School of Architecture and Allied Arts
Printer-friendly versionFrances Bronet, Dean
(541) 346-3631
105 Lawrence Hall
fbronet@uoregon.edu
http://aaa.uoregon.edu
About the School
The School of Architecture and Allied Arts is the principal center in Oregon for the study of architecture, art, community and regional planning, and design. The school, founded in 1914, is a diverse, collegial learning community dedicated to environmental sustainability, civic responsibility, creativity and innovation, international understanding, and cross-disciplinary education.
The School of Architecture and Allied Arts (A&AA) is one of six professional schools at the University of Oregon with degree programs in Eugene and Portland. Its goal is to provide students with the skills and mentorship they need as they assume active roles within the creative communities and take on the complex global challenges of the twenty-first century.
The school is a close association of ten academic programs: the Departments of Architecture; Art; History of Art and Architecture; Landscape Architecture; and Planning, Public Policy and Management; and the programs in Arts and Administration, Digital Arts (housed in the Department of Art), Historic Preservation, Interior Architecture, and Product Design.
Undergraduate degrees offered include
- architecture (BArch)
- art (BA, BS, BFA)
- art history (BA)
- digital arts (BA, BS, BFA)
- interior architecture (BIArch)
- landscape architecture (BLA)
- material and product studies (BA, BS)
- planning, public policy and management (BA, BS)
- product design (BFA)
Graduate degrees offered include
- architecture (MArch, PhD)
- art (MFA)
- art history (MA, PhD)
- arts and administration (MA, MS)
- community and regional planning (MCRP)
- historic preservation (MS)
- interior architecture (MIArch)
- landscape architecture (MLA, PhD)
- nonprofit management (MNPM)
- public administration (MPA)
Graduate certificate programs are offered in ecological design, museum studies, nonprofit management, Oregon leadership in sustainability, and technical teaching in architecture.
The school offers a selection of courses that are open to nonmajors and fulfill the general-education needs of the university’s student body. Undergraduate students have the opportunity to minor in architecture, art, art history, community arts, historic preservation, interior architecture, landscape architecture, multimedia, nonprofit administration, and planning, public policy and management.
In addition, the school offers advanced study opportunities in architecture, digital arts, and product design at the University of Oregon in Portland, located at the historic White Stag Block.
The professional and academic degrees in architecture, art, art history, arts management, community and regional planning, digital arts, historic preservation, interior architecture, landscape architecture, product design, and public administration are fully accredited.
Many students participate in design studios when they study art, digital arts, environmental design (architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture), and product design. A studio is a small class setting that encourages direct exploration of ideas, materials, and the development of imaginative thinking, analysis, and creativity along with close interaction between the instructor and students.
Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work
Research and creative work bring together people in the school’s various disciplines and provide links with scholars elsewhere at the university, in the local community, and throughout the world.
Program diversity enhances the faculty’s scholarly activity and creative endeavor. Faculty members in the environmental design and planning fields are encouraged to be active in professional practices, to engage in design competitions, and to develop theoretical studies. Faculty members in the arts participate nationally and internationally in exhibitions of their creative work. Scholarly work in art history, arts administration, planning, and public administration has produced significant publications and enhanced human understanding in those fields.
Members of the school’s faculty participate in many of the university’s interdisciplinary research centers, institutes, and initiatives including the Sustainable Cities Initiative, the Green Product Design Network, the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium, the Solar Energy Center, the Center for Housing Innovation, the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, the Community Service Center, the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, and the Institute for Community Arts Studies.
Extended Programs
The School of Architecture and Allied Arts supports off-campus programs that enhance learning and research opportunities and enrich the ties between the university and the local, state, national, and international communities.
The University of Oregon has extended centers in the Portland area, which are used by various departments and programs in the school. A&AA offers advanced study opportunities in Portland for graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in architecture and for undergraduate students enrolled in the bachelor of fine arts program in either digital arts or product design. Located at the White Stag Block in Portland’s Old Town Historic District, the school’s facilities include design studios, fusion lab, fabrication lab, and exhibit spaces. Research initiatives in urban design, housing, energy studies, and creative work in the arts are led by faculty members in partnership with area professionals, governmental leaders, galleries, and nonprofit agencies. The facilities at the University of Oregon in Portland are available for workshops, public lectures, exhibitions, film and video presentations, and events.
The school also maintains historic property that supports research and teaching: in Portland, the Cottrell and Watzek houses, and in the Columbia River Gorge, the Shire.
Off-campus learning and research include field course work in art, historic preservation, architecture, landscape architecture, and planning. Internship opportunities are available for students to explore their disciplines beyond the structure of the university setting.
International study programs are offered in spring and summer terms in Amsterdam and the Netherlands; Beijing, China; Florence, Italy; Helsinki, Finland; Jinan, China; Kyoto, Japan; Rome, Italy; Shanghai, China; Siena, Italy; Trogir, Croatia; Vicenza, Italy; and Vancouver, British Columbia, offered by the Departments of Art, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Planning, Public Policy and Management, and the Historic Preservation Program. The Department of Architecture has active exchange programs with the University of Stuttgart and the Danish International Study Program in Copenhagen. Various departments participate in National Student Exchange, of which the University of Oregon is a member.
Cinema Studies Major
The cinema studies major, which leads to a bachelor of arts degree, gives students the opportunity to study moving-image media as multicultural, transnational, and humanistic phenomena. Because cinema is inherently multidisciplinary, the major spans the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, and the School of Journalism and Communication.
More information is available in the Cinema Studies section of this catalog under the College of Arts and Sciences.
Oregon Leadership in Sustainability Certificate Program
The Oregon leadership in sustainability (OLIS) graduate certificate program is an intensive, yearlong program that trains students in the concepts and skills of sustainability—issues of climate change, green economy, ecosystem services, green infrastructure, and social justice—in preparation for emerging careers in the public, private, and nonprofit sector.
More information is available in the Planning, Public Policy and Management section of this catalog.
Facilities
Facilities Services
Michael Smith, Director
541-346-2055
The School of Architecture and Allied Arts is housed principally in Lawrence, Pacific, and Hendricks Halls, the Romania building, and the North Site in Eugene and the White Stag Block in Portland. Facilities include a branch of the UO Libraries, administrative and departmental offices, and most of the faculty offices and studio spaces. The Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management is located in Hendricks Hall. The North Site, located north of the Millrace, is an eight-building complex containing faculty offices, advanced studios in the arts, environmental design research laboratories and workshops, and the Urban Farm. The Romania building houses studio facilities for the Product Design Program.
The school provides equipment not typically available to individuals such as studio furniture, easels, looms, and shared resources. Students supply personal equipment such as computers, graphic tools, and course materials. The school supports these purchases by providing infrastructure, secure rooms, and lockers.
Resources
Computing Services
Gary Sullivan, Director
541-346-1715
Many schools teach students to use software, but the School of Architecture and Allied Arts teaches students to be designers and creative decision-makers regardless of the tools they use. Students learn to explore new ideas through a combination of traditional methods and experimental techniques. Through work in animation, multimedia, graphics, computer-aided design, geographic information systems, and web publishing, students see how computers can extend capabilities and enhance understanding.
Lecture rooms, studios, classrooms, and review rooms are networked (wired and wireless) to support instructional technology on Windows and Mac OS workstations. The university provides server accounts for e-mail and web pages and maintains a high-speed computer network. The school provides access to a full array of computing applications through its instructional and research laboratories located in Eugene at Lawrence Hall, Pacific Hall, Hendricks Hall, and the North Site complex, and in Portland at the University of Oregon in Portland's White Stag Block. A technical staff maintains these resources as well as shared large-scale color plotters and high-resolution printers. Technical support is available through Information Services, A&AA Computing Services, and informal peer consulting.
Much faculty research involves the application of emerging technology to specific domains. Research groups in planning, public policy and management, architecture, and landscape architecture have developed methods for using Internet, geographic information systems, graphics, and database applications to facilitate community problem solving. Tools are being developed to make planning and design decisions easier to understand by putting their consequences in graphic terms. Art faculty members have created award-winning animations and interactive multimedia projects that range from avant-garde artwork to pragmatic educational projects. The school maintains a close relationship with the library’s Center for Media and Educational Technologies, which offers technical expertise in digital media.
Office of Professional Outreach and Development for Students
Kassia Dellabough, Coordinator
541-346-2621
The Office of Professional Outreach and Development for Students serves students in all A&AA disciplines as they endeavor to develop career goals and job-search strategies. The office collaborates with both administrative and academic units to provide comprehensive career services including vocational counseling, professional mentoring, group presentations, workshops, and the annual career symposium held in Portland.
Office of Development
541-346-3697
The mission of the Office of Development is to assist the A&AA school in securing private gifts that enhance educational opportunities and to offer aid in the areas of faculty support, research and creative work, student scholarships, building and equipment maintenance, and facilities construction.
The development office raises funds through a combination of methods: the annual giving telefund, direct mail appeals, foundation and corporate grants, planned gifts, and direct personal solicitation.
Academic priorities for fundraising are the responsibility of the dean, with the advice and assistance of the department heads and directors, and are developed in cooperation with the UO vice president for university development.
The office works in concert with the university’s central development office and the UO Foundation to raise new endowments for research, scholarships, faculty, and teaching support.
Office of External Relations and Communications
Karen J. Johnson, Assistant Dean
541-346-3603
The mission of the Office of External Relations and Communications is to develop and guide the School of Architecture and Allied Arts’ strategic messages and news information using a robust transmedia approach that communicates to internal and external constituents about the excellence and social relevancy of the academic programs and people in the school.
The office coordinates media relations, electronic and print communications, marketing, graphic design, and brand development and management for the school. It publishes the A&AA Review magazine and assists departments and programs with alumni relations and outreach activities. The office coordinates the school’s Ellis F. Lawrence Medal, presented annually to a distinguished alumnus or alumna.
Interdisciplinary Research
Center for Community Arts and Cultural Policy
Patricia Dewey, Director
541-346-3639
256 Lawrence Hall
The Center for Community for Community Arts and Cultural Policy works in collaboration with the faculty members and graduate students in the Arts and Administration Program in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts to sustain and strengthen the arts and culture through research, education, and community involvement. The center’s faculty, student, and affiliated members conduct and disseminate policy-relevant research and create professional development opportunities to support policymakers and cultural sector professionals.
Center for Housing Innovation
Donald B. Corner, Director
541-346-4064
264 Onyx Bridge
The Center for Housing Innovation is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary research center offering expertise in the design, construction, and manufacture of housing in North America. Issues range from the development of energy-efficient housing to the innovative use of wood products. For more information see the Research Institutes and Centers section of this catalog.
Community Service Center
Robert Parker and Megan Smith, Managing Codirectors
541-346-3889
111 Hendricks Hall
The Community Service Center, an interdisciplinary organization, assists Oregon communities by providing planning and technical assistance to help solve local issues, improve the quality of life in rural Oregon, and help make Oregon communities more self-sufficient. The center incorporates a number of programs including the Community Planning Workshop, Resource Assistance for Rural Environments, and the Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience.
Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory
G. Z. Brown, Director
541-346-5647
103 Pacific Hall
The laboratory’s facilities in Eugene and Portland include a computer simulation laboratory and an artificial sky. Research projects seek to illuminate the ways buildings and their related transportation and land-use systems determine energy use; develop new materials, components, assemblies, whole buildings, and communities with improved performance; and develop computer software design tools that enable professionals to design more efficient communities and buildings. Laboratory members conduct a design-assistance program for architects, sponsored by utilities, which uses the artificial sky and computer simulations to recommend proposed building design changes.
Institute for a Sustainable Environment
Cassandra Moseley, Director
541-346-0675
130 Hendricks Hall
The Institute for a Sustainable Environment explores the long-term sustainability of the earth’s environmental systems. The institute’s programs draw from the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and professional fields to foster applied cross-disciplinary environmental research, education, and public service. The institute offers students and members of the faculty and staff many opportunities for employment and program participation.
Institute for Policy Research and Innovation
Michael Hibbard, Director
541-346-3897
130 Hendricks Hall
The institute facilitates and supports policy-relevant research by faculty members and graduate students. It emphasizes the dissemination of knowledge about a range of public problems and issues. It does not address solutions to specific problems or issues, a task that is more appropriate for government agencies and consultants.
Research done through the institute is used to kindle serious, informed public dialogues about policy. In addition to funded grants and contracts leading to books, scholarly papers, and theses, the institute organizes and supports a variety of forums through which decision-makers and the general public can engage the ideas developed by faculty members and graduate students. Examples of dissemination by institute members include presentations to community forums and policy makers; discussion papers for public forums; and op-ed pieces.
John Yeon Center for Architectural Studies
Robert Melnick, Director
541-346-2072
125 Lawrence Hall
The Yeon Center fosters research and appreciation of architecture, interior design, historic preservation, art, and landscape architecture by students, faculty members, professional architects, and designers. The program is responsible for the preservation of several significant historic and cultural properties designed by John Yeon. The center comprises two Portland residences—the Watzek House and the George and Margaret Cottrell House—and a landscape in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge known as the Shire. The Watzek House was designated a national historic landmark in 2011.
Both historic properties are designed John Yeon (1910–94), a design pioneer who fundamentally rethought modern architecture for the Pacific Northwest. The Yeon Center was founded in 1995 by Richard Louis Brown with the gift of the Watzek House to the University of Oregon. The George and Margaret Cottrell House was given to the university by Margaret Cottrell in 2000. These properties were designed by John Yeon and are outstanding examples of Pacific Northwest regional architecture. The properties are available for class visits and educational tours.
The Shire—the John Yeon Preserve for Landscape Studies—is a unique landscape, sensitively designed by John Yeon, which occupies a seventy-five-acre waterfront site in Skamania County, Washington, in the heart of the scenic Columbia River Gorge, directly across from Multnomah Falls. The Shire is a carefully designed landscape with a sculpted lawn, a series of meadows, wetlands, vista points, river bays, and walking paths that John Yeon created over the passage of three decades. The John Yeon Trust donated the Shire and its endowment to the University of Oregon in 1995.
The Shire, while being preserved as an example of landscape design, is a center for Pacific Northwest landscape studies. It provides an educational site for the study of landscape preservation, design, ecology, and management that creates opportunities for individuals and study groups to engage in research and discussion of landscape architecture, planning, conservation, and preservation issues associated with the Columbia River Gorge, the Pacific Northwest region, and the nation.
Student Information
Admission
Admission to the major or the minor, degree requirements, and course offerings are described in the department sections that follow. Freshmen and transfer students must meet University of Oregon requirements for admission to the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Work being submitted for transfer credit must be approved by the major department.
Students develop their programs of study assisted by advisors from the department to which they have been admitted. Please note that some majors are available to upper-division students only or have several application cycles a year.
Premajors and Nonmajors
Many courses are open to majors outside the School of Architecture and Allied Arts or to students who have not yet declared a major. The school offers a range of general-education, group-satisfying courses as well as courses that satisfy the multicultural requirements. In addition, students may access art and digital arts studio offerings as nonmajors, provided they complete the appropriate course prerequisites. These courses include the following:
Department of Architecture
ARCH 201 Introduction to Architecture
Department of Art
ART 101 Understanding Contemporary Media
ART 111 The Artist Experience
Arts and Administration Program
AAD 250 Art and Human Values
AAD 251 The Arts and Visual Literacy
AAD 252 Art and Gender
Department of the History of Art and Architecture
ARH 204, 205, 206 History of Western Art I,II,III
ARH 207 History of Indian Art
ARH 208 History of Chinese Art
ARH 209 History of Japanese Art
ARH 314, 315 History of Western Architecture I,II
ARH 322 Art of Ancient Greece
ARH 323 Art of Ancient Rome
ARH 331 Cultures of the Medieval West
ARH 348 Rome in Age of Bernini
ARH 349 History of Prints
ARH 351 19th-Century Art
ARH 353 Modern Art, 1880–1950
ARH 354 Art since 1945
ARH 358 History of Design
ARH 359 History of Photography
ARH 384, 386 Chinese Art I,III
ARH 387 Chinese Buddhist Art
ARH 397 Japanese Buddhist Art
ARH 463/563 Native American Architecture
ARH 488/588 Japanese Prints
Interior Architecture Program
IARC 204 Understanding Contemporary Interiors
Department of Landscape Architecture
LA 260 Understanding Landscapes
Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management
PPPM 201 Introduction to Planning, Public Policy and Management
PPPM 202 Healthy Communities
PPPM 280 Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector
PPPM 340 Climate-Change Policy
Architecture and Allied Arts Courses (AAA)
Courses with the AAA subject code cross the school’s disciplines and are described only in this section of the catalog.
196 Field Studies: [Topic] (1–2R)
198 Workshop: [Topic] (1–2R)
199 Special Studies: [Topic] (1–5R)
401 Research: [Topic] (1–21R)
404 Internship: [Topic] (1–12R)
405 Reading and Conference: [Topic] (1–21R)
406 Special Problems: [Topic] (1–21R)
407/507 Seminar: [Topic] (1–5R)
408/508 Workshop: [Topic] (1–21R)
409 Practicum: [Topic] (1–5R)
410/510 Experimental Course: [Topic] (1–5R)
604 Internship: [Topic} (1–12R)
605 Reading and Conference: [Topic] (1–16R)
606 Special Problems: [Topic] (1–16R)
608 Workshop: [Topic] (1–16R)
609 Practicum: [Topic] (1–12R)