Gateway Projects

Get Involved

Partnerships with local organizations provide service to the community and experiential learning opportunities for students. To learn more about teaching, learning, or partnering, contact Marilyn Moedinger, Practice Dept.

Welcome to Gateway!

What is Gateway?
How to Get Involved [students, faculty, community clients]
Information for Current Gateway Students + Faculty
Gateway Gallery: Current and Past Work
Independent Practice, Travel, Independent Volunteering

What is Gateway?

Since 2008, the Gateway program has served nearly 600 students and nearly 80 different local non-profits and neighborhood groups; it is a true learning laboratory, where students are actively engaged in applied, project-based learning, interacting with and serving community clients, and participating comprehensively in a wide variety of projects. Gateway projects give students an opportunity to earn Practice hours while bosltering their portfolios, serving their communities, increasing their technical and professional skills, engaging in cross-disciplinary work, and providing a venue to network with other students, faculty, and community members. Gateway projects are not intended to entirely replace the ways in which students have traditionally earned Practice hours - by working in design firms and related fields - but can serve as alternative options while students search for traditional employment in a design firm. Students who have participated in Gateway projects have consistently cited it as one of the most important, and powerful, aspects of their education at the BAC.

Each semester, the Practice Department advertises and offers a variety of projects for students to become involved with. The Practice Department holds an Open House at the beginning of each semester, where students can come and learn about the Gateway offerings for that semester. Students then apply, and, if accepted to the program, begin work on a project with their team, instructor, and community client!

For more information on other opportunities for earning Practice hours, such as Independent Practice, Travel, or Independent Volunteering, please see the section on Independent Practice, or email David Eccleston, Director of Indepdent Practice Projects.

How to Get Involved in Gateway [students, faculty, community clients]

Students: You are eligible to apply for Gateway at the start of your second semester at the BAC. Watch your email and the student blog for announcements about when new Gateway projects are starting, typically at the beginning of each semester. To get an idea for what is required of you to participate in a Gateway project, please see our Information for Current Gateway Students page.

Faculty: The Practice Department is always looking for qualified, dynamic, and committed faculty members. If you're interested in teaching a Gateway project, please contact Marilyn Moedinger, Director of Gateway.

Community Clients and Partners: The Practice Department is always looking for new community partners - non-profits, neighborhood groups, and other community partners. We work with our community clients to help clarify project scope, goals, and deliverables, and to uncover and develop creative ways our students can gain professional experience by working on community projects. We do not work for individuals or for-profit companies, and we do not offer full-service architectural or design services [ie stamped drawings], such as clients would get at a professional design firm. Rather, we provide services, from analysis/feasibilitystudies to design and design/build and post-occupancy analysis, that allow our community clients to embark on fundraising campaigns, put together RFPs, or conduct research. If you and your organization have an idea for a project, and you're not sure if it's a good fit for Gateway, just send us an email - we'd love to hear from you!

Information for Current Gateway Students

Please click here for full information on policies, resources, and expectations for students involved in Gateway projects.