For students of Harvard College, Architecture Studies is a track within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, History of Art and Architecture concentration, jointly administered by the History of Art and Architecture and the Graduate School of Design.

The track has its own requirements. An application is required for Architecture Studies, which comprises a statement of purpose and a proposed course plan. Interested students should contact the FAS HAA coordinator of undergraduate studies for further information on the application.

Architecture stands at the intersection of creative imagination, practical realization, and social use, comprising not only material structures of human occupation, but also the dynamic processes that shape human action and experience. The study of architecture integrates technical and humanistic methods of inquiry with written and visual modes of representation, in traditional classroom venues and “making”-based studios designed especially for this concentration.

Within the Architecture Studies track, two broad areas of emphasis may be chosen:

  1. History and Theory, which includes the study of architecture, cities, landscapes, designed objects, ornament, architectural photography, and material culture, in diverse places and time periods including Africa, the Americas, China, Europe, India, the Islamic world, and Japan, all from antiquity to the present; and
  2. Design Studies, which includes investigations into the social and aesthetic dimensions of contemporary architecture, landscapes, cities, and territories, emphasizing issues of sustainable environments, new forms of urbanism, and the use of digital media for visualization and analysis.