The five-year program that culminates in the Bachelor of Architecture degree comprises a foundation (pre-architecture) year, a three-year professional core and a fifth year focusing on design options and a senior capstone project. Admission to the Professional Phase (second through fifth years) of the program is selective and competitive. The three-year professional core emphasizes five major areas: design/communication, history/theory, technologies, practice/management, and electives. Fifth year design options vary but typically include sustainable design, historic preservation, community design, lightweight structures, design-build, and behavioral aspects in design.
Throughout the professional program architectural studies are balanced by general education requirements in three areas of knowledge: individuals and societies, traditions and cultures, and natural sciences. In addition, both open and architectural electives are required. Because the School has a strong commitment to general education and breadth of study outside architecture, the curriculum allows for the pursuit of a minor in another discipline.
Tier 1: five courses--two differently-numbered courses from the INDV sequence, two differently-numbered courses from the TRAD sequence, and one course from the NATS sequence
Tier 2: three courses--one each from the HUMS, INDV, and NATS sequences
Open Elective Requirements: 24 units of open elective credit, twelve of which must be at the upper division level
Statement from the National Architectural Accrediting Board The National Architectural Accrediting Board has requested that the following statement be included in catalogs and promotional materials of all fully accredited schools of architecture:
"In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredted professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. That National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted a 6-year, 3-year, or 2-year term of accreditation, dpending on the extent of its conformace with established educational standards... Master's Degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree that, when earned sequentially, constitute an accredited professional education. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree."
The five-year professional program leading to the Bachelor of Architecture degree at The University of Arizona is fully accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). The University of Arizona does not offer a four-year pre-professional degree.
