David R. Ravin School of Architecture

The David R. Ravin School of Architecture (SoA) offers an integrated collection of undergraduate and graduate degrees that prepares students for rewarding careers in architecture and its related disciplines. The undergraduate Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (B.A. in Architecture) is a 4-year degree that requires a minimum of 120 credit hours, which are earned by completing General Education requirements (as mandated by the University, the Core Program of the B.A. in Architecture, and one of three concentrations. All students begin in the Core Program without a concentration, and then declare a concentration (through discussions with their advisor) during the spring semester of their second-year in the program.

The courses in the Core Program include studios, seminars, and lecture courses that foreground the complementary exchange between making and  thinking. Each concentration provides additional coursework catered to unique career and research opportunities that allow students to steer their education to their goals, aspirations, and curiosities. All three concentrations may lead to professional licensure, and pathways to that goal vary depending on the specific concentration earned within this degree and on academic performance. All three concentrations may also lead to careers that do not require professional licensure.

The B.A. in Architecture includes study abroad opportunities including summer programs, course-related travel, and its Rome Program, which is a semester-based program in Rome, Italy that occurs during the Spring semester of the fourth-year of the program.

Accreditation & Licensure

The B.A. in Architecture is not, by itself, a professional degree, and students who wish to earn a professional degree after completing this degree must pursue a Master of Architecture (M.Arch) degree from an institution accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). The M.Arch degree offered by the SoA is fully NAAB-accredited. NAAB annually reviews the program’s curriculum, facilities, faculty, and other resources, and it conducts an intensive site visit every eight years (most recently in 2024). The SoA maintains full accreditation status as prescribed by this board and abides by the following statement:

“In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards.

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a preprofessional undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the preprofessional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.”

Students earning the B.A. in Architecture may progress into the SoA’s M.Arch. program according to the “Additional Policies & Requirements” sections of the catalog pages for each concentration (see below).

Programs

• Architecture, Architectural Studies Concentration, B.A.
• Architecture, Pre-Professional Concentration, B.A.
• Architecture, Practice Concentration, B.A.

Minors

• Architectural History and Heritage, Mino

Areas of Academic Focus

Required and elective courses provide opportunities for topical study of issues, themes, subdisciplines, and methods, both current and historic to architectural practices.  The School of Architecture faculty offer expertise and instruction in the following areas:

1) Design - Studios and seminars provide both analytical and synthetic educational experiences along with the opportunity to pursue intense study of physical-environmental subject(s).  These courses link humanistic, physical phenomena, social-psychological, behavioral, perceptional, and aesthetic studies.  Design courses focus on a sophisticated and detailed study of building and site design arising from the representational methods intrinsic to architecture as well as investigation and criticism of contemporary practice and practitioners as it pertains to the understanding, design, and making of architecture.

2) History and Theory - These courses provide an understanding of the relationships between culture and its physical architectural manifestations from ancient to contemporary times.  Courses focus on interpretive lenses, research methods, and writing strategies for the historical analysis and criticism of architecture.  History and theory courses explore how these activities inform and relate to contemporary architectural practice, as well as how related disciplines in the social sciences and humanities inform an understanding of the built environment.

3) Building Technology - These courses provide a quantitative and qualitative understanding of building materials, structural theory, design, environmental systems issues and principles, and building systems integration.  Courses explore emerging issues of sustainable design and the development of innovative building envelopes and systems that utilize both new and traditional materials, technology, and construction methods. Seeking to explore the historical as well as contemporary realms of thermal, tactile and visual issues of architectural technology, students address appropriate material selection, methods of daylighting, passive and active systems for heating and cooling with consideration of both qualitative and quantitative outcomes.

4) Digital Design, Fabrication, and Visualization - These courses provide practical and theoretical training on matters of basic and advanced computational practices, including instruction in scripting and digital fabrication. Courses focus on computation as it affects materiality, process, and interaction.

5) Urbanism - These courses focus on the critical role of architecture in the city – the processes and specific intents of physical interventions in urban landscapes and infrastructures. Through the design of groups of buildings as well as larger scale urban areas, issues of policy, politics, finance, planning, place, and culture are introduced as part of the essential conception and history of the city fabric.

Independent Studies

When appropriate, students may earn credit by pursuing a self-directed, faculty-approved study of a particular, significant architectural topic or subject.

Research Studies

Students may earn credit through participation in directed faculty research projects.

Rome Program and Education Abroad Opportunities

The School of Architecture conducts an international, semester-based program in Rome, Italy.  This program provides a fully integrated curriculum in the Spring semester of the 4th year of the B.A. in Architecture program.

Additionally, the School encourages foreign study and exchange arrangements through Charlotte Global.  In the past, School of Architecture students have studied at Kingston University (London, England); Lund Institute of Technology (Lund, Sweden); University of Technology (Delft, Netherlands); Tongji University (Shanghai, China); and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (Copenhagen, Denmark).

Programs

• Architecture, Architectural Studies Concentration, B.A.
• Architecture, Practice Concentration, B.A.
• Architecture, Pre-Professional Concentration, B.A.

• Architectural History and Heritage, Minor