Architectural Technology

Our four-year Bachelor of Science in architectural technology program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive architectural education. While the two-year AAS degree in architectural technology offers a broad range of skills, the four-year program continues the course of study by combining a holistic perspective of the built environment with an applied technical knowledge of construction systems and materials acquired throughout a four-year studio sequence.

All architecture degree programs share course work across the first two years, while the BS and BArch have some shared course work in the third and fourth years. This alignment demands that the AAS and BS in architectural technology are required to meet the same NAAB "Student Criteria” and “Program Criteria” that apply to the BArch program. The BArch program is the first and only fully accredited undergraduate professional architecture degree program in the SUNY system.

Advantages

• Broad exposure gives students the ability to be conversant with and/or seek employment within the architectural field, and also in related professions that engage the built environment.
• The degree may be accepted for credit toward professional licensure in New York State.
• Alfred State offers multiple study abroad options through our signature 12-week semester study abroad program (offered in conjunction with Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy) and other programs offered in conjunction with SUNY partners. To learn more, see www.alfredstate.edu/study-abroad.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

• PSLO.1. = NAAB PC.1. Career Paths — The program helps students understand the path to becoming a licensed architect in the United States and the range of career opportunities available to them that utilize the discipline’s skills and knowledge.
• PSLO.2. = NAAB PC.2 Design — The program promotes the role of design in shaping the built environment and conveys the methods by which design integrates multiple factors, in different settings and scales of development.
• PSLO.3. = NAAB PC.3 Ecological Knowledge and Responsibility — The program provides a holistic understanding of the dynamic between built and natural environments, enabling future architects to responsibly mitigate climate change by leveraging ecological, advanced building performance, adaptation, and resilience principles in their work and advocacy activities.
• PSLO.4. = NAAB PC.4 History and Theory — The program prepares students to understand the histories and theories of architecture and urbanism, framed by broad social, cultural, economic, and political forces.
• PSLO.5. = NAAB PC.5 Innovation — The program expands students' understanding of the field and encourages exploration, risk-taking, and inventiveness.
• PSLO.6. = NAAB PC.6 Leadership and Collaboration — The program helps students understand approaches to leadership in multidisciplinary teams, diverse stakeholder constituents, and dynamic physical and social contexts, and learn how to apply effective collaboration skills to solve complex problems.
• PSLO.7. = NAAB PC.7 Learning and Teaching Culture — The program fosters a positive and respectful environment that encourages optimism, respect, sharing, engagement, and innovation among the members of its faculty, student body, administration, staff, and the profession.
• PSLO.8. = NAAB PC.8 Social Equity and Inclusive Environments — The program deepens students understanding of diverse cultural and social contexts and helps students translate that into built environments that support and include people who have different backgrounds, resources, and abilities.
• PSLO.9. = NAAB SC.1 Health, Safety, and Welfare in the Built Environment — How the program promotes students’ understanding of the role of the built environment in human health, safety, and welfare at multiple scales.
• PSLO.10. = NAAB SC.2 Professional Practice — How the program fosters an understanding of professional ethics, the regulatory standards, and the fundamental business processes relevant to architectural practice in the United States.
• PSLO.11. = NAAB SC.3 Regulatory Context — How the program enables students to understand the fundamental principles of life safety, land use, and related regulations that apply to buildings and sites within the US, and the evaluative criteria architects use to assess those regulations as part of a project.
• PSLO.12. = NAAB SC.4 Technical Knowledge — How the program prepares students to understand the established and emerging systems, technologies, and assemblies of building construction, and the criteria architects use to assess those technologies against the design and performance objectives of projects.
• PSLO.13. = NAAB SC.5 Design Synthesis — Ability to make design decisions within an-architectural project while demonstrating broad synthesis and consideration of user requirements, regulatory requirements, site conditions, ecological concerns, and accessible design.
• PSLO.14. = NAAB SC.6 Building Integration — Ability to make design decisions within an architectural project while demonstrating broad integration and consideration of building envelope systems and assemblies, structural systems, environmental control systems and life safety systems.

Continuing Education Opportunities

Graduates wishing to continue their education may choose to apply to master's programs in architecture or related disciplines. The lengths of such programs vary and depend on institutional requirements.

Career Opportunities

• Architectural designer
• Registered Architect
• 3D modeler/animator
• Building Information Modeling (BIM) manager
• Specifications writer
• Code enforcement official

Employment Statistics

Employment and continuing education rate of 91 percent – 83 percent are employed; 8 percent continued their education.