Educational Programs
Thesis
Thesis is the capstone of the BAC's Masters of Architecture educational program. Thesis joins the goals of general education and cultural contexts with those of professional education and practice, informing architecture and interior design. Thesis is an integrative project, synthesizing technical perspectives appropriate to a design-school graduate. Each student forms and develops a thesis and then frames a design project to test or explore that thesis. In architecture, students choose a building site; in interior design, students select a building interior. Thesis is a three-semester endeavor.
Thesis Seminar
Thesis Seminar is an intensive course that prepares the student for the realization of an initial thesis concept. During the course of study, the subject of the thesis is developed and the project articulated. This presentation takes the form of a coherently written Thesis Proposal due by the end of Thesis Seminar.
Thesis Studio
The Thesis Studio functions as an integral companion to, and is taken concurrently with, Thesis Seminar. It provides critical support and direction to students, including the tools and methods needed to engage in a thesis. Thesis Studio also helps students to consider the implications of issues from outside the disciplines of architecture or interior design on their thesis project.
Thesis I and II (Thesis Review Program)
After the student's Thesis Proposal has been accepted by the Architectural or Interior Design Thesis Committee, the 37-week Thesis Review Program commences.
This process is intended to simulate the dialogue that occurs in professional practice between designers, clients, consultants, users, and regulatory agencies. Interaction between non-design constituents merges architectural and interior design thinking with societal issues and cultural concerns. The student is expected to orchestrate this interaction and apply the feedback it provides to his/her thesis project.
Thesis I incorporates the preliminary and schematic stages of the design. Thesis II includes the design development and final stages of the design, as well as documentation of the entire process in the form of the Thesis Document.
