Return to: Graduate School of Architecture: Departments/Programs
Director: Alex Wall, AA Dipl., ARB
The Urban Design Certificate program is open to graduate students in any of the School of Architecture’s four departments, who want to pursue an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the challenge of design and planning in urban areas. Each of the departments—Architectural History, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban & Environmental Planning—offer unique contributions to the program. The certificate is structured to synthesize concepts, strategies and tools across disciplines as the basis for new approaches to the design and planning of resilient cities and settlements.
Architects pursuing the urban design certificate will learn how an urban plan can orchestrate the interactions between buildings and the spaces between and around them. For landscape architects, the certificate will provide tools and strategies to enable them to negotiate the needs of urban development with the needs of local and regional ecosystems. Certificate courses will build spatial skills and design thinking for students from Urban and Environmental Planning. Students in History can gain concepts and strategies to help ensure that historic buildings and districts maintain or renew their vitality in a changing urban context.
Admission
Students wishing to enter the Urban Design Certificate program must first be admitted to one of the graduate departments in the School of Architecture. In order to ensure proper academic advising and program coordination, students interested in the Urban Design Certificate program should attend the program meeting at the start of each fall semester. Upon arriving at the Architecture School they should also file a program application form with the Architecture School’s Registrar. Graduate students from departments other than Architecture and Landscape Architecture must have some design studio background prior to taking the required research studio. For graduate students with a previous degree in architecture (comparable at a minimum to the U.Va. M.Arch. PATH 2.5 program), there are no prerequisites to enroll in the studios. For students with previous degrees in landscape architecture or urban design, a similar degree with a minimum of four studios is required. Students who do not have a previous degree in one of the aforementioned disciplines, must enroll in the Summer Design Institute (SDI) at the School of Architecture as a prerequisite for taking the required design studio.
Urban Design Certificate Curriculum
The curriculum for the urban design certificate is comprised of nine credits in three required core courses; six credits in an urban design studio as designated by the program director and six credits of elective coursework. There are individual courses, which fulfill the requirements of the urban design certificate curriculum and also fulfill requirements within a student’s departmental curriculum. This enables coursework to be completed within a Path 2.5 or Path 3 program. Students in a Path 2 program should plan their Urban Design Certificate requirements strategically. Certificate coursework progress will be monitored by a mid-program review. In the last semester, work will be submitted in a digital portfolio. Satisfactory completion of the 21 credit hour program leads to the Urban Design Certificate. Graduate students in the School will normally be able to complete the program requirements and earn the certificate within the time required for their graduate degree programs. This can be accomplished during the standard length of a professional degree by taking the urban design courses as one’s elective credits, or the certificate can be completed over an additional semester.
Core and elective courses rotate by semester. Elective design studios are offered in the Fall only. Each semester, three core courses and several elective courses are offered. There is a minimum of one course offered by each department. For semester course listings, please see the Urban Design Certificate Director.
Inquiries should be addressed to Director, Urban Design Certificate Program, School of Architecture, and P.O. Box 400122, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4122.
