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Curriculum

The School of Architecture offers two degree programs: an undergraduate, professional Bachelor of Architecture degree accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board, and a post-professional Master of Architecture II degree.

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

The Bachelor of Architecture curriculum of the School of Architecture is designed to provide the student with a comprehensive educational experience, gaining knowledge and skills in preparation for the successful and ethical practice of architecture.  Design studios and courses build cumulatively over the five years in order to establish a broad and deep foundation of knowledge in architecture and urban design in relation to developments in the sciences, arts, and technology.  The curriculum stresses the importance of architecture as a humanistic discipline concerned with the design and construction of habitats in diverse social and ecological conditions, and their corresponding requirements for sustainability and ethical responsibility. 

The five year professional program is framed within the context of a rigorous liberal arts education that includes a wide range of required and elective courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences, together with elective opportunities in the Schools of Art and Engineering, emphasizing the nature of architecture as a cultural, social, and technological practice intimately tied to the increasingly urgent questions raised by the man-made and natural environment. 

FIRST YEAR

The First Year is conceived as a broad introduction to society, culture, environment, and the nature, place and role of architecture in this context.  The student is introduced to the principles and experience of drawing and representation in a broad range of media and formats: freehand drawing is taught side by side with projective geometry (hand constructed and computer generated), and other means of architectural representation.  The Architectonics Studios encourage the investigation of space, structure, and form, as inflected by the occupation and movement of the human body, and situated in the context of environments from natural to urban.  The first two semesters of the History of Architecture sequence take the student through the global developments in architecture from Antiquity to the end of the Medieval Period, with special attention to non-western and traditional architectures. The First year of the Humanities and Social Sciences Core emphasize the student’s reading, writing, and analytical skills through the study of literary, historical, and sociological texts.

SECOND YEAR

The Second Year advances the student’s knowledge of architecture historically, culturally, and professionally.  The Second Year Design Studios are dedicated to the examination, through analysis and design exercises, of the “elements” of architecture and their assemblage, including sites and its ecological conditions, program, spatial accommodation and organization structure and environment. The first segment of the structures sequence introduced students to the principles of architectural structure. The second two semesters of the History of Architecture sequence examine the history of global architecture from the Renaissance to the present, with special emphasis on the complex environmental relations between increasingly industrialized and developing societies. The second year of the Humanities and Social Sciences core advances the students’ knowledge of writing and analytic skills with in-depth courses in literature, history, and philosophy.

THIRD YEAR

The Third Year is envisaged as a comprehensive experience of the discipline in design and professional knowledge, supplemented by a range of required and elective courses in environmental, technological, and humanistic subjects, forming an integrated introduction to the environmental, social, and programmatic understanding of design.  The Third Year Design Studios build from analysis to synthesis, from analyses of total building assemblages and smaller-scale design exercises, to the development of a comprehensive design for a complex programmatic institution.  To this end, the faculty responsible for the teaching of environmental technology, building technology, and structures join the design faculty as teachers in the design studio, with students bringing appropriate aspects of their design proposals for elaboration within the specialized courses. 

FOURTH YEAR

The Fourth Year broadens the study of architecture, placing it within its diverse urban and rural contexts, with students gaining advanced knowledge of technological, structural, and professional concerns, the planning, zoning, social and cultural implications of architectural interventions.  The Fourth Year Design Studios study the relation of institutional architecture to urban networks and infrastructures, public space, and typologies, from the investigation of rebuilding strategies following disasters, the role and nature of tall buildings, the nature of public and private institutions.  The study of landscape is emphasized, both as large-scale natural environments and smaller scale site developments.  A broad spectrum of specialized elective courses, including Modern Architectural Concepts, Analysis of Architectural Texts, Landscape, Advanced Topics in Environmental Studies, History, Theory and Criticism, Advanced Concepts in the related arts and professional ethics, deepens the understanding of the profession, and its relationship to different cultures and environmental context.

FIFTH YEAR

The Fifth Year is constructed around the student’s development of their individual thesis project, and the in-depth study of professional practice in all its aspects.  The year-long Thesis is divided into two stages over two semesters, with intensive research followed by a comprehensive design.  The subjects of the thesis vary in scale and context, with the proviso that the student investigates a problem of fundamental importance to contemporary life and architecture, identified as a site for the intervention of design as an ameliorative construct.  Overall the design thesis emphasizes the profound relationship of architecture to the broader problems of the environment and ecological sustainability, whether at the scale of desertification and rising sea-waters brought on by global warming, the provision of unpolluted water to developing communities, to the smaller scales of urban signification, mobility, and programmatic re-use.  The course in professional practice surveys the questions of licensing, internship and IDP participation, and introduces students through site visits to a range of practices and public hearings.

MINOR
Students in good academic standing with advance permission who complete a minimum of 15 upper-division credits in a specific field of liberal arts may qualify for a minor in that field of humanities and social sciences. Minors are offered and will be designated on student transcripts in the following fields: american studies; art history; literature; history and society. Additional information is available from the office of the dean of humanities and social sciences. 

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE II

The Master of Architecture II post-professional degree program was launched in 2009 to extend the vision and intellectual rigor of the undergraduate program and allow a further development of the school’s preeminent position in the education of architects.

The Master of Architecture II is a design research, postprofessional degree open to applicants with a first professional degree in architecture (Bachelor of Architecture or Master of Architecture I) from a program accredited by the NAAB or equivalent accrediting agency in another country. The program serves professionals who wish to continue in practice with higher research and design skills in those areas in which the program offers specialization. It additionally prepares those with first professional degrees who wish to develop parallel careers in teaching and/or continue to engage in research toward an appropriate Ph.D. degree at another institution.

The program seeks to address modern and contemporary issues in the practice and theory of architecture and urbanism, incorporating considerations from history as well as the present condition of globalization and the continual emergence of new scientific developments and technologies.

The program offers concentrations in one or a combination of three areas: theory, history and criticism of architecture, urban studies and technologies. Prospective students will declare their area(s) of concentration during the application process.

Applicants are required to complete a minimum of one year of work experience after obtaining their first professional degree before applying to the program.

The design studio serves as a major component of the program; students from all three concentrations will work together on a common program under the direction of a studio critic during the first two semesters. Seminars will address issues particular to the concentrations as well as other topics making use of the interdisciplinary resources offered by The Cooper Union.

Theory, History and Criticism of Architecture
Considers questions concerning the theory and criticism of modernism and contemporary architecture, the philosophy and aesthetics of architecture, the mediatization of architecture and broader cultural and historical issues through the critical readings of texts, the development of critical projects and a written thesis.

Urban Studies
Addresses issues central to the design, planning and development of cities and regions, including study of the morphological, social and cultural effects of globalization; the survival of local urban cultures; redevelopment of central cities, suburbs and exurbs; and issues specific to NewYork and comparative cities.

Technologies
Focuses on technological issues of architectural design, representation, planning and production, such as the impact of new information technologies, new materials and manufacturing processes; hardware and software development; mapping and modeling techniques; and the technologies of fabrication as they influence new design strategies. This area focuses as well on the economic, ethical and technological dimensions and design potentialities of sustainability and developments in new structural systems, materials and building assemblies.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.