The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
Professor Bradley Horn, Interim Dean • Professor June Williamson, Chair• Department Office: SSA 113 • Tel: 212-650-7118
General Information
The City College offers the following undergraduate degree in Architecture:
B. Arch.
B.S.
Programs and Objectives
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture is deeply committed to creating a just, sustainable, and imaginative future for a rapidly urbanizing planet. Through innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration, the degree programs in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Sustainability in the Urban Environment seek to educate a diverse student body to become engaged professionals, both reflecting and enriching the complex communities of local and global environments. The School acts in the spirit of the City College of New York’s historic Ephebic Oath: “To transmit the city, not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”
The Architecture program empowers students to design for the betterment of our shared global community. At the School, the only public school of architecture in New York City, our professional B.Arch. program is shaped by the diversity of our students, the inventive research of our faculty, and by multidisciplinary collaborations. We prepare students to be-come engaged designers and to deploy an expansive set of skills to address pressing social, cultural, environmental, and professional challenges. With a rigorous foundation in the core competencies of building design, history, theory, and technologies, and with an emphasis on agile thinking, the Architecture programs aim to educate the next generation of innovators redefining the role of the architect in the twenty-first century.
The Architecture program leads students through the artistic, technical, intellectual and social process of designing buildings, communities and open spaces. All students are enrolled in this course of study, which leads to the Bachelor of Architecture (the professional degree for licensure) in five years.
A student may elect to obtain the B.S. in Architectural Studies after four years of study. An individual who obtains the 4-year B.S. in Architectural Studies degree at City College may not obtain a Bachelor of Architecture degree at City College.
History
The program in architecture leading to the professional degree was initiated in September 1961, within the School of Engineering and Architecture. In July 1968, a separate School of Architecture and Environmental Studies was created. In September 1971, the Urban Landscape and Urban Design options were added to the programs of the School. The J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures evolved from the City College Architectural Center, which was founded in 1980. With the inauguration of our current building, in 2009 the School was renamed The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture.
Curriculum
The educational program of the School is separated into two interdependent phases. Each phase has a specific emphasis.
In Phase 1 (first, second, and third years), the student is offered a general education in liberal arts and sciences as well as a core curriculum within the School; the core curriculum is comprised of architectural design, history of architecture, architectural technology & structures, visual and computational studies. Together, these courses provide essential and varied core competencies that empower the student to deploy and expansive set of skills to address pressing social, cultural, environmental, and professional challenges.
Phase 2 (fourth and fifth years) is devoted to advanced studies in architecture along with the development of the student’s independent thinking and interests. Along with electives in and outside of the School, the student participates in Advanced Studios. These are design and research laboratories that seek – through specific proposals – to address a range of discreet pressing topics and interests.
Liberal Arts Credit Requirements
The following applies to all students who enter The City College of New York either as a first year or a transfer student: To obtain a Bachelor of Science degree, a minimum of sixty (60) credits must be earned in courses that are classified as Liberal Arts and Science courses. For a Bachelor of Architecture degree a minimum of thirty (30) credits must be earned in courses that are classified as Liberal Arts and Sciences courses. Credits taken at or transferred into City College are subject to this requirement based on New York State Regulations.