Inquiry

Carleton’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism awards the pre-professional Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS) degree upon successful completion of our four-year program of study. If you intend to practice architecture, you can then apply to continue into a professional Master of Architecture program at Carleton, or equivalent professional training at another university. The BAS program is also an excellent degree for a range of careers or for further studies in design, urbanism, or conservation and sustainability.

Carleton’s Bachelor of Architectural Studies focuses on knowledge, experience, creativity and imagination. Our program encourages you to explore ideas through making, evaluate ideas within the context of the human experience, and exercise creativity through writing, model making, drawing, digital media and presentations.

The program lays a broad foundation on which architectural studies are built. You will take courses in architecture, design, drawing and multimedia applications, as well as specified general studies in engineering, art history and social sciences. You will focus your architectural studies by choosing an area of study in:

Design
Urbanism
Conservation and Sustainability

The workplace

Carleton graduates work around the globe in traditional and nontraditional architectural practices, as well as in disciplines ranging from film-making and fashion design to highly technical fields such as computer animation, building science, environmental design and project management. Most graduates choose to practise in the field, while others go on to graduate work and teaching. Others are the founders of design/build firms who specialize in crafting their own designs.

Graduate school

The Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism offers four graduate programs in Architecture: an accredited two-year Master of Architecture Professional (March) program, a 3.5-year Master of Architecture Professional program (March 1), a Master of Architectural Studies (MAS) and a PhD program in Architecture. Graduates within the school can also pursue a Graduate Diploma in Architectural Conservation.

The Master of Architectural Studies is a research-based (and non-accredited) Master’s degree for students interested in pursuing in-depth architectural research. The Master of Architecture Professional is a studio-based degree program. Students entering the program with a BAS in Design will follow an 8.0 credit curriculum. Students entering with a BAS in Urbanism, a BAS in Conservation and Sustainability, or a non-architectural honours degree will follow a 15.5 credit curriculum (March 1). Carleton University’s PhD in Architecture is an advanced and internationally competitive program that addresses the history, theory, and practice of architecture through insightful and exacting scholarship.

In architecture, you learn by making. You are constantly encouraged to push yourself beyond the theory, to construct models and details, and to examine how components and materials come together.

While different in emphasis, all three majors are studio-based, share a common first year and converge again for design studios at the fourth-year level. Graduating with the same degree, students from all three majors are equally prepared for a range of careers or to continue on to professional studies at the Masters level. The diversity of emphases promotes a level of discourse and specialization that is not possible in other undergraduate architecture programs. It increases the range and richness of the exploration that goes on in the School.

Majors

The BAS program offers students the opportunity to complete a major in an area of particular interest:

A major in Design focuses on the design of buildings. The major in Design will appeal to those interested primarily in a professional career in architecture with an emphasis on design.
A major in Urbanism focuses on urban design and sustainable development. The major in Urbanism explores architecture in the larger context of the city and raises awareness and promotes stewardship of the built environment through an examination of mass urbanization in the 20th century.
A major in Conservation and Sustainability focuses on the preservation and adaptive transformation of the existing building stock. The major in Concentration and Sustainability will appeal to students interested in the conservation of historical architecture and the principles of sustainable design of buildings as well as the urban fabric.

The curriculum

The program’s first-year core courses consist of drawing, studio design, multimedia, history/theory and technology. In subsequent years, you will take courses in professional practice, and electives in conservation and sustainability, urbanism, and philosophy and criticism.Core courses are supplemented by electives drawn from other disciplines, such as art history, industrial design, urban geography and engineering.