• Masters Of Architecture 2 Year
• Thesis Option
• Vertical Studio Option

Sixth Year Thesis Option (1)

Application Process
Final Project Schedule
Milestone Dates
Proposal Requirements
NAAB Requirements
Helpful Hints for Your Submission


Application Process (fifth year spring semester)

Spring 2009

1. On or before January 26 of the Fifth Year Spring Semester, the student is expected to submit to the Architecture Program Office their initial project proposal. (500 - 700 words in an 8 1/2 by 11 format). The proposal should indicate the mentor who has agreed to work with you or a preferred list of two or three faculty members you would like to work with.  It is the student’s responsibility to meet with potential faculty and get their agreement to serve as your mentor.  The office will log in the proposals and distribute them to the appropriate faculty members.  The faculty will take the next two weeks to review the proposal for compliance with the five points indicated in the submittal description attached to this document.  Students who fail to meet this deadline will not be allowed to register for the design thesis studio.  These students will have to reapply in the next cycle, the following year or register for option 2.

2. On or before March 23, students are asked to submit the name of the faculty member with whom they have reached a tentative agreement to mentor their project.  Those students who have not been able to reach an agreement with a faculty member will be given a list of faculty names who have yet to reach agreement with two students.  Only full time tenure track architecture program faculty are eligible to be mentors for the Terminal Project. Once again students are expected to approach and engage faculty members in discussions about their proposal in order to secure their agreement to serve as mentor. 

3. On or before April 6, each student is required to submit to the Program Office an expanded proposal (1500-3000 words and 2-6 visual plates).  This final proposal will be a part of your published document required for completion of the Terminal Project.  This proposal must be certified (signed) by an appropriate faculty member who will serve as the mentor for the project.  There must be a cover page with the title of the project, your name, date of submission and a space for the mentor to sign off on the proposal with his or her name listed below the space.  Faculty mentors have the soul authority to determine if the proposal meets the spirit and intent of the basic objectives of the Terminal Project.

4. Certified submissions will be recorded and the students will be given permission to register for the Final Project Studio.  Students whose proposal is not certified will be required to reapply and resubmit a new proposal in the next cycle or register for the Option 2, Vertical Studio.

Final Project (Sixth Year) Schedule

Fall 2008

1. Not later than the third week of the fall semester the students will submit to the mentor's review and evaluation a programmatic report that includes the structure of the project's development and ways to address criteria for evaluation. (September 8 – September 12)

2. At the eight week of the semester the student will, with the mentor's approval, schedule and make a public presentation to a review panel a programmatic and conceptual representation of their project. (October 13 – October 17)

3. Somewhere between the 12th and 13th week the student and mentor will schedule an interim review of the student’s project. The faculty member will give the student a written or verbal evaluation of their progress relative to the expectations of the faculty for the Terminal Project. (November 10 – November 14)

4. During Finals Week of the semester the student, with the mentor's approval, will display the schematic design of their project in the designated space on Monday, December 15 for review and evaluation by an assigned review team. If judged unsatisfactory, the student will be given the opportunity to present their project to an assembly of the full time Architecture Program faculty Thursday, December 18th. The student is not required to present. Students are free to let the work stand on its own merits or withdrawl from consideration. This review will lead to a binding up or down vote by the assembled faculty. Students will be notified of the result of the vote by their mentors on December 19th. Students judged unsatisfactory will not be able to continue into 614 and instead will be directed to one of the vertical studios for the spring semester. (December 15 – December 19)

5. Following a satisfactory evaluation by the faculty, the mentor and the student will determine the necessary requirements for the next phase of design development.

Spring 2009

6. Within the 4th or 5th week of the spring semester the student and mentor will schedule an interim review of the student’s project. The faculty member will give the student a written or verbal evaluation of their progress relative to the expectations of the faculty for the Terminal Project. (February 2– February 13)

7. In the 12th week of the semester on either Thursday or Friday the student, with the mentor's approval, will be scheduled to make a public presentation of the final design development of their project. A panel of two faculty chosen by the student from the tenure or tenure track faculty in Architecture along with your mentor with visiting critics will be convened to review the work and make a pass/fail recommendation to the students mentor. Students are encouraged to identify and secure agreeement from the faculty members they wish to serve on their review panel as soon as possible. This selection should reflect the focus and expertise of the faculty relative to your project to ensure the most informed and productive conversation over the course ofthe year and in this review. (April 2 –April 3)

8. Students whose work is judged to be acceptable by the faculty panel will be required to produce a book documenting their research, design process, and final product within the time frame designated by the faculty for publication. All books will be submitted by the student for inclusion in the Library archive. Students should meet with their mentor to discuss the content and organization of their book in the week following the review. Students who fail to meet the established schedule for publication will not be allowed to graduate in the spring or until such time as the final book is submitted to the Architecture Program.

Students whose work is judged to be inadequate by the review panel will be required to revise their project for presentation, with the approval of their mentor, during finals week. Should their project be judged once again to be inadequate by a second panel of faculty, the student will not be allowed to finish the Terminal Project and will be required to take one additional vertical studio to complete the studio requirement for the Master of Architecture degree. Those projects judged to be acceptable will be given the summer to complete their book to graduate at the end of the summer.

9. Two copies of the final work along with a cd containing this work must be delivered to the Program office on or before April 23rd by 12:00 noon. At this time the students will be directed to provide a check for the binding fee for their copy to Jay Penner in the Dean's Office and a second check to the Bursar's Office to pay the binding fee for the library copy. After completing these two tasks the student is to return to the Program Office with the two receipts to confirm the transactions, completing this process.

10. All students who have successfully completed their project and book will be required to display an abbreviated presentation of their work within a designated space on Monday May 4 for review by the faculty to determine the Cunningham Medal short list. (Students are expected to put up their work the afternoon of May 3 between 12:00 PM and 5:00PM, work not displayed in that time will be excluded from the medal judging.) The finalists will be posted in afternoon of the 4th by 3:00. All students not selected will need to remove their work that afternoon by 4:00 p.m. to make way for the selected students to put up a complete display for review by the medal jury. The presentations to the Medal jury will take place Tuesday May 5 between 9:00AM and 12:00PM. These presentations will be open to all students and faculty. All students will be responsible for remounting their abbreviated display on Wednesday May 6 between 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM for public exhibition until after the graduation event Friday evening.


Milestone Dates

Spring 2009
(Fifth Year) Due date for initial submission to Architecture Program Office Jan. 25
(Fifth Year) Early report on mentor selection from student to office Mar. 22
(Fifth Year) Due date for final proposal between student and mentor to
Program Officel Apr. 5

Fall
Initial Research/Program Draft 3rd week
Program/Research Review 8th week
Interim Reviews 12th & 13th week
Schematic Design Review by Faculty Finals week

Spring
Interim Review 4th & 5th week
Final Review by Faculty 10th week
Project Books Due 14th week
Display work for Cunningham Medal review exhibit Sunday before Finals
Faculty review for Cunningham Medal Jury Monday Finals Week
Finalist jury review Tuesday Finals Week
Graduation Exhibit Finals Week

Mentored Project PPC Proposal Requirements

Eligible Candidates
Students enrolled in the Architecture Program who have successfully accomplished all required prerequisites for the studio and have successfully completed the procedure outlined below will be allowed to register for the Final Project Studio.

Mentor Definition
Faculty members of the Architecture Program or, subject to the approval of the architecture faculty, other faculty members with particular professional expertise in the area of the proposed student project.

Proposal Requirements
The initial proposal should be structured as indicated below and respond to the following points:

1. Project Title (The title should be relatively short and descriptive of the project to be pursued.)
2. Statement of Intent identifying issue(s) to be investigated and the relevant areas of expertise and interest offered by the faculty of the architectural professional program (This portion of the text should begin to give some insight into the trajectories of research and investigation planned for the project, and as a result imply what expertise will be required to legitimately pursue.)
3. A commitment to meet the NAAB criteria identified by the faculty as relevant to the final project studios. (At the least all proposals must acknowledge a commitment to address these criterion with some indication of how you expect to do so. You are encouraged to include additional criterion if they are relevant to your proposal.)
4. Site Description (Sites can be specific or be described as a series of criterion that describe the characteristics of the site as it relates to your project proposal. Sites described in grossly general terms ie. 'in Chicago' are not acceptable.)
5. An indication of the anticipated methods of analysis for the project, including potentially descriptive methods, normative methods, and/or critical methods. (The desire here is to cite the process you plan to pursue in your final project)

Criteria for Proposal Evaluation
The following two criteria, in addition to compliance with the format indicated above, will be used to evaluate the project proposal:
1. The project must be designed and developed independently by an individual student.
2. The project must have as its intention the design of a built environment, representing an act(s) of human activity, and be of architectural significance.

Criteria for Mentored Project Evaluation
1. The project should demonstrate a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of theoretical and applied study processes learned throughout the course of the student's professional education.

2. The project should provide evidence, narrative and visual, of the student's realization of the initial design intentions, as identified in the initial project proposal, and the programmatic conclusions produced through the inquiry process.

3. The project should provide evidence of the student's ability to address and resolve issues related to architecture. For example issues surrounding space, place, tectonics, and construction at building and /or urban scales.

4. The project should provide evidence of the student's ability to bring to bear both creative and critical thinking skills in the development of their design solution.

5. The project should demonstrate the student's ability to communicate the design intentions and designed results using clear and legible architectural representations.

NAAB Criterion (minimum)
Arch 613
1. Speaking and Writing Skills: Ability to read, write, listen, and speak effectively on subject matter contained in the professional curriculum.
2. Critical Thinking Skills: Ability to raise clear and precise questions, use abstract ideas to interpret information, consider diverse points of view, reach well-reasoned conclusions, and test them against relevant criteria and standards
3. Graphic Skills: Ability to use appropriate representational media, including freehand drawing and computer technology, to convey essential formal elements at each stage of the programming and design process.
4. Research Skills: Ability to gather, assess, record, and apply relevant information in architectural coursework.
5. Formal Ordering Systems: Understanding of the fundamentals of visual perception and the principles and systems of order that inform two-and three-dimensional design, architectural composition, and urban design.
6. Fundamental Design Skills: Ability to use basic architectural principles in the design of buildings, interior spaces, and sites
11. Use of Precedents: Ability to incorporate relevant precedents into architectural and urban design projects
12. Human Behavior: Understanding of the theories and methods of inquiry that seek the relationships between behavior and the physical environment.
16. Program Preparation: Ability to prepare a comprehensive program for an architecture project, including assessment of client and user needs, a critical review of appropriate precedents, an inventory of space and equipment requirements, an analysis of site conditions, a review of the relevant laws and standards and assessment of their implication for the project, and a definition of site selection and design assessment criteria.
17. Site Conditions: Ability to respond to natural and built site characteristics in the development of a program and design of a project.


Arch 614
1. Speaking and Writing Skills: Ability to read, write, listen, and speak effectively on subject matter contained in the professional curriculum.
2. Critical Thinking Skills: Ability to raise clear and precise questions, use abstract ideas to interpret information, consider diverse points of view, reach well-reasoned conclusions, and test them against relevant criteria and standards
3. Graphic Skills: Ability to use appropriate representational media, including freehand drawing and computer technology, to convey essential formal elements at each stage of the programming and design process.
4. Research Skills: Ability to gather, assess, record, and apply relevant information in architectural coursework.
5. Formal Ordering Systems: Understanding of the fundamentals of visual perception and the principles and systems of order that inform two-and three-dimensional design, architectural composition, and urban design.
6. Fundamental Design Skills: Ability to use basic architectural principles in the design of buildings, interior spaces, and sites
11. Use of Precedents: Ability to incorporate relevant precedents into architectural and urban design projects
12. Human Behavior: Understanding of the theories and methods of inquiry that seek the relationships between behavior and the physical environment.
14. Accessibility: Ability to design both site and building to accommodate individuals with varying physical abilities.
16. Program Preparation: Ability to prepare a comprehensive program for an architecture project, including assessment of client and user needs, a critical review of appropriate precedents, an inventory of space and equipment requirements, an analysis of site conditions, a review of the relevant laws and standards and assessment of their implication for the project, and a definition of site selection and design assessment criteria.
17. Site Conditions: Ability to respond to natural and built site characteristics in the development of a program and design of a project.
23. Building System Integration: Ability to assess, select, and integrate structural systems, building envelope systems, environmental systems, life-safety system, and building service systems into building design.
28. Comprehensive Design: Ability to produce a comprehensive architectural project based on a building program and site that includes development of programmed spaces demonstrating an understanding of structural and environmental systems, building envelope systems, life-safety provisions, wall sections and building assemblies, and the principles of sustainability


Important Reminders for your M. Arch Terminal Project Proposal

Project Title:
Your title should clearly indicate the proposed project's focus.

Project Description:
This is a detailed description of the proposed project. It should include information about the program, the proposed types and scales of planning/design intervention, and the intended users.
*In other words, is this a library, a school, a house, or an urban design project?
*How big is it? Are you proposing to prepare a master plan for a larger area and proposing to design in detail a specific part of it?
*What uses do you seek to accommodate?
*Who are the users? Do they have specific demands or needs?
*If you are proposing a design-build project how are you planning to realize it? Note that a design-build project is not a design-build project if it is not built. It requires a significant degree of advance preparation and familiarity with the processes that are outside your control (permits, manufacturing etc.).Therefore the committee needs to see clear evidence of its feasibility to approve it.
**Note also that you should not be revisiting a project you were assigned in previous years. By definition, the M. Arch Terminal Project should be a student-initiated project, not one previously defined by a former studio instructor.

Site Description:
You may pursue one of the following options:
--At the point of submission the proposal the project the site is already chosen. In that case, the proposal should contain information about the site with a good verbal description supported with visuals. (maps indicating the location within the larger context-depending on the location the immediate neighborhood, city, etc.; photographic images etc.) In other words, the characteristics of the site should be clear to a reader even if s/he may have never been at this location. Your site description should also include a convincing justification as to why the proposed project/program is appropriate for this location. (eg. If you are proposing an international airport for Kearney, NE, that will not work.)

--The site has not been selected, deciding on the site is part of the proposed process. In that case, there should be a well specified list of criteria for selecting a site, or a detailed description of the process that will lead to an appropriate site for the proposed program. These criteria should include physical attributes (size, shape of terrain/topography, orientation, climate etc.) contextual attributes (location, accessibility, density of its surroundings, population around the site etc.). The description of the process for identifying the appropriate site should be clear and precise. Vague statements such as "I will do library research to determine the site" or "I will collect data to determine the site" are not acceptable. Your proposal should specify exactly what kind of data you are going to use to determine the site, where you are going to look for that information (which libraries, databases, archives etc), and a sampling of the types of questions you are planning to ask to make that decision.

NAAB Criteria
You already have been given a list of the NAAB Criteria that you are expected to satisfy during the course of this undertaking. You might already want to start thinking about how your project is going to satisfy these criteria. Thus when submitting your proposal include a brief sentence or two describing how each item will be met with your proposed project.

If you are planning to add to that list or take some items out, it is your responsibility to make a convincing case for this modification. When making your NAAB List, you might consider asking yourself the following questions as a starting point:
Consider each criterion on NAAB's list carefully.
How are you going to are going to address it?
What aspects of your undertaking will address it?
What skills you have gained in your education are you going to tap into?
Prepare your list once you answer those questions. This is clearly a tentative guideline that will get you started. As you venture into the project and you work with your respective mentors, you will discover you might need to add new ones and take out others, but this initial should provide a fairly reliable reference for you and the mentor whose help you intend to enlist.

About Process
The specifics of how you are actually going to execute this project depend on your agreement with your mentor. However, it would be helpful for the mentors with whom you plan to work to see that you have a road map in mind, a sequence of procedures you intend to complete, and a fairly good idea of what it will take to complete to realize your goals.

Finding a mentor
This is a very important component of your process and you should start looking for a faculty member who will share your interest and will work with you in the realization of your project as soon as possible. Do not leave this to the last minute. The earlier you make contact with your mentor the better.

Guidelines for Submission
*Format, Grammar and Spelling: This is a serious document: consider it a contract or a proposal letter to a potential client. Thus your proposal should not be sloppy, looking like it was put together at the last minute. Grammatic mistakes, spelling errors, bad formatting are not acceptable.
*Bibliography: This is clearly a preliminary document, it will change and expand during the thesis year. However, it is important because reveals a degree of commitment to the project, suggesting that you have made an informed choice, having investigated some related issues. When listing your sources make sure that you are using appropriate conventions.
*When generating this document or any other document for academic review consider using The Chicago Manual of Style, Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style as handy references. Your ideas may be brilliant, but a bad presentation can seriously undermine their strength.

London Students
London students tend to operate under different deadlines. Experience suggests that getting approval prior to departure can relieve you of long-distance anxieties and last minute scramblings for finding a mentor. If you would like to submit your proposal for early review, then the Christmas Break is a good time to get that worked out. An early deadline will be announced at the beginning of the semester. Keep your eyes peeled for announcements.

Sixth Year Vertical Studio Option (2)

Process
Milestone Dates
NAAB Criteria

Academic Year 2009 / 2010 Vertical Studio Options
Fall 2009 - Hyde Chair, TBA: Hyde Chair Studio
Fall 2009 - Mark Hoistad: China Studio
Fall 2009 -Jeff Day: __scape
Fall 2009 - Martin Despang: correct - tecture
Fall 2009 - Peter Hind: What is Health?

Spring 2010 - Hyde Chair, TBA: Hyde Chair Studio
Spring 2010 - Chris Ford: Housing Intervention: The Architect as Developer
Spring 2010 - Nate Krug: London Studio
Spring 2010 - Steve Hardy: Parametric Permacultures 1.0: 'Box' Store Urbanism
Spring 2010 - Tim Hemsath: Massive Change: Social Architecture in a Flat World

Process (Fifth year, Spring Semester 2009)

1. On or before February 1, students not wishing to pursue option one for the sixth year should indicate this intention with the Program Office by filing the appropriate form stating this intention.

2. During the sixth week (Feb. 15-19), faculty members wishing to teach one of the vertical option studios will provide a proposal to the students eligible for these studios.  The proposals will indicate the following:

-- framework for exploration
-- a bibliography/reading list if appropriate
-- NAAB criterion addressed in the studio
-- an indication of the expected outcome(s) of the studio.

Those eligible students will give their preference by indication their first, second, and third choice for each semester.  Every student must indicate all three choices or they will not be given full preference consideration. Studios will be offered based on preference and demand with the goal of having studio populations of between 10 and 14 students.  Studios that fill with first preference requests will be offered first with those having the highest composite rating offered second.

Faculty offering a studio that is oversubscribed to will make the final selection of the students for that studio.  Fifth year students will be given preference for the London Studio and the Hyde Chair studios.  All other studios selection will attempt to give students their highest preference.

3. On or before April 5, students will be required to submit their preferences for vertical studios.  Failure to submit a preference could result in restriction from registration for studio in the fall semester.  Students are encouraged to speak with the various faculty offering studios for greater insight into the content and direction of the proposal.

4. On or before April 26, students will be notified of the studio assignments for the following year.  Students will be allowed to register for the assigned studio after assignments have been made.  Waiting lists will be established for those students wishing consideration for a studio for which they were not assigned.  Alternate assignments will occur during the week before classes should openings come available.

Milestone Dates

Spring 2009
Intent form due date Feb. 1
Faculty presentations for studio options Feb. 15-19
Student preferences due Apr. 5
Notification of studio assignment for 2006-07 April 26

 

Fall 2009
Interim Review Dates per syllabus
Studio Reviews Friday Dead Week

Spring 2010
Interim Submission Dates per syllabus
Final Design Review Friday Dead Week

NAAB Criterion (minimum)

1. Speaking and Writing Skills: Ability to speak and write effectively on subject matter contained in the professional curriculum.

2. Critical Thinking Skills: Ability to raise clear and precise questions, use abstract ideas to interpret information, consider diverse points of view, reach well-reasoned conclusions, and test them against relevant criteria and standards

3. Graphic Skills: Ability to use appropriate representational media, including freehand drawing and computer technology, to convey essential formal elements at each stage of the programming and design process.

4. Research Skills: Ability to gather, assess, record, and apply relevant information in architectural coursework.

5. Formal Ordering Systems: Understanding of the fundamentals of visual perception and the principles and systems of order that inform two-and three-dimensional design, architectural composition, and urban design.

6. Fundamental Design Skills: Ability to use basic architectural principles in the design of buildings, interior spaces, and sites

11. Use of Precedents: Ability to incorporate relevant precedents into architectural and urban design projects

12. Human Behavior: Understanding of the theories and methods of inquiry that seek the relationships between behavior and the physical environment.

14. Accessibility: Ability to design both site and building to accommodate individuals with varying physical abilities.

16. Program Preparation: Ability to prepare a comprehensive program for an architecture project, including assessment of client and user needs, a critical review of appropriate precedents, an inventory of space and equipment requirements, an analysis of site conditions, a review of the relevant laws and standards and assessment of their implication for the project, and a definition of site selection and design assessment criteria.

17. Site Conditions: Ability to respond to natural and built site characteristics in the development of a program and design of a project.

23. Building System Integration: Ability to assess, select, and integrate structural systems, building envelope systems, environmental systems, life-safety system, and building service systems into building design.

28. Comprehensive Design: Ability to produce a comprehensive architectural project based on a building program and site that includes development of programmed spaces demonstrating an understanding of structural and environmental systems, building envelope systems, life-safety provisions, wall sections and building assemblies, and the principles of sustainability

Fall Studio Options
Hyde Chair: Hyde Chair Studio (Fall 2009 - TBA)
studio topic: TBA

Prof. Mark Hoistad: China Studio (Fall 2009)
studio topic:
NOTE: Travel Abroad Application Required

Prof. Jeff Day: __scape (Fall 2009)
Studio topic: PDF

Prof. Martin Despang: correct - tecture (Fall 2009)
Studio topic: PDF

Prof. Peter Hind: What is Health? (Fall 2009)
Studio topic: PDF

Spring Studio Options

Prof. Nate Krug: London Studio (Spring 2010)
Studio topic:
NOTE: Travel Abroad Application Required

Hyde Chair: Hyde Chair Studio (Spring 2010 - TBA)
Studio topic: TBA

Prof. Chris Ford: Housing Intervention: The Architect as Developer (Spring 2010)
Studio topic: PDF

Prof. Steve Hardy: Parametric Permacultures 1.0: 'Box' Store Urbanism (Spring 2010)
Studio topic: PDF

Prof. Tim Hemsath: Massive Change: Social Architecture in a Flat World (Spring 2010)
Studio topic: PDF