Dunwoody Architecture Online

Practice-Based | Nationally Accredited

The one-of-a-kind online Bachelor of Architecture degree at Dunwoody College of Technology offers a three year path to becoming a licensed, practicing architect with a capacity to approach the world’s great design challenges.

Students who have completed their AAS degree (or other two-year degree) in an architectural drafting or a related program are eligible to transfer into the Bachelor of Architecture completion program at Dunwoody.

The Bachelor of Architecture is committed to social and environmental justice through studio work focused on civic engagement and climate action in communities across the globe. Our distinctive position within a college of technology gives us access to collaborations across a variety of technical disciplines. Our students participate in design-build projects, and engage in global activism and climate initiatives, from Minneapolis to Puerto Rico.

Bachelor of Architecture students receive a dedicated touch-screen laptop with a suite of Autodesk and Adobe programs to be used as long as they are enrolled as students.

In addition, practice-based curriculum, professional-focused philosophy, and actively-practicing faculty gives students the ability to work in the profession while completing their degree. This can defray the cost of education, make students more valuable earlier in their career, and allow students to complete all required experience for licensure prior to graduation.

The +3 completion degree is structured as follows:

YEAR 3

This first year of the +3 B.Arch. program has a heavy emphasis on design thinking by working with hands-on techniques of physical model making and 2D-representation using a suite of Autodesk and Adobe programs. This year introduces students to city and site, client and program, and the global history of architecture, including diverse traditions in the built environment.

View Year 3 Student Work (on ISSUU)

YEAR 4

The fourth year studios emphasizes research and participatory models of community engagement using real world projects. The history and theory curriculum deepens to include a study of urbanism, activism, globalization, and the vernacular. Students are often involved in study abroad programs or design-build and fabrication projects, gaining expertise in 3D-representation and fabrication techniques in addition to broadening their knowledge of culture and society.

View Year 4 Student Work (on ISSUU)

YEAR 5

The final year of the Bachelor of Architecture culminates in two distinctive studios: the first half of the year is dedicated to a technically rigorous, integrative studio, and the second half complements this technical rigor with a highly individualized, experimental, and exploratory studio project that enables students to develop deep and focused expertise in one area, whether that be design build, fabrication, climate justice and architecture, or some other specific topic.
View Year 5 Student Thesis Work (on ISSUU)

Affiliations:

• NAAB National Architectural Accrediting Board – Accredited Program
• AIA American Institute of Architects – Minnesota Chapter – Committee Members
• AIAS American Institute of Architecture Students – Local Chapter Member
• NOMAS The National Organization of Minority Architects – Local Chapter Member
• CSI Construction Specifications Institute – Minnesota Chapter – Member Institution
• ACSA Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture – Member Institution
• ACADIA Association of Computer Aided Design In Architecture – Member Institution

Occupational Outlook**:

+18% Growth 2012-2022 (above average)

*2013 AIA Compensation Report: A Survey of U.S. Architecture Firms, www.aia.org
**2014 ACSA Atlas Project, www.acsa-arch.org

Accreditation

Dunwoody’s Bachelor of Architecture is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).

In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year term, an eight-year term with conditions, or a two-year term of continuing accreditation, or a three-year term of initial accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established education standards. Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a non-accredited undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the non-accredited degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

Dunwoody College of Technology, Construction Sciences & Building Technology offers the following NAAB-accredited degree program:

Bachelor of Architecture: 150 Semester Credits
Year of Next Accreditation Visit: 2022

Credential Earned: BARCH
Length of Program: 3 years (6 semesters)

In accordance with NAAB standards, the Bachelor of Architecture maintains a Learning and Teaching Culture Policy.