ARCH Major and Minor Requirements

The Department of History of Art and Architecture is pleased to offer NEW Major and Minor tracks in Architecture and the Built Environment beginning Fall 2020. ( For the Minor track, please scroll all the way down below to the bottom of this page .)

For a complete description of the Architecture and the Built Environment Major and Minor tracks and all history of art and architecture courses, please review the Undergraduate Catalogue.

The Major track in Architecture and the Built Environment requires 30 credit hours and promotes interdisciplinary and transinstitutional study. It enables students to develop breadth and expertise in the history and theory of architecture, landscape architecture, and constructed environments; design studies; and theoretical and historical approaches to analyzing urban scale and city planning. Students can build a foundation for graduate work in these fields as well as for spatially related specializations in cognate disciplines such as anthropology, political science, public policy, sociology, demography, public health, environmental studies, civil engineering, computer science, and geography and geographic information systems. Please note that if a student is a double major , according to Arts and Science policy, 24 credit hours must count only toward the ARCH major, and thus a student can only double-count 6 credit hours (usually two courses) between two different majors.

Please note that the Architecture and the Built Environment major is not a professional program. Such programs are highly specialized, with a focus on professional training and studio design; these necessarily maintain rigid requirements across five years of coursework and result in a BArch degree. Vanderbilt does not offer such a program, but rather, a BA that is earned through the College of Arts and Science. Since this is an undergraduate major and not a professional program , students may declare the major as early as their sophomore year, just like any other major in Arts and Science (Chemistry, History, Economics, etc.). This major is thereby pursued only by undergraduate students working toward a Bachelor's degree. There is no formal admission nor entry process into the major, since students would have been admitted to the university through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions as incoming Freshmen. Likewise, no portfolio is required as there would be in a professional program leading to the BArch. Our major in Architecture and the Built Environment is a flexible interdisciplinary Liberal Arts major that can serve as excellent preparation for graduate study in a Master of Architecture program and the resulting professional degree, an MArch. Vanderbilt students considering graduate study in architecture or related design fields are also supported by Vanderbilt’s Pre-Architecture Advising program.

Course work for the Architecture and the Built Environment Major is distributed as follows:

1. A 1000-level course (3 credit hours): Students must complete one 1000-level survey course in history of art or architecture selected from HART 1100, 1105, 1120, or 1121 or 1122, 1200, 1205, 1210W, 1220, 1300, 1330W, 1400, 1740W, or CLAS 1020. This course is not a prerequisite for further history of art course work but must be taken at Vanderbilt; AP credit will not be accepted.

2. Three courses (9 credit hours) in architectural, design, landscape, or urban history selected from HART 2100, 2110, 2120, 2130, 2150, 2151, 2160, 2175, 2180, 2200, 2210, 2220, 2225, 2230, 2250, 2270, 2275, 2285, 2290, 2650, 2662, 2665, 2720, 2722, 2740, 2780, 2782, 2815, 2820, 3112, 3140, 3174, 3252, 3790; and CLAS 2180 (with Prof. Bogdanovic), 2250, 3200.

3. One advanced seminar in architectural history (3 credit hours) selected from HART 3164W, 3240W, 3256W, 3725W, 3757W, 3765W, 3766W, 3825W, or 3810W (when course topic concerns architecture and the built environment, landscape architecture, design studies, or urban planning).

4. Five electives (15 credit hours): Electives may include any HART or CLAS courses listed above in major requirements 1-3 not used to satisfy any of those requirements, or courses chosen from the list below. A maximum of two electives may be taken from any one department (with the exception of History of Art), and a maximum of two electives may be taken at the 1000 level.

Students will work with the Director of Undergraduate Studies and departmental advisers to design a program of study that addresses their academic interests and career goals. Students interested in graduate programs in architecture and design should review elective selections with the pre-architecture adviser.

AFRICAN AMERICAN AND DIASPORA STUDIES: 1016, Race Matters; 1716, The African City: Urban Landscapes on the Page, Screen, and Canvas; 2294, Black Paris-Paris Noir: The African Diaspora and the City of Light; 4506, Slavery and Public Memory

AMERICAN STUDIES/CULTURE, ADVOCACY AND LEADERSHIP: 3200, Global Perspectives on the U.S.

ANTHROPOLOGY : 2101, Theories of Culture; 2110, Gender and Cultural Politics; 2130, Global Infrastructure and Everyday Life; 2150, Urban Ecology; 2214, Art and Architecture in the Ancient Americas; 2220W, Human Landscapes; 2225, Climate Change, Collapse, and Sustainability in History; 2229W Contested Ground: Sacred Sites; 2231 Ancient Andean Civilizations; 3161, Colonial Encounters in the Americas; 3200, Ancient Cities; 3202, The Collapse of Civilizations; 3261, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing; 3867 Digital Archaeology; 4154, Environmental Anthropology

ART STUDIO : 1101, Introduction to Studio Art; 1102, Drawing and Composition I; 1200, Photography I; 1201, Alternative Photography; 1202, Digital Imaging I; 1300, Painting; 1400, Ceramics; 1401, Sculptural Ceramics; 1500, Sculpture; 1501, Assemblage; 1502, Installation Art; 1503, Text and Image; 1505, Graphic Design; 1600, Printmaking: Etching and Relief; 1601, Printmaking: Screen andLithography; 1700, Video Art; 1702, Portable Media I; 1900, Social Collective Art Practice; 2100, Drawing and Composition II; 2102, Drawing: Color Media I; 2200, Photography II; 2202, Digital Imaging II; 2300, Painting II; 2400, Ceramics II; 2401, Concept and Clay: Composite Forms; 2500, Sculpture II; 2600, Printmaking II; 2700, Video Art II; 2702, Portable Media II; 3100, Drawing and Composition III; 3102, Drawing: Color Media II; 3200, Photography III; 3300, Painting III; 3600, Printmaking III

ASIAN STUDIES : 2100W, Fashioning the Self: Coming of Age and Asian Modernities

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES : 1103/1103L, Green Earth: The Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants; 2238/2238L, Ecology; 3233, Conservation Biology

CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING: Digital Fabrication 2100: Rapid Prototyping

CINEMA AND MEDIA ARTS : 1600, Introduction to Film and Media Studies; 2400, History of World Cinema; 3257, Virtual Reality Design

CIVIL ENGINEERING : 2101, Civil and Environmental Engineering Information Systems; 2120, Sustainable Design Civil Engineering; 2200, Statics; 2205, Mechanics of Materials; 3200, Structural Analysis; 3205, Structural Design; 3501, Transportation Systems Engineering; 3600, Environmental Engineering; 4100, Geographic Information Systems (GIS); 4205, Intelligent Transportation Systems; 4320, Data Analytics for Engineers; 4415, Construction Materials and Methods; 4425, Building Information Modeling; 4430, High Performance and Green Buildings; 4505, Urban Transportation Planning; 4950, Civil Engineering Design I; 4951, Civil Engineering Design II

CLASSICAL AND MEDITERRAEAN STUDIES : 3190/3190W, Augustan Rome; 3200, The Greek City; 3700, Cults, Festivals, and Sanctuaries; 3710, Archaeology, History, and Culture in Greece: Kenchreai Field School; 3720, History and Art of Ancient Rome; 3730, The Roman to Medieval Near East: Caesarea Excavations, Israel

COMMUNICATION STUDIES : 2800, Rhetoric and Civil Life; 2950, Rhetoric of Mass Media; 3100, Rhetoric of Social Movements; 3700, Politics and Mass Media

COMPUTER SCIENCE : 1000, The Beauty and Joy of Computing; 1101, Programming and Problem Solving; CS 1103 Introductory Programming for Engineers and Scientists; CS 1104 Programming and Problem Solving in Python; 1151, Computers and Ethics

EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES : 1510/1510L, The Dynamic Earth: Introduction to Geological Sciences; 2110, Global Climate Change; 2150, Science, Risk, and Policy; 4750, Sustainability: An Environmental Science Perspective; 4760, Agent- and Individual-Based Computational Modeling

ECONOMICS : 1010, Principles of Macroeconomics; 1020, Principles of Microeconomics; 2170, Environmental Economics; 2340, Plunder and Pillage: The Economics of Warfare and Conflict; 3230, Urban Economics

ENGINEERING SCIENCE : 2700, Engineering Career Development; 2900, Engineering and Public Policy; 3890-02 (Spring 2021: Future of Mobility); 3890-02 (Fall 2021: The Divided Metropolis)

ENGLISH : 3692, Desire in America: Literature, Cinema, and History; 3694, America on Film: Art and Ideology; 3695, America on Film: Performance and Culture; 3730, Literature and the Environment

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING : 3610, Sustainable Development; 4615, Environmental Assessments; 4700, Energy and Water Resources

EUROPEAN STUDIES : 2201, European Society and Culture; 2203, The Idea of Europe; 2800, Pursuing Utopia: Social Justice and Romanticism in the Alps; 2260, European Cities

FRENCH : 3634, Parisian Geographies: Paris in 19th and 20th Century Art and Literature

GENDER AND SEXUALITY STUDIES: 1160 Sex and Society; 1273 Gender and the City; 2268 Gender, Race, Justice, and the Environment; 3308 Gender, Race, and Urban Mobilities

HISTORY : 1039, Global History 1453 to Present; 1281/1281W, The Making of African Cities: Histories of Globalization and Migration; 1355W, Innovation and Renovation in Renaissance Europe; 1368, Rio de Janeiro: Culture and Citizenship in the Marvelous City; 1430W, North American Indians and the Environment; 1510/1510L, The Scientific Revolution/Digital History Lab; 1586W, Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and Digital Humanities; 2220, Medieval and Renaissance Italy, 1000-1700; 2413/2413W, Global History of Waste; 2655, Historic Black Nashville; 2686, Race, Rights, and the American Dream; 2780, Superhuman Civilization; 3050, Innovation; 3140, History of New Orleans; 3150, Cities of Europe and the Middle East; 3180, Making of Modern Paris

HISTORY OF ART : 1111.09 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; 1111.11 Sacred Geographies of China; 1111.12 Pompeii: Life and Death of a Roman City; 1111.17 New York City Architecture; 1111.19 Art and the Environment 1400-1800; 1111.20 Art, Race, and Urban Space

HUMAN AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (PEABODY): HODC 3202 Community Development Theory; HODC 3212 Community Development Organizations and Policies; HODC 3242 Environmental Politics and Justice; HODC 3342 Introduction to Community Psychology; HODI 3200 Global Dimensions of Community Development; HODI 3270 Global Sustainable Development

ITALIAN : 3642, Italian Visual Culture; 3701, City Fictions

JEWISH STUDIES : 2450, The Jewish Diaspora; 2520, Zionism: Politics, Religion, and Ethnicity; 3730, The Roman to Medieval Near East: Caesarea Excavations, Israel

MATHEMATICS : 1100, Survey of Calculus; 1200, Single-Variable Calculus I; 1201, Single-Variable Calculus II; 1300, Accelerated Single-Variable Calculus I; 1301, Accelerated Single-Variable Calculus II; 2300, Multivariable Calculus; 2310, Multivariable Calculus with Matrix Algebra; 2400, Differential Equations with Linear Algebra

MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING : 1500/1500L, Materials Science I and Laboratory

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING : 2160, Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Design; 3248, Heat Transfer; 3273 (3890-02 Spring 2021) How to Make Almost Anything; 4258, Engineering Acoustics; 4259, Engineering Vibrations; 4262, Environmental Control

MEDICINE, HEALTH, AND SOCIETY : 1950, Theories of the Body; 2240, Bionic Bodies, Disability Cultures; 3040, Designing Healthy Publics; 3120, Medicine, Technology, and Society

MUSIC LITERATURE : 1660, Music and Tourism: Music City Museum and Memorabilia; 2350, The Music and Culture of Venice; 3230, Music and the Construction of National Identity

NEUROSCIENCE : 2201, Neuroscience

PHILOSOPHY : 1005, Introduction to Ethics; 1111.05, Green Cities; 3013, History of Aesthetics; 3014, Modernistic Aesthetics; 3611, Environmental Philosophy; 3615, Philosophy of Film; 3661, Topics in Aesthetics

PHYSICS : 1010/1010L, Introductory Physics; 1501/1501L, Introductory Physics I; 1601/1601L, General Physics I; 1602/1602L, General Physics II; 2255/2255L, Modern Physics and the Quantum World; 2275, Classical Mechanics

POLITICAL SCIENCE : 2256, Politics of Public Policy; 3253, Ethics and Public Policy; 3272W, The War in Iraq, 2003-2011; 4257, The Politics of Capitalism

PSYCHOLOGY : 3110, Social Psychology

PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES : 3100, Cities in the 21st Century

RELIGIOUS STUDIES : 2472, Religion, Ecology, and Power in Africa; 3669, Sacred Space in the Tibetan World

RUSSIAN : 2745, Radical Art: The Avant-Garde Revolution; 2800, Viewing Communism in Eastern Europe; 2810, Revolutions and Post-Communisms in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, 1981-2010

SOCIOLOGY : 1030, Environment and Society; 3001, Sociological Perspectives; 3204, Tourism, Culture, and Place; 3206, Creativity and Innovation in Society; 3221, The Family; 3311, Climate Change and Society; 3312, Environment and Development; 3314, Environmental Inequality and Justice; 3315, Human Ecology and Society; 3316, Business, Civil Society, and the Environment; 3317, Energy Transitions and Society; 3321, Population and Society; 3601, Self, Society, and Social Change; 3612, Class, Status, and Power; 3615, Human Behavior in Organizations; 3723, Gender, Sexuality, and the Body

SPANISH : 4810, Images of the City

THEATRE: 1010, 1010W, Fundamentals of Theatre; 1751, Fundamentals of Theatre Design

UNIVERSITY COURSES : 3200, Race, Place, and Power; 3279, Virtual Reality Design; 3350, Design Thinking, Design Doing; 3360, Data Science Methods for Smart City Applications

Minor in Architecture and the Built Environment

The minor in architecture and the built environment requires 18 credit hours of course work, distributed as follows:

3. Two electives (6 credit hours): Electives may include any HART or CLAS courses listed above in minor requirements 1-2 not used to satisfy either of those requirements or courses chosen from the Electives list for the architecture and the built environment major. No more than one elective course may be taken at the 1000 level.

For Pre-Architecture students interested in pursuing an MArch degree, please see the Pre-Architecture Advising site.

(3/25/24)