, both locally and globally. Our distinctive position within a college of technology gives us access to collaborations across a variety of technical disciplines. Our students work intimately with fabrication labs, participate in design-build projects, and engage in global activism and climate initiatives, from Minneapolis to Puerto Rico.

Bachelor of Architecture students receive a dedicated touch-screen laptop with a suite of Autodesk and Adobe programs to be used as long as they are enrolled as students.

In addition to an ever increasing number of merit and need based scholarships, practice-based curriculum, professional-focused philosophy, and actively-practicing faculty give you the ability to work in the profession while in school. This can defray the cost of education, make you more valuable earlier in your career and allow you to complete all required experience for licensure prior to graduation.

Dunwoody’s Bachelor of Architecture is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). In accordance with NAAB standards, the Bachelor of Architecture maintains a Learning and Teaching Culture Policy.

The Bachelor of Architecture program has been accepted into the Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) initiative, which offers students the opportunity to earn an architecture license upon graduation.

International Students

This program is an official STEM Designated Degree Program, as listed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) qualifying it to fulfill the STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension requirement for the F-1 student visa.

The +3 completion degree is structured as follows:

YEAR 3

This first year of the +3 B.Arch. program has a heavy emphasis on design thinking by working with hands-on techniques of physical model making and 2D-representation using a suite of Autodesk and Adobe programs. This year introduces students to city and site, client and program, and the global history of architecture, including diverse traditions in the built environment.

View Year 3 Student Work (on ISSUU)

YEAR 4

The fourth year studios emphasizes research and participatory models of community engagement using real world projects. The history and theory curriculum deepens to include a study of urbanism, activism, globalization, and the vernacular. Students are often involved in study abroad programs or design-build and fabrication projects, gaining expertise in 3D-representation and fabrication techniques in addition to broadening their knowledge of culture and society.

View Year 4 Student Work (on ISSUU)

YEAR 5

The final year of the Bachelor of Architecture culminates in two distinctive studios: the first half of the year is dedicated to a technically rigorous, integrative studio, and the second half complements this technical rigor with a highly individualized, experimental, and exploratory studio project that enables students to develop deep and focused expertise in one area, whether that be design build, fabrication, climate justice and architecture, or some other specific topic.
View Year 5 Student Thesis Work (on ISSUU)

                    Affiliations:
                    NAAB National Architectural Accrediting Board – Accredited Program
AIA American Institute of Architects – Minnesota Chapter – Committee Members
AIAS American Institute of Architecture Students – Local Chapter Member
NOMAS The National Organization of Minority Architects – Local Chapter Member
CSI Construction Specifications Institute – Minnesota Chapter – Member Institution
ACSA Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture – Member Institution
ACADIA Association of Computer Aided Design In Architecture – Member Institution

                

Occupational Outlook**:

+18% Growth 2012-2022 (above average)

*2013 AIA Compensation Report: A Survey of U.S. Architecture Firms, www.aia.org
**2014 ACSA Atlas Project, www.acsa-arch.org

Apply to Dunwoody Visit Campus (In-Person or Virtually)

                    Class topics include:
                    City & Site, Site & Precedent, Program & Society
Global History of Architecture, Metropolis & Activism, Research
Ordering Systems, Fabrication, Material Studies
Professional Practice, Business Management, Entrepreneurship

                

Degree Requirements

To view program requirements, including required courses, electives, course descriptions, and credit hours, visit:

College Catalog: Architecture

Common Job Titles

Possible job titles upon graduation include:

Architectural Designer
Architect
Project Architect
Project Manager
Senior Designer
Job Captain

Student Organizations

Opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom include:

American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)
Women In Architecture (WIA)
National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMA)
Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)

Learn more.

Student Work

Designing The Structures He Once Helped Build

“When I first enrolled, I thought that by attending a technical college I would be trained for a job. I thought I would be punching a clock somewhere and putting in my nine to five. What I found was so much more. I discovered a career – a profession, a passion, and a purpose.” Read more about Nathaniel Nelson’s journey:

https://dunwoody.edu/news/2021/designing-the-structures-he-once-helped-build/

Digital Ceramics

In Spring 2017, students began their second architecture design+build studio, Digital Ceramics. This studio investigated the intersection between modern robotic manufacturing tools and fabrication processes and age-old materials of casting ceramics. The project addressed the issues architects face in introducing variation into typical standardized building systems and materials. Using new ways of making, including 3d modeling, parametric design, and digital fabrication with the use of a laser cutter and CNC router, students created functional, ceramic art, which was installed in Loring Corners near Loring Park.

Digital Ceramics 2017 Blog: https://digitalceramics2017.wordpress.com/

Dining Wild

In the Fall of 2016, Dunwoody began the first studio in the 5-year Bachelor of Architecture Degree: Dining Wild. This ongoing project introduces students to the importance of site and precedent in relationship to architecture. Students are charged with the design of the new dining hall and gathering space at the Steger Wilderness Center, to be built in 2018. Polar Explorer and Founder of the Steger Wilderness Center, Will Steger, as well as experts in site survey, culinary arts, engineering, alternative energy, building and design will contribute to the student’s work.

Dining Wild blog: https://diningwild2017.wordpress.com/

Veteran’s Journey Home

In the Spring of 2016, students collaborated with the non-profit organization Veteran’s Journey Home to provide housing for returning veterans and their families. On a site in Vadnais Heights, the students developed, designed, and constructed documents for three duplexes, each maintaining an individual identity and each with a different program, to provide flexibility for varying family conditions. The homes are expected to break ground in the Fall of 2016.

IFP Minnesota

In the Fall of 2015, Dunwoody Architecture initiated its first Bachelor of Architecture class. The inaugural studio featured a design-build project in collaboration with the Minnesota chapter of the Independent Filmmaker Project and MG McGrath. Responding to IFP’s need for better acoustic performance in their main galley, students parametrically designed, digitally fabricated, and installed a perforated aluminum composite panel with additional acoustic material.

Academic Excellence Award Winner David Jensen

For many, architecture is an art form. For artist David Jensen, architecture has become his new medium.

Jensen, who will graduate this May with a Bachelor Architecture from Dunwoody College of Technology, discovered his love of architecture through his art.

Facilities

Architecture Studios

Work in open concept studio spaces designed to foster collaboration and learning.

Individual work spaces
Drafting kits
Physical modeling kits
Large format printer
Wall and table spaces for displaying/reviewing architectural plans

Go To Architecture Studios >

Fabrication Lab

Create products, prototypes, and projects by using computer-aided design tools and then producing them in cardboard, plywood, plastic, and other materials.

2 laser cutters
Stratsys 3D printer
3-axis CNS router, belt sanders, scroll saws, drills, wire cutters
Spray booth with utility sink

Go To Fabrication Lab >

Architecture Faculty

Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a minor in American Indian Studies and a Master of Architecture degrees, both from the University of Minnesota. She is a well-recognized instructor in Interior Design and Architecture; focusing on the history of architecture and design and sustainable practices. These foci developed from her passion for place and the wealth of inspiration it holds. This passion informs another area of her personal/professional life – she is also the co-owner of a French Vietnamese restaurant that uses farm to table practices. Her multidisciplinary approach and understanding make her a compassionate ally to students on the pathway to success.

Selected recognitions – 2019 Dunwoody Teacher of the Year, 2011 Jerome Award for Teaching Excellence from the Art Institute International Minnesota, 50 Best Restaurants MSP Magazine 2014-2017

Andrew Blaisdell is an Architect with a background in prefab modern, historic restoration, relief housing, and urban planning. He is the founder of Studio Andhow, an Assistant Professor at Dunwoody College, and has taught studios, seminars, and workshops at the University of Minnesota, where he received a Master of Architecture degree in 2010.

Anjali is an Associate Professor at Dunwoody College of Technology. She has practiced architecture both domestically and internationally in the United States, India and Europe, with her areas of focus being on large institutional master planning projects. This international perspective shapes both her current research and teaching interests, as she brings together the globalized and vernacular contexts of architectural works through projects in the design studio & theory of architecture classes as well as her own dissertation writing. Anjali has taught architecture design studios at the University of Minnesota as well as urban design classes at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements. She has presented and published in various venues such as the Society of Architectural Historians Conference and The International Seminar on Urban Form. Currently, Anjali serves as a student advisor to the Dunwoody NOMAS (National Organization of Minority Architecture Students) chapter. She believes that every student can produce their best work in an academic setting if they are given ownership of the design process and a sense of belonging within the larger community, they will one day serve as architects.

Anjali received her Master of Architecture Degree from Virginia Tech and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature.

Molly Reichert is an architectural researcher, designer and educator based in Minneapolis, MN. Her practice integrates the disciplines of architecture, art, design, urbanism into the construction of new social spaces. As a partner in the design collective Futures North, Molly has worked on highly–acclaimed public art projects designed to convey complex data through aesthetic visualization and interactive experience. Her teaching combines digital design & fabrication with interdisciplinary critical design thinking. She previously taught in the architecture departments of UC Berkeley, San Jose State University, and the University of Minnesota.

Paul Strother is an associate professor at Dunwoody College of Technology and a practicing architect. Paul has focused on technical excellence in his teaching and practice. He believes that design study predicated on sound technology produces building design that is credible and is essential for sustainable building design. Further, it prepares the graduates for success as architects. Paul is committed to develop the potential of every student and enjoys igniting the spark of enthusiasm and confidence.

Paul is a member of CSI. Recognition includes the Rotary Paul Harris Award for Community Service.