The Department of Architecture at the University of Washington traces its origins to 1913, when the Board of Regents approved a new College of Fine Arts with departments of art, music, drama and architecture. More than a century later, the department continues to evolve while maintaining longstanding traditions of design, research, making and engagement with the profession and community.
Foundations: 1913–1937
The University hired Carl F. Gould, a graduate of Harvard and the École des Beaux-Arts, to shape the new architecture program. Enrollment grew gradually, from just eleven or twelve students in 1914 to 47 by 1923.
From the beginning, the school maintained close ties to professional practice. Local architects served on juries and as visiting critics, establishing a tradition of engagement with the profession that continues today.
The department’s first facilities were modest. From 1916 to 1921, Architecture occupied a temporary one-story wood building known by students as The Shack. The school later moved to the attic of Education Hall and then to a former Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition building.
Harlan Thomas succeeded Gould in 1926. Two years later, Lionel H. “Spike” Pries joined the faculty and became an influential teacher and leader in the school for the next two decades. In 1928, the curriculum was expanded to a five-year Bachelor of Architecture program.
In 1937, Architecture moved into the former Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Fine Arts Palace. The building would eventually become known as Architecture Hall.
Postwar Growth and Modernism
Just before World War II, the school enrolled slightly more than 100 students. After the war, enrollment grew rapidly as returning service members pursued professional education with support from the G.I. Bill.
During the late 1940s, the school embraced the Modern Movement and adopted teaching approaches influenced by the Bauhaus. By the mid-1950s, enrollment had grown to more than 275 students supported by nearly 20 faculty members.
The curriculum also expanded. Urban Planning was added as a major, and in 1957–58 the school became the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Architecture and Urban Planning became separate departments around 1961, followed by Landscape Architecture and Building Construction, now Construction Management.
Architecture, the City and the Community
The 1960s brought growing interest in urban design and historic preservation. Professor Victor Steinbrueck became an important figure both within the school and across Seattle, helping lead efforts to protect Pioneer Square, Pike Place Market and other significant buildings and places.
This tradition of civic engagement became an enduring part of the department’s culture. Faculty and students continue to engage with community and regional issues through research, teaching and design.
A Culture of Making
The department expanded its hands-on curriculum during the 1960s with new shop and photography facilities. When Gould Hall opened in 1972, it included a 6,000-square-foot wood and metal shop along with studios and other shared spaces for the college.
Today, that tradition continues through the Fabrication Lab and courses in design-build, furniture design, materials and fabrication.
Graduate Study and Global Learning
As architectural research expanded during the 1960s, the department developed a Master of Architecture program. Over time, the M.Arch. replaced the B.Arch. as the department’s primary professional degree.
Since the 1990s, the department has offered an undergraduate pre-professional Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies alongside the professionally accredited Master of Architecture.
International study also became an important part of the department’s identity. In 1970, three Architecture students traveled to Rome to study. That experience eventually grew into the department’s longstanding Rome Program and contributed to the creation of the University of Washington Rome Center at the Palazzo Pio in the 1980s.
Over the years, Architecture students have also participated in studios and courses in locations around the world, including Scandinavia, India, Japan, Mexico, Denmark and Australia.
Research, Technology and Architecture Today
Beginning in the 1990s, the department and college embraced rapid changes in digital design, information technology and fabrication. Architecture studios have been supported by a digital network since the late 1990s, while the Fabrication Lab now combines digital tools with traditional methods of making.
The department’s research culture is reflected in the Master of Science in Architecture and participation in the college-wide Ph.D. in the Built Environment. Graduate study spans areas including design technology, architectural history and theory, urban design, preservation and lighting design.
In recognition of the increasingly interconnected nature of the disciplines, the college became the College of Built Environments in 2009.
Today, UW Architecture brings together more than a century of architectural education with an evolving culture of design, research, making and global engagement.