Program Description

Kennesaw State University’s College of Architecture and Construction Management offers Georgia’s only undergraduate accredited five-year professional degree in architecture: the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch). Our NAAB-accredited program provides students with unique educational opportunities, including Focus Studio, a research-based studio featuring invited critics, and Thesis, a structured, year-long design investigation. The program also offers organized travel opportunities throughout the U.S. and abroad, broadening students’ perspectives.

The first two years of the program and its curriculum are designed to introduce basic skill sets in design, design thinking, drawing, and building technologies. The last three years of the program are designed to enhance students’ understanding of architecture’s relationship with people, culture, and the built environment, while emphasizing integrative design, history and theory, structural systems, professional practice, and urbanism.

The Department of Architecture supports the broader mission of the University by preparing students for professional practice in the design, planning, development, and stewardship of the built environment. The program emphasizes invention, creativity, and craft through hands-on exploration as the foundation for technological innovation. It integrates  cultural knowledge, communication, history, and criticism into architectural making, encouraging a holistic approach to the discipline.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) program at KSU is a 5-year National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accredited, professional degree in architecture that meets the education requirement leading to architecture licensure, professional practice, and National Council for Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) certification. 

Outlined below and in accordance with the Bachelor of Architecture program’s most recent NAAB accreditation reporting (Architecture Program Report (APR) September 2022), the program assessment standards currently follow the NAAB 2020 Conditions for Accreditation:

http://www.naab.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-NAAB-Conditions-for-Accreditation.pdf

These accreditation education performance standards include Program Criteria (PCs) and Student Criteria (SCs), which in essence translate into Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs) for assessment purposes. For NAAB, the criteria are inclusive of career paths and professional development opportunities, related design subjects and practices, educational environments, learning and teaching culture, supportive curricular frameworks, leadership and collaboration opportunities, equity and inclusion, accessibility, quality of facilities, resources, extracurricular activities, community and outreach (a holistic education model of how we engage at multiple levels and in conjunction). Underlying these standards are consistent and comparable learning outcomes that focus on public and environmental health, safety, welfare, and well-being that prepare graduates to become architecture license candidates across multiple regulatory jurisdictions. 

Students who successfully complete this program will be able to:

1. Understand the pathways to becoming licensed as an architect in United States jurisdictions and the range of available career opportunities that utilize the discipline’s skills and knowledge. 
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the role of the design process in shaping the built environment and the methods by which design processes integrate multiple factors, in different settings and scales of development, from buildings to cities.
3. Incorporate a holistic understanding of the dynamics between built and natural environments, mitigating climate change responsibly by leveraging ecological, advanced building performance, adaptation, and resilience principles in their work and advocacy activities.
4. Synthesize historical and theoretical knowledge of architecture and urbanism, and analyze the social, cultural, economic, and political forces, nationally, and globally.
5. Engage and participate in architectural research to test and evaluate innovations in the field.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of leadership roles within multidisciplinary teams, diverse stakeholder constituents, and dynamic physical and social contexts to effectively collaborate to solve complex problems. 
7. Participate in fostering positive and respectful environments that encourage  optimism, respect, sharing, engagement, creativity, and innovation.
8. Understand diverse cultural and social contexts and translate these understandings into built environments that equitably support and include people of different backgrounds, resources, and abilities.
9. Apply knowledge of the impact of the built environment on human health, safety, and welfare at multiple scales, from buildings to cities.
10. Apply knowledge of professional ethics, regulatory requirements, and fundamental business processes relevant to architecture practice in the United States, while recognizing the forces that influence change in these subjects.
11. Understand and assess fundamental principles of life safety, land use, and current laws and regulations that apply to buildings and sites in the United States and use evaluative processes to comply with those laws and regulations as part of a project.
12. Demonstrate knowledge of established and emerging systems, technologies, and assemblies of building construction, and appropriate methods and criteria to assess those technologies against the design, economics, and performance objectives of projects.
13. Make holistic design decisions within architectural projects, synthesizing user requirements, regulatory requirements, site conditions, accessible design, and consideration of measurable environmental impacts of their design decisions.
14. Make design decisions within architectural projects, demonstrating integration of building envelope systems and assemblies, structural systems, environmental control systems, life safety systems, and the measurable outcomes of building performance.

 This program is part of the College of Architecture and Construction Management  

Accreditation

In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year term, an eight-year term with conditions, or a three-year term of initial accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established education standards.

Kennesaw State University, Department of Architecture has been accredited since 1995 and offers the following NAAB-accredited degree:

5-Year B. Arch (150 undergraduate credits)

The next accreditation visit for the B. Arch program is 2031.

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Admissions, Enrollment, and Graduation Criteria

Admissions Criteria

Admission to the Bachelor of Architecture program is separate from admission to Kennesaw State University. Students must meet the program admission requirements, outlined below.

Students seeking entry into the B.ARCH program as freshmen (Traditional Track) must first be accepted to KSU and in addition must have:

• 3.00 High School GPA
• And either the minimum SAT OR minimum ACT scores:
  • SAT minimums: EBRW 500 and Math 570
  • ACT minimums: 18 English or Reading sub-score, 23 Math sub-score

Current KSU students may apply for a Change of Major to Architecture. The following conditions must be met for acceptance:

• 24 KSU credit hours earned.
• 2.50 KSU GPA.
• Ready to take MATH 1113: Precalculus  or higher upon acceptance.

Transfer students seeking entry to the Traditional Track of the B.ARCH program must first be accepted to KSU and in addition must have:

• A 2.50 College GPA.
• Completed MATH 1111: College Algebra  (or higher) and ENGL 1101: English Composition I  with a minimum grade of “C”.

Accepted transfer students with course work from an architecture or related design program may make a Curriculum Placement Request to the Architecture Department Chair. Please see the Curriculum Placement Request requirements here: https://www.kennesaw.edu/cacm/academics/architecture/about/admission.php

Select students may be admitted into the B.ARCH Accelerated Track. This three-semester track (Fall/Spring/Summer) fulfills the requirements of the 1^st and 2^nd years of the Architecture curriculum. Entry into this track is for change of major and transfer students with 28 or more degree-applicable credit hours, who have completed a minimum of 6 General Education courses required by the Architecture curriculum, including MATH 1113: Precalculus   or higher. 

Enrollment Criteria

In addition to meeting the requirements of Academic Policy 4.0 ACADEMIC STANDING, DISMISSAL, & REINSTATEMENT , students are expected to meet the following enrollment criteria: 

Degree Progression 

In the Traditional Track, to progress into 2^nd Year Studio, students must pass Portfolio Review in conjunction with a progress review of course completion and GPA. Requirements include: 

• A 2.50 minimum university adjusted GPA.
• A 2.50 minimum ARCH course GPA.
• Pass the following courses with a grade of “C” or higher:
  • Intro to ARCH (ARCH 1000 )
  • 1st Year Studios (ARCH 1001  and ARCH 1002 )
  • Design Communication I (ARCH 1241 )
• Have completed at least 15 credit hours of General Education Core Curriculum courses.
• Submit a portfolio of work for evaluation

In the Accelerated Track (AT), to progress into 3^rd Year Studio, students must pass Portfolio Review in conjunction with a progress review of course completion and GPA. Requirements include: 

• A 2.50 minimum university adjusted GPA.
• A 2.50 minimum ARCH course GPA.
• Pass the following courses with a grade of “C” or higher:
  • Intro to ARCH (ARCH 1000 )
  • AT Studios (ARCH 1011 , ARCH 1012 , and ARCH 2013 )
  • Design Communication I and II (ARCH 1241 , ARCH 2242 )
  • Intro to Structures (ARCH 2211 )
  • ETech I Materials and Methods (ARCH 2311 )
• Submit a portfolio of work for evaluation

Each student is expected to meet the requirements outlined in Academic Policy 5.0 PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS & GRADUATION .

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Program Course Requirements