Notre Dame School of Architecture

Notre Dame School of Architecture

Bond Hall, University of Notre Dame School of Architecture

Bond Hall
Established 1898
Type Private
Dean Michael Lykoudis
Academic staff
 41
Undergraduates 200 - B.Arch
Postgraduates 30 - M.Arch, M.ADU
Location Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
41°42′4.97″N 86°14′30.11″W / 41.7013806°N 86.2416972°WCoordinates: 41°42′4.97″N 86°14′30.11″W / 41.7013806°N 86.2416972°W
Website architecture.nd.edu

The University of Notre Dame School of Architecture was the first Catholic university in America to offer a degree in architecture, beginning in 1898. The School offers undergraduate and post-graduate architecture programs.

The School of Architecture has approximately 200 undergraduate students and 30 graduate students. The School has its own library, which includes a rare book collection dedicated to the history of the study and practice of architecture in the United States. The School of Architecture is the smallest of the six major program divisions of the University (the others being the Mendoza College of Business, the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Engineering, the College of Science, and the Law School).

The School of Architecture is located in Bond Hall on the Notre Dame campus. In addition to the library, it holds offices, studios, classrooms, and an eatery called Café Poche.

The School is teaches (pre-modernist) traditional architecture and urban planning (e.g. following the principles of New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture).[1] It awards the annual Driehaus Architecture Prize for achievements in classical and traditional architecture and sustainable urbanism.

History of the School

The University of Notre Dame, founded in 1842 by the Congregation of Holy Cross, is an independent, national Catholic university located in Notre Dame, Indiana. Architecture as a discipline was taught at the University as early as 1869, but it was not until 1898 that the faculty was organized into its own School apart from the other Colleges.

Admissions

The University of Notre Dame School of Architecture is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. Any student admitted as an undergraduate to the University of Notre Dame may declare an architecture major.

Degree programs

Bachelor of Architecture

All undergraduate students take a five-year program leading to the Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree.[2] There are typically between 45 and 50 students in each graduating BArch class.

Master of Architecture

The School's graduate program has three programs: a two-year, post-professional degree for students who have already completed an undergraduate or graduate professional degree, leading to a Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism (Path A); a two-year program leading to a Master in Architecture (M.Arch) for students who studied architecture or a related field as undergraduates (Path B); and a three-year program leading to a Master in Architecture (M.Arch) for students who already have degrees in other, unrelated programs (Path C). The latter program for non-majors was started in 2005.[3] All three programs spend a required semester abroad in Rome.

Rome Studies Program

The Rome Studies Program was founded in 1969 as a required third-year study abroad program by Francesco "Frank" Montana, Department Chair from 1950 to 1972.

The program consists of four courses per semester including design studio, hand drawing and watercolor, architectural theory, and architectural history. The curriculum focuses on classical architecture and the design of contemporary buildings in a classical manner following the precedents of Vitruvius, Palladio and Vignola. These trips involve visits to historic sites with presentations by faculty members, time for sketching, and free time to explore the cities. Students analyze the country's historical models of buildings and cities to use as resources in creating architecture in the 21st century.[4]

Concentrations

The School of Architecture offers four concentrations: Furniture Design, Preservation and Restoration, Architectural Practice and Enterprise, and Building Arts. Each concentration includes four to five classes across the fourth and fifth year of study.[5]

Furniture Design

Since 1992, the School has also offered a concentration in Furniture Design under the direction of Professor Robert Brandt. Students are required to construct furniture of original design while maintaining a high level of craftsmanship. The program is two years along. Students take studio classes and learn about design history.

Preservation and Restoration

Students can study historic preservation and restoration of buildings.

Architectural Practice and Enterprise

Students can study the components of running an architecture firm at the Mendoza College of Business.

Architecture and the Building Arts

Students can learn about designing architectural models.

Facilities

The Front of Bond Hall, playing host to the University band

The School of Architecture is housed in Bond Hall, a building on the Notre Dame campus formerly known as the Lemonnier Library. The building served as the principal library of the entire campus from its construction in 1917 until Hesburgh Memorial Library was constructed in 1964. The building was renovated and expanded to become Bond Hall between 1995 and 1997 under the guidance of Thomas Gordon Smith, the Department Chair from 1989 to 1998 and current faculty member.

Bond Hall contains studio space for both undergraduate and students, several classrooms, and an auditorium that seats approximately 100 people. There is a gallery space that contains the School's stone cast collection and serves as the School's exhibition and project review space. The basement contains a computer lab for students who complete projects in Revit, AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, and SketchUp. There are offices for the administration and the faculty of the School and an eatery called Café Poche.

The center of the building (the former courtyard of the Lemonnier Library) houses the Architecture Library, which is part of the University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Libraries. [6]

West Lake Hall, which opened in the fall of 2012, is located on the Western edge of campus and holds the School's wood shop. Classes for the Furniture Design and Architecture and the Building Arts Concentrations are held there. The building contains a second shop and studio area for the Industrial Design section of the Department of Art, Art History, & Design at the University of Notre Dame.

The freshman studio was located close by in Brownson Hall but was relocated to Bond Hall in the fall of 2012.

The University also maintains a Global Gateway in Rome, Italy, in the Centro Storico. Included in the building is considerable room for the School's Rome Studies Program, as well as space for other study abroad students, Notre Dame International, the Notre Dame Club of Italy, and various academic conferences.

From 1986-2013, the School of Architecture had its own building located on Via Monterone, which consists of parts of two Roman palazzi. Facilities include studio space for approximately 50-55 students, offices for faculty and staff, an auditorium/meeting room, a small library, a computer cluster, and a student kitchen and dining area. Students live nearby in a hotel just off of Campo de' Fiori.[7] The year-long Rome program was founded in 1969 by the late Frank Montana and is now a requirement for all third-year architecture students.

The Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame

Since 2003, Richard H. Driehaus and the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture have together awarded the annual Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame for a lifetime of achievement in classical and traditional architecture and sustainable urbanism. The Driehaus Prize has been presented to architects representing various classical traditions, whose artistic impact reflects their commitment to cultural and environmental conservation. Past winners include Léon Krier, Allan Greenberg, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany, Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil, and Robert A.M. Stern.

Center for Building Communities

Led by Professors Sallie Hood and Ron Sakal, the Center for Building Communities is the new venue for the former South Bend Downtown Design Center, which Notre Dame architecture students have worked with since 1995. The Center for Building Communities leads studios focusing on sustainable urban design and architectural development, with focus on the local and regional characteristics of the communities the projects serve. Emphasis is placed on modular building technology and the ways it can facilitate the strengthening of communities with affordable and market-rate housing, civic, commercial and mixed-use buildings.

Champion Enterprises, Inc., known for factory-built construction throughout North America and the United Kingdom, underwrote the first two design studios affiliated with the Center. The first looked at urban infill in Elkhart, Indiana. The students designed single-family homes and mixed-use commercial and residential buildings for Elkhart’s downtown, using Champion’s wood and steel technologies. Another design studio used the same technologies to develop a master plan for the historic downtown of Conway, Arkansas. This collaboration further enhances students’ experiences through exposure to a wider range of architectural styles, and the technological, economic and environmental issues specific to different regions of the country.[8]

Summer Programs

The School often sponsors summer programs to introduce students to international traditional and classical architecture and urbanism. Previous programs have traveled to China, Japan, Cuba, Portugal, Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The programs explore each country’s best practices in urban development, sustainable architecture and environmental planning.

The China and Japan programs, typically conducted every other year, look at Asia’s architectural traditions and its influence on modern urban living. The program examines how architects and planners have responded to evolving social demands compared to their counterparts in the West. New construction is also studied to learn how the country reflects that heritage even as it evolves.[9]

The School of Architecture also provides high school students with the opportunity to study architecture at Notre Dame for two weeks in the summer. The Career Discovery program is intended to help participants decide whether or not they want to pursue architecture in college, and if so, how they should prepare during their junior and senior years of high school.[10]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame "Twenty years ago the curriculum was reformed to focus on traditional and classical architecture and urbanism."
  2. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Undergraduate Program". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  3. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Graduate Program". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  4. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Rome Studies Program". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  5. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Concentrations". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  6. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Library". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  7. ↑ Devine, Jane A. (1999). 100 Years of Architecture at Notre Dame: A History of the School of Architecture, 1898-1998. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. pp. 25–35. ISBN 096705480X.
  8. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Center for Building Communities". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  9. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Summer Programs". Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  10. ↑ University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. "Career Discovery for High School Students". Retrieved 14 April 2013.

External links