Architecture Major: More than a Simple Sketch

Stop a student on campus and ask them what he or she thinks is the hardest major to pursue at Columbia University. You’ll probably hear pre-med.

Unless you happen to stop a bleary-eyed straggler returning from or heading back to the studio, you might never hear about the intensive studio and theory classes that are part of the Barnard+Columbia Architecture program. In fact, unless you happen to be wandering the halls of Milbank late at night or happen to know someone pursuing an undergraduate degree in architecture, the BC+CU Architecture program might remain a mystery, confined to the Barnard campus, Schermerhorn Hall, and Avery Library.

Currently, there are 81 students (40 Barnard majors and 41 Columbia College and General Studies majors) pursuing an undergraduate degree in architecture, according to Karen Fairbanks, head of the Architecture Department.

A typical day in the life of an architecture student may end up filling more than a 24-hour period. One of the most time-consuming aspects of architecture studies are the studio courses that meet for three hours twice a week and are focused on biweekly projects that are designed to push students to the limits of their imagination. After two weeks, the project is presented to a visiting “judge,” traditionally an architect or critic from outside Columbia.

In order to prepare for this presentation, students meet with their studio teacher every class to get feedback on how to improve their ideas and drawings. In preparation for studio time as well as the final presentation, students spend their nights working in the Milbank studio at Barnard. The studio is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week in order to accommodate the heavy workload that is students have. Before a project is due, students will typically pull all-nighters.

One student compares the process to Project Runway, in which designers will have a day to design a project that is presented to a panel of judges who often harshly criticize it. The judges are typically looking for something more than just a good-looking building. They want the students to evoke emotions in the user of the building. After spending days in the studio working on a design, the criticism can often be rough. “We’ve had people cry,” Desirée Casoni, BC ’10 said.

Despite the intense and stressful work environment, architecture students are very supportive of each other, according to Casoni. There is hardly any competition among students. Instead, they bring each other food and coffee when they are working late in the studio. They play music, laugh, and try to keep each other awake. Since they are part of a relatively small department and spend such long hours together, it begins to feel like a small community.

The architecture major requires students to take four studio courses, five theory courses, two seminars, and three specialization courses. Graduates of this four-year program receive a Bachelor of Arts in architecture, as opposed to graduates of other schools that have completed a five-year program in which students graduate with a BA and a license to practice. BC and CU students must go on to a graduate school of architecture after their undergraduate education in order to receive their licenses.

Yet this untraditional program actually attracts many architecture students to the BC+CU program because they feel that it emphasizes the importance of a liberal arts education on top of architectural technique. Art history, music, and other humanities are often drawn upon to explain the designs taught in theory classes as well as for inspiration in projects. Knowledge of the humanities become an important skill for communicating ideas, according to Casoni. Communication is necessary to foster a relationship with clients.

Architecture demands passion and patience as well as a mind that works well at late hours. “Even though we are not in the library, we are always studying and working,” Casoni said. So next time someone asks you what the most demanding major is at Columbia, perhaps architecture should come to mind.