DIRECTOR:
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Mr.
Richard Plunz |
THE
URBAN DESIGN PROGRAM |
The
Master of Science degree in Architecture and Urban Design is oriented toward
architects who have already received a professional degree and who wish
to concentrate further on the study of design considerations related to
urban form.
Urban Design introduces a way of thinking about the city that is more complex
and inclusive than architectural design, yet more form oriented than the
discipline of urban planning. The course work explores that ill-defined
realm between architecture and planning, as well as such areas as cultural
theory, sociology, urban geography, economics, and real estate. The base
endeavor, however, is architectural design, which serves as a catalyst for
incorporation of wide-ranging perspectives from other disciplines. In this
sense, the program is considered experimental, exploratory, and unorthodox
in comparison to the established canons of the traditional architectural
design studio. The faculty are committed to the architectural investigation
of urban phenomena on all scales. In one sense, the curriculum attempts
to further the role of urban design as a form of critical inquiry. The theoretical
base originates with the 1960s, when the present critique of “modernist”
urbanism first developed. Crucial to this foundation are such diverse tendencies
as the Situationist International in Europe, the “Collage City”
adherents in the United States, and the so-called “systems approach”
that emerged universally out of the beginnings of the cybernetic age.
The curriculum engages the state of the late twentieth-century urbanism,
especially of those cities that have come of age in the modern industrial
era and now face the transition to new forms and meanings. A dialogue is
woven between New York City, which is the primary focus of the program,
and other world capitals with analogous contemporary conditions. It also
moves between the recent theoretical debate on future urbanism and applied
projects that directly engage the realities of the transformation of the
post-industrial city. In this way, the program attempts to engage both the
daily reality of our urban condition and the theoretical abstraction of
current academic debate—not one to the exclusion of the other.
The Urban Design Program embraces a special relationship between the design
studio and the New York City region through collaboration with government
agencies and other public interest constituencies. This collaboration interjects
a heightened degree of reality and immediacy within the academic program;
and in return it gives public institutions a valuable resource for exploration
of critical issues. In the final semester the focus shifts to one or two
other world cities comprising a similar collaboration with the appropriate
local agencies and constituencies. Recent studios have worked in Antwerp,
Belgrade, Brussels, Caracas, Istanbul, London, Mexico City, Mostar, Naples,
and Prague. In general the problematics raised by all of the studios connect
to concrete urban situations from which inquiry proceeds to a particular
balance of “real” and “theoretical,” depending on specific
circumstances. Graduates gain the conceptual tools with which to manage
the complexities of design intervention as a catalyst for urban development.
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ADMISSIONS
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Applications
are due January 15. All applicants for admission to the program leading
to the M.S. degree in Architecture and Urban Design must have a B.Arch.
or M.Arch. degree or the equivalent. In addition to the application form
and required supporting documents, applicants must submit a portfolio containing
examples of their architectural designs, particularly from the last
two years of undergraduate training. The portfolio should not exceed 812
by 11 inches, should not measure more than 12 inch in thickness, and should
be submitted with the application. The portfolio will be returned by mail
only if sufficient postage and packaging are included and the return address
is indicated on the portfolio. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is
not required.
Applicants for this program enter in the summer term; they must attend on
a full-time basis. |
INTERNATIONAL
STUDENTS |
In
addition to the general admissions requirements, international students
(1) who can understand rapid idiomatic English and can speak, write, and
read English with a high degree of facility and (2) who can prove their
ability to support themselves financially while in the United States are
eligible for admission to Columbia. For a single student, a minimum of $36,000
for living and tuition expenses for each academic year (early September
to mid-May), plus travel money, is considered essential. Since an international
student holding a student visa (F) or exchange visa (J) is required by the
United States Immigration and Naturalization Service to carry a full program
of study, students should not plan to depend on income from outside employment.
Note: All students with non-resident visas will be charged a fee of $50
per term (autumn and spring) to support the University's services to international
students. |
Students
whose native language is not English or who did not receive their education
in an English-speaking country should make arrangements to take the Test
of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Inquiries about this test, which
is administered four times annually throughout the world, should be addressed
to TOEFL/TSE Service, P.O. Box 6151, Princeton, NJ 08541-6151, U.S.A.; telephone
(609) 771-7100. Applicants are urged to make arrangements to take either
the November or the February examination. |
ORGANIZATION
OF THE PROGRAM |
The
core of the Urban Design curriculum is the three-semester sequence of related
studios and seminars. In summary, the material of the first-semester studio
represents an introduction to the morphology of New York, from center to
inner periphery to edge city. The first-semester seminar provides an overview
of the contemporary literature on the question of postindustrial urbanism.
The second-semester studio is focused in detail on the singular issue of
rebuilding older urban areas within the New York region. Its seminars investigate
the question of anonymous urban fabric with comparative study of New York
and other world cities. The topic of the third-semester studio moves to
another city for comparative purposes and is primarily engaged with the
issue of restructuring and rebuilding the nineteenth- and twentieth-century
fabrics. The seminars continue to explore recent theoretical debate, focused
on the problematic of public space. |
PROGRAM
REQUIREMENTS |
The
M.S. degree in Architecture and Urban Design requires 45 points in the following
curriculum: |
Requirements
for M.Arch. Program |
Summer
Term |
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A6849
Urban design studio, I |
9
pts |
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A6836
Urban design seminar, I |
3
pts |
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A6824
Reading New York urbanism |
3
pts |
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Fall
Term |
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A6850
Studio, II |
9
pts |
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A6837
Urban design seminar, IIA or |
3
pts |
|
A6832
Urban design seminar, IIB
Open elective |
3
pts |
|
Spring
Term |
|
|
A6851
Studio, III |
9
pts |
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A6838
Urban design seminar, IIIA or |
3
pts |
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A4688
Urban design seminar, IIIB
Open elective |
3
pts |
|
Total:
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45
pts |
Note:
Students are advised to take one additional 3- or 4-point elective during
each term.
No extra tuition is charged between 15 and 19 points.
Students requiring an introduction to computer modeling and multimedia techniques
will be required to register for Architecture A4528—Digital modeling
for urban design in the summer term.
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