Buried in blueprints, sans accreditation

Unlike other universities’, Princeton’s architecture school is unaccredited. While many architecture programs concentrate on building regulations and construction, Princeton takes the unconventional approach of focusing on both liberal arts and architectural curricula. In addition to design studio, architecture majors at Princeton take supplemental liberal arts courses on the history and theory of architecture.

Lacking accreditation

Since Princeton’s architecture program is unaccredited at the undergraduate level, students interested in becoming architects must obtain a master’s degree. This takes three additional years of school.

Architecture professor Spyridon Papapetros explained in an e-mail that Princeton students “may only take four semesters of studio instead of 10 as happens in professional architecture schools.” He added, however, that the studios “are very advanced and dense. Therefore, our students are easily accepted to the master’s programs of the most selective schools in the U.S.”

More than half of the architecture school’s graduating class typically goes on to pursue professional degrees in architecture, and these numbers have increased in the last five years, Papapetros noted. The architecture school currently has 16 seniors and 25 juniors.

At a university with an accredited program, a B.Arch. is a five-year degree. Students who graduate with that degree then go to a year and a half of graduate school if they want to be professionally qualified as architects.

The National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB) accredits a school’s architecture program through an ongoing process. A school must first write a summary of its performance based on the NAAB “Conditions and Procedures for Accreditation” and then undergo a peer review by a team that visits the school. The visiting team then prepares a report that recommends to the NAAB whether or not the program should be accredited. The NAAB makes its final decision based on the report, and the architecture program continues to be reviewed every few years.

“Practically, doing an accredited program and a master’s, or an unaccredited program and a master’s, is basically the same thing in terms of time: If the first track takes you six-and-a-half years to complete, the second one is seven years long,” architecture major Otilia Pupezeanu ’10 explained.

Pupezeanu noted, however, that an unaccredited program is a better track for those who do not want to become architects, but rather graphic or clothing designers, or work for places like Pixar or advertising firms.

“[An unaccredited program] focuses more on creativity rather than on building regulations and other things that will also help you in an architectural career,” she said.

Caitlin Alev ’10 also said that she views the University’s unaccredited program as positive.

“I think that getting a liberal arts degree in architecture makes me more well-rounded and helps me see the connections to other fields,” she explained.

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Unlike Alev, who knew she wanted to major in architecture even before she matriculated, Alyce Tzue ’10 said she did not want to study architecture when she matriculated at Princeton. She echoed Alev’s belief that Princeton’s architecture graduates tend to be more aware of architecture and its relationship with other fields than students participating in specialized architecture programs.

“Practicing architecture effectively and ethically in the professional world ties in knowledge in many different subjects, including but not limited to sociology, psychology and the fine arts, and the best architects are able to understand the context of architecture among the larger picture of a complex society,” Tzue said.

Papapetros said he believes that combining architecture with the liberal arts prepares students to “bring fresh perspectives to architectural discourse.”

Program structure

Before Princeton students can bring new perspective to the architecture world, they must take a design studio class in each junior-year semester. Design studio counts as their junior independent work, but is not recognized as a course. In studio, professors give students a common prompt at the beginning of the semester, and each student comes up with a unique way to approach the question by creating models and drawings.

At the end of the semester, students and teachers exchange feedback and review the models.

“It can be scary at first to present your ideas in front of all your peers and teachers, especially if you get negative feedback,” Alev said. “But you learn to handle it and defend your ideas, and I think this is a really good life skill that will come in handy in the future.”

With nine hours of studio work every week in addition to her other classes, Alexandra Deprez ’11 said sleep is a luxury for architecture majors.

“My studio was certainly very demanding,” she said, adding that she pulled five or six all-nighters and became less of a perfectionist.

For Jane Dobkin ’10, ARC 203: Introduction to Architectural Thinking sparked her interest in the history and theory of architecture. She then took the introductory studio class in her sophomore year.

“It was unlike any class I had ever taken before,” Dobkin said. “Instead of staying up all night trying to write an essay, I was able to be creative in a different kind of way, by drawing and building models. I think this hands-on aspect of the studio got me really excited to declare my major.”

The large amount of time spent in classes ensures that architecture majors spend a lot of time with each other.

“In architecture, you do not work individually, so there isf an overt healthy competition as well as an immediate appreciation of other people’s work,” Pupezeanu explained. “You work hard for your studios, not only out of your personal passion, but also because the others motivate you to do so.”

Alev noted that she did not think students could be architecture majors unless they were “really committed to it.”

For underclassmen contemplating architecture as a major, she recommended taking a drawing class to test the waters.

“Try the introductory studio, ARC 204: Introduction to Architectural Design,” Deprez said. “If you like that, you’ll love being a major.”