The Traveler

Issue date: 1/14/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Veronica Pucci Chase Humphrey and Lucky McMahon (background), both first-year architecture students, work in the studio Wednesday.

The UA School of Architecture ranked 20th out of the nation's top architecture programs, according to a study by the Design Futures Council that was published in "Design Intelligence." According to a UA press release, the school was also included with a rank of "notable distinction" in a list of America's World-Class Schools of Architecture compiled by James P. Cramer, editor of "Design Intelligence."

Other schools of architecture ranking in the top 20 nationwide include Cooper Union, Oklahoma State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

While the UA School of Architecture has been mentioned before in "Design Intelligence," the most recent issue is the first time the program has made the top 20, according to a UA press release.

The survey was conducted in mid-2008 and asked design professionals across the country which programs they considered best in preparing students for professional success. They were also asked to mention programs they considered best in educating and training for specific skills.

The survey used more than 200 of the leading firms in the nation and had a response rate of more than 85 percent. The survey also included high-caliber small- and medium-sized firms, deans and chairs from more than 100 academic programs and more than 900 architecture students.

Even though the ranking helps publicity, the high quality of the program was not a surprise to Tim de Noble, head of the architecture department.

"I take it with a grain of salt," de Noble said."The important thing is our name is out there."

Compared to many of the leading architecture programs in the United States, the UA Architecture Program is much smaller and more geographically remote, de Noble said.

"Architecture revolves around the coasts," he said.

The UA was able to attract attention on a national level by continuously placing quality graduates in well-respected firms and graduate schools nationwide, de Noble said.

In recent years, the UA has sent architecture students to graduate school at Harvard, Princeton and Columbia, among others, he said.

One aspect of the architecture program at the UA that sets it apart from the rest is an emphasis on producing work by hand, as opposed to using a computer program.

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