The Department of Architecture in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington is a dynamic community of students, educators, scholars, and professionals advancing innovative research, critical practice, and interdisciplinary collaboration. We leverage our position in a globally ranked, public research university to critically engage one of the country’s most innovative and progressive cities as a physical, cultural and ecological system while embracing diversity in all of its forms. We inspire students to excel within a broad design-based curriculum with concentrations in history and theory, materials and fabrication, and sustainable systems and design.
We benefit from a unique relationship with what is among the country’s most robust and innovative practicing communities. Four Seattle-based firms have won the national AIA Firm Award in the past twenty years and ours is the only city that can make this claim. Our graduates are in leadership positions in all four firms and, in three cases, are firm founders. The College of Built Environments is the only college in the country with the five essential built environment disciplines - Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, Construction Management, and Real Estate - under one roof. This provides us with unique opportunities for community-engaged, interdisciplinary education, research, scholarship, and practice to build a more just and beautiful world.
The quarter system within which we work provides students with expanded opportunities for elective seminars and studio options including design build, furniture design and study abroad. The MArch program culminates with two research-based options—independent thesis or research studios—that challenge students to develop the critical thinking, design, and research expertise essential to architectural education and practice now and in the future.
We look forward to welcoming you into our remarkable community of students, faculty, and staff as a member of the 2024 incoming cohorts!
Sincerely,
Richard E. Mohler, FAIA, NCARB Professor and Chair
Our Admitted Students Events & Information website is where you can find the RSVP link to attend our Open House and Virtual Events planned for admitted students.
Website password: UWARCH2024
Links to recorded sessions will be posted to this website within 48 hours after the event.
Friday, March 29, 2024
Admitted applicants wishing to see our campus and school should time their visit with our Open House to receive a comprehensive preview of what our school has to offer. The event includes faculty presentations, a tour of facilities and studios, and opportunities to talk with faculty, current students, and advising staff about our programs. Out of town students are encouraged to make time to explore our beautiful and vibrant campus and city.
Various dates in April
Q+A sessions with current students, alumni, and faculty.
In the Department of Architecture, we empower students to be responsive and responsible to society, culture, and the environment. Our values are based in the traditions of architecture and craft making, activism, and community-based design, seen within the context of social and technological change. Our classes and studios provide students with handson experiences that reflect Seattle’s unique position as a regional center with strong global connections. Through international travel opportunities we expose students to the impact and outcomes of architecture in diverse cultural settings. Further, as we advance architectural knowledge through research and practice, we use our experiences to benefit local, national, and global communities.
History, Theory and Criticism
Materials and Fabrication
Sustainable Systems and Design
Design Computing
Historic Preservation
Housing Studies
Lighting Design
Real Estate
Urban Design
“The architecture program is rooted locally while thinking globally. The regional design emphasis on materials, craft, and sustainability are consistent throughout the curriculum and are complimented with multiple diverse opportunities for study and research abroad.”
-Buddy Burkhalter, M Arch 2017“Returning to school after 20 years was a bit terrifying, and I braced for the potential of a dog-eat-dog experience. To my pleasant surprise, I found only support and camaraderie, and I graduated with friendships that I’ll have for life. The familial culture in the program was critical to my survival, and is both professional and personal gold.”
-Stephanie Farrell, M Arch 2016BA Architecture
BA Architecture Design
BS Architecture/Construction Management
M Architecture
MArchitecture/Landscape Architecture
MS Architecture (Design Technology)
MS Architecture (History/Theory)
Ph.D. Built Environments
The University of Washington Center for Integrated Design includes the Integrated Design Lab (IDL), and the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF). The Center’s mission is to advance the highest performing built environment that better serves environmental and human health through research, technical assistance, education and outreach. Operating out of its own ‘living laboratory’, the Center is a self-sustaining service located at the Bullitt Center in Seattle –the greenest commercial building in the world.
Provides students with the space and equipment needed to design and build models, furniture, and small-scale building components. The facility is comprised of a maker spaces which include a Wood Lab, Metal Lab, and Digital Hub with CNC equipment. The labs support work for courses and are open to the College of Built Environments community during open lab hours.
The Circular City + Living Systems Lab (CCLS) is an interdisciplinary group researching living systems integrated into the built environment that produce and circulate resources within the food-water-energy nexus. Synthesizing expertise from architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, biology, and ecology, the CCLS applies principles of research and design to investigate transformative strategies for future cities.
The Center for Preservation and Adaptive Reuse (CPAR) is a research, education and advocacy center that recognizes the value of our existing historic and non-historic buildings. The center produces innovative research, advances knowledge, and promotes educational initiatives addressing the reuse and preservation of the built environment at all scales.
HHF invests in CBE’s current humanities strengths, including connections to social science, relevant to climate solutions, prosperity, equity, and social justice. This includes connecting CBE’s humanities capabilities with the greatest needs of other UW colleges, local institutions, and community and industry partners.
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1. Architecture Hall Studio
2. Photo Lab
3. Fabrication Lab
BE Library: The University of Washington libraries comprise one of the largest research library systems in North America. The Built Environments Library in Gould Hall holds the primary collection of materials on the subjects of architecture, construction management, landscape architecture, and urban design and planning. It includes more than forty thousand books and bound periodicals, over three hundred currently received serial titles and almost eight thousand items in microform and other formats.
Research studios and seminars allow students to directly engage with faculty on their cutting edge, design-focused research. Topics include housing affordability, highperformance building, digital fabrication, and urban agriculture. Work from these studios has won recent national awards including a 2021 AIA/ACSA Housing Design Education Award and a 2023 AIA Cote Top Ten for Students Award.
BE Studios leverage the unique interdisciplinary resources of the College of Built Environments to address challenges of climate change and social equity while engaging with underserved communities. Recent studios have collaborated with the Nehemiah Initiative to disrupt the displacement of Black households from Seattle, the coastal Shoalwater Bay Tribe who are threatened by sea level rise, and Reconnect South Park which is improving lives in a neighborhood disproportionately burdened by industrial and transportation related pollution.
The award-winning Howard S. Wright Neighborhood Design/ Build Studio engages students in the design and construction of small usable structures for Seattle-area nonprofits. Students experience the entire design and construction process including client engagement, site visits, schematic design, design development, material selection, detailing, and hands-on construction.
Students design and fabricate a piece of furniture using our extensive Fabrication Lab facilities. Regardless of experience, students learn how to design and craft their pieces using hand and digital tools. The studio includes a partially funded 10day trip to Denmark. Work from the studio has won dozens of awards at the Chair Affair event in Idaho and two pieces are Finalists in the international 2024 Gray Magazine Awards.
Students in Rome are immersed in a densely layered historical context while in Mexico City they are confronted with a fastpaced and rapidly changing metropolis. In Copenhagen, they study pedestrian and bike-friendly infrastructure while in Berlin they study progressive housing policy and design strategies. These international experiences prepare our graduates for the diverse cultural contexts and challenges architects face in an increasingly global context.
The Department of Architecture together with the College of Built Environments hosts lectures, exhibits, and events which span the discipline of architecture within the built environment. We aim to inspire students and our local community with a robust array of offerings. Visit the CBE Events Calendar for upcoming events.
Megan Asaka, “Planned Erasure: Recovering Asian American Spaces in the Pacific Northwest”
Tuesday, April 2, 5:30pm in Alder Auditorium
This talk will examine the built environment illuminating erased histories of Asian migrants in the early 20th century Pacific Northwest and their forgotten role in building the city.
Modern Architecture Activism: The Life and Work of Benjamin F. McAdoo Jr.
Ongoing through Friday, March 15
This exhibit showcases the modern architectural designs and social activism of Benjamin F. McAdoo, Jr. (1920-1981), a graduate of UW, and the first Black architect registered in Washington State.
Kishkindha New York: Exploring Entanglement
Between the Planet, the Cosmos and the Human Runs March 25 - April 26
This exhibit features the recent work of O(U)R: Office of (Un)certainty Research, a design research practice that responds to the climate crisis and seeks to connect the sciences and humanities to the built environment.
AIAS West Quad Conference
2024 design exCHANGE Exhibit Opening
NOMAS: Making and Taking Up Space
The Department of Architecture Professionals Advisory Council (PAC) maintains a dialog between practicing architects, allied design professionals, and the department faculty. This dialog informs the profession about departmental concerns and larger academic issues. In turn, faculty gain greater awareness of marketplace realities and trends. Through participation in the council, members enjoy opportunities for professional growth while supporting the department.
...To provide feedback about the evolving realities of practice to the Department of Architecture.
...To act as a liaison between the Department of Architecture and the community of architectural practitioners.
...To act as a liaison between the Department of Architecture and other professionals’ advisory groups in the College of Built Environments.
...To provide recommendations and support for aspects of the department’s programs that build the professional merit of its graduates.
...To help students in the department better understand the professional practice of architecture and associated career paths.
...To help develop and maintain transitional programs, such as internships, that will assist graduates in developing their careers.
...To support continuing education for practicing architects in diverse career paths.
...To help the department access resources from the professional community for the benefit of its students.
1. Portfolio Review
2. Construction Tour
3. Career Fair
4. Student Intern at Weinstein
Bassetti Architects
Baylis Architects
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Dean Alan Architects
DLR Group, EHDD
Environmental Works
Fathom Architecture
LMN Architects
Miller Hayashi Architects
MG2
Miller Hull Partnership
Mithun
NAC Architecture
NBBJ
Olson Kundig
Rolluda Architects
Runberg Architecture Group
SCB
SHKS Architects
Spotswood Design
SRG Partnership
Studio Meng Strazzara
Weber Thompson
Weinstein A+U
ZGF
UW ARCH PAC summer internships offer paid internships in Seattle-area design offices, with the primary intention of offering an introduction to the design workplace to students completing the first year of the Department’s 3-year MArch program. Matching of eligible applicants with available workplace openings achieves student placements for 320-400 hours of employment. Generally following the guidelines of the National Council of Architect Registration Boards (NCARB) Experience Requirements directed toward architect licensing, workplace supervisors monitor and mentor interns, in liaison with and reporting students’ experience to a Department faculty advisor.
Weinstein A+UOver roughly the past year alone, UW Architecture faculty, students and alumni have been recognized extensively. The following are only a sampling of the regional, national, and international design awards, research grants, book and online publications, exhibitions, and individual honors received. Highlights include four national ACSA Education Awards, two AIA Seattle Gold Medals for Lifetime Achievement, and the 2023 national AIA Whitney M. Young Award.
Practice/Research
• Affiliate Associate Professor Susan Jones
- 2023 Architect’s Newspaper’s Best Architecture Firm (small) in the West (atelierjones)
- 2023 AIA Seattle Award of Merit – Mass Timber Homes
- 2023 AIA Seattle Young Voices Award – Mass Timber Home
- 2023 AIA Seattle Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement
• Affiliate Associate Professor Robert Hutchison
- 2024 Architizer 25 Best Firms in Seattle (Robert Hutchison Architecture) - 2024 Loghaven Fellowship
• Affiliate Associate Professor Boris Srdar
- 2023 AIA Seattle Honor Award – Wing Luke Elementary School (NAC Architecture)
• Professor Mehlika Inanici
- Presented “Perspectives of a Building Scientist and Educator on Gender Equity,” at the United Nations General Assembly Science Summit, 2023
• Professor Rick Mohler
- 2023 ACSA Best Paper Award
- 2022 AIA Seattle Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement
• Associate Professor Elizabeth Golden - 2024 ACSA Course Development Prize
• Associate Professor Gundula Proksch - 2024 ARCC Mid-Career Research Impact Award
• Associate Professor Tyler Sprague
- 2023 ACSA Timber Education Prize
• Assistant Teaching Professor Mona Ghandi - 2024 DATMA Art Installation Competition (winning design)
• Affiliate Associate Professor Robert Hutchison
- 2024 Loghaven Fellowship
• Assistant Professor Narjes Abbasabadi
- 2024 Royalty Research Fund Grant - $45,000 (PI)
• Professor Chris Meek & Research Associate Professor Heather Burpee
- 2023 grant to establish the Pacific Northwest Building Training and Assessment Center (PNW BTAC), U.S. Department of Energy - $1M (co-PI’s)
• Professor Kate Simonen
- 2022 Compiling and Benchmarking Embodied Carbon Data, Alfred P Sloan Foundation$200,000 (PI)
• Professor Chris Meek, Assistant Professor Tomas Mendez Echenagucia, and Professor Kate Simonen - 2022 POD | LCA, ARAP-E Hestia - $3,700,000/$3,994,303 (Co-PIs)
• Associate Professor Gundula Proksch - 2023 National Science Foundation (NSF): “Autonomous Engineered Living Materials for Construction and Repair of Outdoor Built Environments” - $400,000 (Co-PI) - 2023 Belmont Forum: “Aquaponics as Climate and Context Appropriate Food Production System” - $1.61 million (Co-PI)
• Associate Professor Kathryn Rogers Merlino - 2022 Saving America’s Treasure’s Grant, Department of the Interior. ASUW Shell House renovation - $500,000 (PI)
• Associate Professor Ann Huppert - 2022 Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art
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• Professor Vikram Prakash
- 2024 TED-Ed Talk: “Is Chandigarh a perfectly planned city?” – 34K views/day
- A House Deconstructed (with Mark Jarzombek), 2023
- L’Oeuvre Incomplete: The Modern City in the Age of Globalization, 2023
• Professor Ken Tadashi Oshima
- The Wright Imperial Hotel at 100: Frank Lloyd Wright and the World, 2023
- The Wright Imperial Hotel at 100: Frank Lloyd Wright and the World, - Exhibition, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2023
Practice & Research
• Eric Luth (M Arch 2022) and Andrew Baltimore (M Arch 2022)
- 2023 AIA/ACSA COTE Top Ten Student Design - one of ten designs selected from nearly 1,100 entries
• Bryce Boho (M Arch 2023), William Flanagan (M Arch 2023), Lu He, Alicia Jacobs, Facundo Jaime (M Arch 2023), and Jacob Schmitz (M Arch 2023)
- 2023 Metropolis Magazine Planet Positive Award
• Morocco Branting (M Arch candidate 2024)
- 2024 Gray Magazine Student Design Awards - Finalist
• Jeremy Salesin (M Arch candidate 2024)
- 2024 Gray Magazine Student Design Awards – Finalist
Leadership
• UW AIAS/UW NOMAS
- 2023 AIA Seattle Allied Organization Award
• UW AIAS
- Selected as hosts for the 2024 AIAS West Quad Conference
• Trevin Thompson (M Arch candidate 2025)
- Elected AIAS West Quad Director, 2024
Leadership
• Doug Ito (BA Arch 1996) – Principal, SMR Architects
- 2023 National AIA Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award
• Emilia Cabeza de Baca (MArch 2019)
- 2023 AIA Seattle Community Service Award
Practice
• Bill LaPatra (MArch 1983) – Partner, Mithun
- AIA College of Fellows, 2023
• Mary Johnston (MArch 1983), Ray Johnston, Mona Zellers (MArch 2011) –Principals, Johnston Architects
- 2023 AIA Seattle Honor Award – Winthrop Library
• Jeff Boone (MArch 2000), Scot Carr (MArch 1998), Kevin Tabari (MArch 1996) Principals, Public 47 Architects
- 2023 AIA Seattle Energy in Design Award – Inspire Apartments
• Tim Carter (MArch 2005), Gregg Squires (MArch 2005) – Principals, Cone Architecture
- 2023 AIA Seattle Award of Merit – Dockside Apartments
• Scott Crawford (MArch & MS Arch 2010), Sam Miller (MArch 1992) – Principals, LMN Architects
- 2023 AIA Seattle Award of Merit – Grand Avenue Park Bridge
• Eric Walter (BA Arch 1995) – Principal, mwworks
- 2023 AIA Seattle Honorable Mention – Courtyard Residence
• Brian Court (MArch 1992), Rob Misel (BA Arch 1989), Sian Roberts (MArch 1992), Ron Rochon (MArch 1994) – Partners, Miller Hull Partnership
- 2023 AIA Seattle Honorable Mention – Grand Avenue Park Bridge
• Mariam Kamara (MArch 2013)
- 2023 AD Magazine 100
Education/Research
• Julia Lindgren (M Arch 2010) – Assistant Professor, University of Texas Arlington
- 2024 ACSA Architectural Education Design-Build Award
The Master of Science (MS) in Architecture is a research-based degree that addresses the increasing demand for research skills in both academia and the profession. Our program provides advanced, concentrated study in two areas of specialization: design technology and architectural history and theory. Both degrees require 45 credits and can be completed in 5-6 quarters. Master of Architecture students who would like to continue on with an MS Architecture degree can share up to 9 credits with their M Arch degree, saving approximately one quarter of study.
The MS Architecture in Design Technology program provides the opportunity for architects, engineers, and other qualified individuals to pursue advance research on topics that include design computing, building performance simulation, sustainable systems and design, high-performance buildings, materials and fabrication, structural analysis, life cycle analysis, food-water-energy nexus, and other related topics. They work closely with faculty advisors to select courses that best suit their research interests and to prepare a clear and focused thesis topic. Students in this program are affiliated with the Design Machine Group research collaborative.
Program director: Tomás Mendez Echenagucia, tmendeze@uw.edu
The MS Architecture in History and Theory examines the architectural, cultural, and political forces that have shaped architecture. Students follow a curriculum that builds research skills, preparing them to do advanced scholarly work in the field. They work closely with faculty advisors to select courses that best suit their research interests and to prepare a clear and focused thesis topic. Particular areas of faculty research include the many forms of modernity in architecture and urbanism. Subsets of these interests are: modern architecture and the decorative arts; the history and theory of preservation; architectural representation; the arts and crafts movement; and vernacular and domestic architecture. Faculty expertise also includes issues in regional and global modernity.
Program director: Ken Oshima, koshima@uw.edu
Dear Future Member of College of Built Environments Community,
Congratulations on your admission to the College of Built Environments! We very much hope you join us in our quest to create a more just and beautiful world. From our careful review of your application, we are confident that you will contribute to and thrive in our community, and that your experiences in the College of Built Environments will ground and accelerate your future success.
You can expect that your experience in our College will provide you with opportunities for learning, research, and engagement that takes advantage of the most unique aspects of our college: together, the disciplines in our college are sharply focused on transforming the built environment for the better. Our degree programs reflect every aspect of shaping, planning, designing, and building the built environment and we are located in a city that exemplifies why solutions are needed for the most urgent challenges facing the world today. Through our complementary disciplinary expertise areas and approaches to the built and natural worlds, we instigate transformational change in industries that have historically been too slow to change.
We expect graduate students in our college to be active participants in their learning and to engage in shaping the work of the college with a wide range of partners. In CBE, our commitment to equity means appreciating the agency of all of the many stakeholders in our community and practicing deep listening in order to be excellent collaborators.
If you are curious to know more about our work, please look at our website, or reach out to the contacts provided in your offer letter if you have any questions.
Congratulations and we look forward to welcoming you as members of our community!
Sincerely,
At CBE we believe that Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) are essential to meeting our goal of a more just and beautiful world. We believe that focusing on equitable and inclusive principles in the built environment, elevates diversity and justice, and results in increased prosperity and deeper levels of engagement for everyone. The built environment bears a disproportionate share of carbon emissions and energy consumption in the world and we have seen disparate impacts of place-based determinants on health and wellness. This responsibility comes with the power to enact positive change in both how we work and the outcomes of things we work on. Working equitably is key to equitable outcomes since complex problems require the ability to work effectively with people who come from different backgrounds, points of view, and cultural norms.
The UW College of Built Environments is one of the few institutions where architecture, construction management, urban design and planning, landscape architecture, and real estate come together. Our mission is to teach students to be skilled practitioners, strong collaborators, who are conscious of the natural environment and cultures they work for. As researchers, we aim to understand the place and context that the built environments has in our world, address big questions, and come up with solutions that preserve our world, while also moving forward in a way that is equitable for everyone. As our work spans all areas of health, business, technology, design, sustainability, and policy, we work to act as mobilizers to the community and as experts in our professions.
iBE is a consortium of labs, research centers, and service learning programs that pursue innovative solutions to challenges facing communities, cities, and regions. The institute is the first point of contact for engagement by groups and agencies seeking assistance in addressing real world issues. Through the Institute, we are able to leverage the collective capacity of the College and University to bring together all areas of our expertise to solve problems and generate new ideas to serve the public good.
Architecture
Construction Management
Landscape Architecture
Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies
Urban Design & Planning
We bring together five interconnected disciplines to act as one consortium of experts committed to creative and innovative problem solving. We achieve our success through teaching and research collaborations, knowledge sharing and taking on real-world projects. Examples of our interdisciplinary practice include:
McKinley Futures Studio
Livable City Year Program
Runstad Center Affiliate Fellows Program
Integrated Design Lab
Design/Build Studios
Storefront Studio
Beyond skills in planning, design, building, and place making, it is critical that our students recognize their profession has a responsibility to provide people with healthy and safe places to live their lives. CBE students participate in service learning projects at all levels of their education. Some of our annual projects include:
17 municipalities have benefited from the Storefront Studiostudents work with small business districts to re-imagine their identity and revitalize underused spaces.
6 regions included in our Health Impact Assessment Course - studying the impact of environment and infrastructure in local communities.
20 years of Neighborhood Design/Build Studios - Multiple courses take on the planning and construction.
Through the ARC initiative, built environment firms with a presence in the Seattle area partner with College of Built Environments (CBE) graduate students and faculty for research that is targeted at the specific needs of the firms. Firms work with faculty to shape research priorities for the consortium based on their needs and the latest research in our fields. ARC then matches graduate student fellows with firms for multi-quarter applied research projects that directly relate to the firms’ current work. Faculty mentors and supervisors at firms work with the fellows, contributing to their academic and professional development in the program and ensuring that the projects fit with longer term research goals. Learn more about this unique program here.
As a graduate student, your apartment living options are many and varied. You can live right next door to campus or just a short bus ride away. Our furnished and unfurnished apartments are available to students who are single, married, registered same-sex domestic partners, as well as students with families.
For students attending the UW on a year-round schedule or those planning to work and live in Seattle during summer quarter. Autumn, winter, spring and summer contract. Mercer Court buildings D and E are reserved for graduate and professional students and come furnished with full-size beds.
Ideal for married students or students living with children, who are attending the UW full-time. Month-to-month contract. For more info, visit Graduate Student Apartments.
Tuition for the 2024-25 academic year will be published by the UW Planning & Budgeting office in June on the Graduate Tuition Dashboard
Tuition & fee information below is based on 2022-23 tuition.
Resident: Non-Residents: $19,059 $38,898
If you submitted a FAFSA to the UW please visit the Office of Financial Aid.
1. Gould Court
2. Architecture Hall
3. Graduate Student Housing, Mercer Court
4. Graduate Student Housing, Radford Court
5. Cherry Blossoms
6. UW Campus
When you come to the UW’s Seattle campus, you’re part of more than the innovative city that’s brought us everything from legendary music to lifesaving cures. You’re part of something bigger, too. You’re part of a globally connected community that loves to innovate, to explore, to create. Here, you’re part of Seattle’s vibrant history — and the world’s promising future.
Take a virtual tour of UW Campus. Explore curated videos featuring campus highlights, housing tours, student perspectives and Seattle sights.
