a r ch i t e c t u re

i n d us t r i a l d e s i g n

i n te r i o r a r ch i t e c t u re

s p a ce a r ch i t e c t u re

MATERIALS RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE

The College has established a partnership with the global materials consultancy, Material ConneXion, for the assembly of a satellite materials library in the College of Architecture Building. This consists of a rotating display of several hundred examples of innovative and sustainable materials to enhance classroom learning. The Collaborative also supports research and is a resource for the greater Houston architecture and design community. www.uh.edu/archmrc

DESIGNLAB– HOUSTON

As the professional research arm of the College, Design-LAB generates preliminary design studies, and research and development work across the disciplines of architec-ture, planning, and industrial design. Faculty, students, alumni, and various partners work in teams to solve regional design problems and to develop methodologies and tools that are transmutable to cities around the world.

COMMUNITY DESIGN RESOURCE CENTER

The Community Design Resource Center initiates and fosters partnerships to address development and design in low- to moderate-income communities in Houston. The work of the CDRC aims to enhance the overall quality of life of the city’s inhabitants, and to provide students and faculty with opportu-nities for applied research, inter-disciplinary learning, and community service.

University of Houston122 College of Architecture BuildingHouston, Texas 77204-4000

713.743.2400

Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture

p l a c e + s p a c e + s i t e + c o m m u n i t y + s u s t a i n a b i l i t y + h a b i t a t + i n n o v a t i o n + e f f i c i e n c i e s + m a t e r i a l i t y + f a b r i c a t i o n + n e i g h b o r h o o d + c o l l a b o r a t i o n + e c o l o g i e s + t h i n k i n g + m e t h o d o l o g i e s +

www.arch.uh.edu MINOR DESIGN

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON GREEN BUILDING COMPONENTS (UHGBC)The mission of the University of Houston Green Building Components initiative is to design, develop, and implement green building components, systems, and materials across the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. Through ever expanding links at the College among architec-ture, industrial design and interior architecture, and because of the College’s curricular emphasis on fabrication, the UHGBC is able to promote sustainable design through research, development, and commercialization of building components, products, and renewable technologies.www.uhgbc.org

CITY

AS

LABORATORY

Design reconciles conflicting visions and exploits all available technologies to shape and sustain a better world. Houston’s hot-humid environment, low-lying Gulf-Coast geography, and dispersed pattern of un-zoned metropolitan development present designers with an extraordinary laboratory, full of challenges and opportunities. The proposals seeded in the vast urban sprawl of Houston are transmutable to cities around the globe.

The Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture offers its students a platform of integrated disciplines architec-ture, space architecture, interior architecture, and industrial design—from which to negotiate the com-plexities of contemporary practice in a world that is grappling with diminishing economic and natural resources, the realities of post-disaster reconstruc-tion, and, at the same time, continued, rapid urbaniza-tion. Faculty and students work together in a studio-centric curriculum, supported by a premier digital fabrication facility. Open studios seamlessly incorpo-rate coursework into project-based learning through material investigations and applied research. At the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, making is not simply an action or a craft, but a form of critical think-ing, calling forth innovative solutions for contempo-rary conditions. Our programs foster an environment where ideas find form, where practices that are socially equitable and fundamentally ecological estab-lish a model from which to develop Houston’s future and to inform and shape design strategies globally.

CITY AS LABORATORY

ARCHITECTURE (B Architecture)The Undergraduate Program serves a diverse, regional and international student body, challenged to produce excellent work, which often addresses issues facing the incredible laboratory that is the Houston metropolitan area. As many of the faculty members are active practitioners, students are exposed to engaged professionals who encourage them to imagine what might be. The program integrates architecture majors with industrial design and interior architecture majors in the foundation studio sequence, equipping them with knowl-edge and experience in preparation for the multidimensional challenges that will inevitably arise within their respective design professions.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN (BS in Industrial Design)Established in 2003, the Industrial Design Program is the first of its kind in Texas. The goal of the program is to nurture young talent to develop innovative and sustainable products and systems through intensive design studios and interdisciplin-ary projects. The curriculum builds design knowledge and its practices through hands-on experiences, and also addresses matters of form and function, materials and manufacturing processes, human factors and usability, as well as design business and entrepreneurship. Notable design awards, including the 2010 and 2011 IDSA National Merit Student Award, have acknowledged the academic achievements and emergent quality of the program.GRADUATE DESIGN�BUILD STUDIO

The Graduate Design�Build Studio designs and constructs for regional non�profit organizations site specific solu-tions to climate�influenced building problems.� By offering Master of Architecture students the opportunity to see their ideas evolve from initial conception to completed construction� the studio demonstrates at full scale the implications of the students� aspirations and measures the quality of their design thinking against the rigorous standard of built reality.�

SASAKAWA INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SPACE ARCHITECTURE

(SICSA) (Masters of Science in Space Architecture)The Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture SICSA� is a unique research� design� and teaching entity that offers the world�s only Master of Science in Space Architecture program� SICSA�s central mission is to plan and implement programs that advance peaceful and beneficial uses of space technology on Earth and beyond by addressing influences of the unique conditions of the space environment upon construc-tion processes and material options.�

MASTERS OF ARCHITECTURE

(Master of Architecture, Master of Science in Architecture

Master of Arts in Architectural Studies)The Graduate Studies Program is committed to preparing students to take leadership roles in the architectural profession as it enters an era of unprecedented social and environmental challenges, and rapidly changing technologi-cal potentials. The various degree curricula of the program promote creative critical inquiry into the material and cultural contexts within which architecture is practiced today. The program provides a comprehensive foundation for practice at all scales and for a future of lifelong learning. Graduate study concentrations available to our students include Sustainable Design, Urban/Suburban Design, and History/Theory.

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE (BS in Interior Architecture)Considering that most Americans spend up to ninety percent of the day indoors, the design of interior spaces, an often under-recognized discipline, is of the utmost importance. The Interior Architecture Program emphasizes the visualization of spatially rich and conceptually rigorous spaces, which respond in dynamic ways to the needs of their inhabitants, encouraging students to explore a variety of construction methods and diverse materials and technologies. The program integrates the other professional design disciplines of the college, and shares available resources of other colleges of the university and in the city at large, including the medical and hospitality industries.

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

Opportunities for students to broaden academic and personal horizons are available through numerous types of interna-tional study options, including faculty-led summer programs in Italy, the Americas, and Asia; exchange programs between the College and institutions in Paris, Vienna, and Moscow; internships in Barcelona at the firms of Enric Miralles Bene-detta Tagliabue and the Fundación Oscar Tusquets Diaz Archi-tectes; as well as individual, studio-initiated travel.

UH SUMMER DISCOVERY PROGRAM IN ARCHITECTURE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The Summer Discovery Program, taught by university faculty as well as other scholars and practitioners, provides a culturally enriched, learning-by-doing introduction to architecture as both a fine and useful art. In addition to design projects, the five-week program includes lectures on architectural history and technology, building case studies, and field trips to buildings of special interest and architects’ offices in Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and San Antonio/Austin.

Making in not simply an action or a craft, but a form of critical thinking.

GRADUATE STUDIES