The Boston Architectural College
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The Boston Architectural College (the BAC), formerly known as the Boston Architectural Center, is New England's largest independent design college, located on beautiful Newbury Street in Boston's historic Back Bay neighborhood. The BAC offers bachelor's and /or master's degrees in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and design studies. The school was founded in 1889 as the Boston Architectural Club, and evolved over time into a fully accredited degree granting college. Since its founding as a club for architects in the Boston area who needed to educate their apprentices, the BAC has maintained close ties to the professional design community throughout its history. Those ties exist in the BAC's faculty of practicing professionals.
Its mission is stated as follows: "Dedicated to excellence in the education of design professionals, the BAC is supported by a strong faculty, accessible, and rooted in the professions." Accessibility has largely been manifest in an open admissions policy, but also in efforts to keep tuition affordable. Currently, the school enrolls over 1000 degree-seeking students and over 400 continuing education students, while employing 300 educators and professional practitioners.
One of the most unique characteristics of the BAC is the concurrent learning model: experiential practice in the field, intellectual academic learning in the classroom. In addition to classroom study, students earn credits working in paid positions at design firms during the day, while attending classes in the evening, typically two to three nights per week. This educational experience connects the theoretical with the practical, and also often affords students the ability to test for licensure upon graduation.
The college offers the following degree programs: Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Interior Design, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Bachelor of Design Studies, Master of Architecture, Master of Interior Design, and a Practicing Professionals Distance M.Arch.
In addition to its degree programs, the BAC offers an extensive array of continuing education courses. Professionals and non-professionals alike can choose to take a course or enroll in certificate programs covering the following areas: advanced architectural rendering, computer-aided design, decorative arts, historic preservation, and sustainable design. The BAC is also a center for professional development, offering practicing architects and interior designers an opportunity to obtain continuing education credit by taking courses at the BAC and in their own firms.
The BAC's central location and its proximity to the Boston design community make it a convenient center for the discussion of design-related issues.
[edit] External links
| Professional Arts Consortium |
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| Berklee College of Music • Boston Architectural College • Boston Conservatory • Emerson College • MassArt • School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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