The Architecture program in Art, Architecture and Design is a pre-professional program focused on architectural design, complemented by courses in building technology, history, and theory. Students begin their studies in the department’s introductory foundations course sequence and continue to intermediate and advanced architecture studio courses, and a choice of elective courses across the department. In their junior and senior years, students take Portfolio, Capstone, Honors Project, and Fusion: Design Practice courses to advance their studies and pursue individual and collaborative research.
Students in the Architecture major benefit from the extensive studios, labs, shops, and technologies of the department; the tools and resources of the Lehigh University Design Labs, which supports the university's interdisciplinary community of makers; and the Small Cities Lab, a College of Arts and Sciences research center founded in the department, which advances partnered research on the challenges and opportunities faced by small cities across the nation.
The major consists of 14 courses. As learning outcomes, students in the major learn to develop technical and creative proficiency in architectural design; integrate knowledge from other disciplines to enrich their work; apply critical thinking to creative problems; communicate clearly through their design work, in conversation, and in writing; analyze visual form and spatial relationships in the built environment; address social and cultural contexts in their design decisions; and develop design solutions in response to real-world site and program requirements.
For a full list of major requirements and courses, please see the Lehigh course catalog.