Research
Research Overview
In keeping with the strategic priorities of the University of Arizona as a Research I university, the goals of research and scholarship in the School of Architecture are to:
- Promote creativity
- Integrate laboratories with pedagogy
- Engage in interdisciplinary work
- Collaborate with government agencies, professional associations and industry
- Promote international exchange
Although research is a fundamental mode of the pedagogy and heuristic learning in the undergraduate professional program, greater opportunities for sponsored and applied research are available in the graduate post-professional program. To that end, each of the graduate program concentrations has interdisciplinary and inter-institutional affiliations to facilitate the School's research goals:
- The Design & Energy Conservation Program collaborates with the UA Arid Lands Resource Sciences Program and the Dept. of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering.
- The Urban Design & Infrastructure Program collaborates with the Pima County Transportation Dept., the Pima County Parks & Recreation Dept., and with the UA Dept. of Economic Development, focusing on the Biosciences Park. The Urban Design program is also involved in international collaborative research with the Universidad Católica de Chile, the Universidad Valladolid in Spain, and the Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla in Mexico. Both graduate and undergraduate students participate in these collaborations, which produce many graduate theses.
- The Preservation Studies Program collaborates with the UA Depts. of Anthropology, Art History, Geography and Regional Development, and History, as well as with the U.S. National Park Service.
- The new Emerging Material Technologies Program collaborates with the UA Materials Science and Civil Engineering & Mechanics Depts., and with specific segments of the construction materials industry. The Program also participates in faculty and student exchanges with institutions at the forefront of research in this field, including the Technical University of Helsinki, Finland and the School of Architecture in Oslo, Norway. These exchanges are of great benefit to the other graduate focus areas and to the undergraduate professional program as well.
