Architecture Program Report Tulane University New Orleans ...

Tulane University is justly proud of its School of Architecture. While the
school remains the smallest undergraduate program, architecture
students are dedicated to their work whereby a high level of analytical
and imaginative skills are developed—a consequence that has been
noted recently a model for liberal arts and science education in general.
While the five-year professional program is demanding, students are
nonetheless encouraged to pursue elective coursework outside the
School of Architecture; in fact, external coursework is required at both
ends of the professional degree curriculum. Beyond their immediate
academic value, the School of Architecture—its faculty and student body
—understands the need to situate architecture within a larger field of
intellectual and professional endeavors.
Tulane’s approach to campus planning and architect selection for
campus construction was revised in 1991, and the School of Architecture
has since played a central role in the decision-making process. Three
members of the School sit on the Campus Planning Steering Committee,
and one student sits on the Board of Trustees Committee on Campus
Planning. With the enlightened advocacy of Tulane’s president, Dr. Scott
Cowen, the architectural aspects of Tulane University have recently
come under closer scrutiny—a situation that could likely benefit the
School of Architecture.
The school has a strong identity within Tulane. Architects’ Week, an
annual program of exhibitions and lectures aims to open the school up to
the university community. The Lecture Series is widely publicized and
well attended by New Orleans architects and the Tulane community. The
thesis juries and exhibition are another opportunity to celebrate the work
of our students and to communicate with the larger community of local,
regional, and national educators and practitioners. Last year alone, there
were 45 external jurors during the three days of thesis reviews. At the
same time, the university provides an abundance of lectures, seminars,
exhibitions, plays, film screenings, poetry readings, and concerts
sponsored by other academic divisions and student organizations.
Primary to the academic context is the understanding that the City of
New Orleans constitutes a viable ‘laboratory’ for research and academic
inquiry. Regarded by many as a cultural epicenter, the city also supports
the largest inter-modal port in the country, the Port of the City of New
Orleans. Hence, culture, technology, politics, and economics condition a
unique learning environment. Undergraduate and graduate students
alike are expected to actively engage the city through various projects,
theoretical research, and extracurricular activities. Thus, the city is
consistently, though not necessarily universally, used as a frame for the
mediation of social, political, economic, historic, technical, and formal
problems within the study and practice of architecture. Consequently, the
influence of recognized sub-disciplines within the school—historic
preservation, URBANbuild, CITYbuild, and an active regional urban
studies program—are strongly felt. In addition, thesis projects usually
engage the variable contexts of the city and region. The informality of a
student’s experience in the daily life of the city is coupled with the more
formal engagement of critical inquiry within the bounds of architectural
education. Moreover, the School actively engages local, national, and
international practitioners to not only lecture and review student work, but