Georgia Tech School of Architecture | Academic Program Review Self‐Study | 2012‐13 1 1
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SELF-STUDY ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW 2013 Bachelor of Science in Architecture Master of Science (Major in Architecture) Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture Report Prepared By George B. Johnston Chair John Peponis Associate Chair for Advanced Studies & Research Michael Gamble Associate Chair for Undergraduate & Professional Studies SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SELF‐STUDY ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW, 2013 21 JANUARY, 2013 1. Executive summary 2 2. Overview of the School 4 2.1 Vision and strategic direction 9 3. Degree programs 11 3.1 Doctoral Program 11 3.2 Master of Science 22 3.3 Bachelor of Science in Architecture 28 4. Review of School’s diversity goals 42 5. Research, scholarship, creative activity 43 6. Economic development and community/public service 50 7. Organization and facilities 53 8. Future opportunities 54 Appendix 1: Doctoral Program handbook Appendix 2: Doctoral Program OATS assessment Appendix 3: M.S. with a major in Architecture handbook Appendix 4: Special focused evaluation and NAAB report Appendix 5: B.Sc. Architecture handbook Appendix 6: B.Sc. Architecture OATS assessment Appendix 7: Faculty biographical summaries and accomplishments Appendix 8: School of Architecture data portfolio Georgia Tech School of Architecture | Academic Program Review Self‐Study | 2012‐13 1 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Following upon the administrative reorganization of the College of Architecture into school‐ level units in 2011, the School of Architecture has embraced both the challenge and the opportunity of finding new creative synergies and forging a shared intellectual culture between once separate programs and faculties—the Architecture Program with its emphasis upon undergraduate and professional education and the Doctoral Program which had previously operated as the interdisciplinary umbrella for advanced studies for the entire College. This self‐ study focuses upon three of the School’s five degree programs—the undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree, the post‐professional Master of Science with a major in Architecture degree (with three concentrations), and the research‐focused Doctor of Philosophy degree.1 Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture and Master of Science (Architecture) Programs The Ph.D. in Architecture Degree Program has benefited through the years from the faculty’s focused and robust record of externally funded research that sets a benchmark for other programs at sister universities. Additionally, the creation of new Ph.D. degree programs in the College of Architecture (including those in Music Technology, City & Regional Planning, and Building Construction) has allowed the revision and clarification of Ph.D. in Architecture degree requirements and research areas to better reflect the themes and expectations of architecturally focused research. Clarifying these themes, in turn, has stimulated the formation of defined concentrations in the School’s post‐professional M.S.(Arch.) degree program, though the enrollment potential envisioned for this program has yet to be fully realized. Indicators of applicant quality and time‐to‐degree for the Ph.D. program have been steadily improving, and student success in publication continues to be a strong factor in overall research productivity. The combined budgetary resources and varied instructional needs of the School present in the composite greater instructional and support opportunities for Ph.D. students and candidates than existed under the previous structure. The challenge ahead is both to expand faculty participation in funded‐ research activity and to recruit new faculty who can build upon current success while contributing in new ways to the multi‐fold instructional needs of the whole School. Providing sufficient incentives and staff support will be key to shaping an environment that nurtures the creative tension between design and research. 1 The Master of Science in Urban Design degree, established in Fall 2011, will undergo its first academic program review five years hence. The professional Master of Architecture degree will undergo its sixth‐year National Architectural Accrediting Board review in academic year 2013‐14. Georgia Tech School of Architecture | Academic Program Review Self‐Study | 2012‐13 2 Bachelor of Science in Architecture Program The B.S.Arch. Degree is the oldest of the degree programs in architecture at Georgia Tech. It benefits from an exceptional pool of highly qualified, academically well‐prepared incoming students, a hallmark of the Georgia Tech tradition in undergraduate education. Students progress well through this studio‐ based curriculum, and graduates are successful in securing entrance to professional degree programs, both our own and elite competitors. The basic structure of the undergraduate curriculum has remained unaltered for more than a dozen years, however, even as the contexts of education and contents of the professional program have significantly changed. Economic factors over the past five years have called into question the value of an undergraduate degree in architecture even though the need for informed shapers of the designed and built environment has arguably never been greater. The School must be more assertive of these facts and more active in driving Georgia Tech’s undergraduate recruitment strategies for the discipline. Additionally, the recent discontinuation of the Bachelor of Science in Building Construction degree should prompt a review of the goals and viability of the Common First Year curriculum, the interdisciplinary common ground that has been the foundation of undergraduate studies in architecture, construction, and industrial design since 1999. The discontinuation of the senior year‐long Paris Study Abroad Program, once a primary attraction of the undergraduate program, has likewise called into question some of the assumptions of the curricular structure. Recent efforts to more systematically integrate courses in digital media and modeling into the undergraduate design curriculum need to be further developed in terms of assessable educational goals. Opportunities for hands‐on, socially‐engaged learning could be developed that take advantage of School facilities and the possibility of collaborative learning ventures across disciplines at Georgia Tech. The question suggested by this self‐study that is yet to be answered is whether undergraduate education in architecture at Georgia Tech should continue to be primarily defined as pre‐ professional preparation, or whether it might be conceived foremost as a general university education emphasizing technology and the liberal arts synthesized through the clarifying lens of architecture and design. Can we better draw upon our context to make this educational experience truly unique? In Summary What this self‐study reveals is a snapshot of the School of Architecture as a work still in progress toward the goal of a unified disciplinary vision. It is a work, nonetheless, already far enough along that path to be reaping the benefits from its new academic and organizational adjacencies. While the professional Master of Architecture degree is not explicitly reviewed in this report, that program is both beneficiary of and a catalyst for success in pre‐professional and post‐professional education, providing a platform for fusing design and research in order to build vital partnerships with profession and industry and to contribute as a co‐equal partner with engineering disciplines at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech School of Architecture | Academic Program Review Self‐Study | 2012‐13 3 2. OVERVIEW OF THE SCHOOL Historical Background Architecture was established as a discipline of study at Georgia Tech in 1908 at the request of a civil engineering student who recruited fellow students for an entering class of twenty. Over the intervening 104 years, the Department of Architecture has been transformed into the multi‐disciplinary College of Architecture established in 1975 comprising (in order of establishment) the disciplines of Architecture, Industrial Design, City & Regional Planning, Building Construction, and Music. A significant milestone that soon followed was the establishment in 1982 of the Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture degree and the multi‐ disciplinary Doctoral Program, a reflection of the increasing complexity of the designed and built environment as well as the growing emphasis upon leading‐edge research at Georgia Tech. Since 1999, all undergraduate students in the College of Architecture (prior to declaring majors in architecture, construction, or industrial design) have been introduced to the broad field of design and the built environment through multi‐disciplinary instruction in the Common First Year. Most recently, in 2010, the academic programs in the College were reorganized as School‐ level units comparable to all other academic units in the Institute with each responsible for its own discipline‐specific doctoral‐level degrees and cross‐disciplinary research programs. The School of Architecture at Georgia Tech encompasses five distinct degree programs, a reflection of the School’s multiple missions in undergraduate education, professional education, and advanced studies & research. At the center is the professional program in architecture, an accredited degree at the graduate level, the Master of Architecture, which is one requirement to achieve licensure as a practicing architect. Feeding into that program is the undergraduate Bachelor of Science