Bachelor of Arts in Architecture

As an undergraduate in the College of Environmental Design, you’ll be part of a creative and intellectual community dedicated to understanding and redesigning the world around us to improve lives. It is one of four undergraduate majors in the college, which are all deeply rooted in exploring and solving issues of social equity and climate resilience.

Berkeley’s bachelor of arts in architecture offers you a strong liberal arts foundation in environmental design, with classes in architectural design, architectural representation, construction technologies, and architectural history and theory. This rigorous, hands-on, studio-based program immerses you in methods of design, histories of places and peoples, environmentally sustainable design practices, and cutting-edge materials and technologies. You’ll visit project sites, render your designs using the latest software, build models in the Fabrication Shop, discuss your work and ideas with local design professionals, and learn how transforming the built environment can be a catalyst for social change and environmental good.

You’ll graduate with a BA in architecture, equipped with pre-professional competency for entry-level employment in architecture or graduate work in architecture or a related environmental design field.

The Department of Architecture offers you a rich intellectual community rooted in the dynamic contexts of UC Berkeley, the Bay Area, and California. As a student at the nation’s top public research university, you’ll be part of a diverse community of changemakers known worldwide for innovation and academic excellence. Our passion for critical inquiry, debate, and creative experimentation is informed by a deep commitment to social equity and climate solutions.

California, the birthplace of the environmental movement and social justice advocacy, is at leading edge of making our cities more just and climate resilient. The state’s diverse population, 40 million strong, and its rich and varied conditions make it the ideal laboratory for our discipline. The Bay Area led the movement to reshape architecture through a humanistic lens and today it’s home to some of the profession’s most innovative designers.

In your first year, you’ll take a range of lower-division courses across the university, as well as the introductory environmental design courses (Environmental Design I and Environmental Design 5) alongside students in other majors within the college. In the second year, you’ll enroll in introductory architectural design studios in the Department of Architecture. The third year is architecture-intensive: in the fall semester, you’ll take a design studio and a history and humanities option and in the spring another studio, a course in history, and a technology course. In all, you will take six design studios, where you can build a portfolio for graduate school or an entry-level position in an architecture firm.

Berkeley’s undergraduate architecture program prepares you to take on a range of roles amid changing career and technological landscapes. Undergraduate studies in architecture provide you with pre-professional competency for entry-level positions in architecture firms and also prepare you for graduate work in architecture or a related environmental design field.

Berkeley’s undergraduate program leads to a bachelor of arts degree — it is not a professional degree. Our master of architecture degree is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). For information about becoming a licensed architect in California, see the California Architects Board of the Department of Consumer Affairs, the American Institute of Architects, and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards websites.

We encourage graduates of our BA program who wish to pursue a career as an architect to apply to our accredited master’s program to complete their professional training. In the 1960s, UC Berkeley pioneered the “4 + 2” model of architectural education, where a four-year well-rounded liberal arts degree could be capped by two years of graduate study to lead to the master of architecture, the professional degree for practice and licensure. Graduates of Berkeley’s bachelor’s program successfully continue on to the top MArch programs in the country — including Berkeley’s own — with advanced standing.

Applications to the College of Environmental Design are made through UC Berkeley’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Applications are available beginning August 1 and may be submitted beginning October 1. The final deadline to submit your application is November 30. Other important deadlines are available here. A portfolio is not required for admission to CED.

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