Our Approach

Critical thinking about Architecture, Culture, and the City.

The School of Architecture at Northeastern University is a different kind of place. At Northeastern we bring together a very strong faculty–which excels in practice, teaching, scholarship and research– with an explicit mission to engage the challenges of the contemporary city. This means that our students learn about the global forces that shape our cities in many different contexts: design, history, technology, commerce, and culture. But what sets the school apart is its commitment to bringing the power of critical thinking and design innovation to the very real problems of the world’s cities.

We have current research in urban housing, energy systems and integrated design, the public approvals process, new building components, and market-driven building types.

Northeastern University is ranked 14th nationally in architectural research. By concentrating on the problem-solving aspect of architecture, the School also creates opportunities for collaboration with other academic units on campus, leading us to joint ventures with urban and regional planning, engineering, and computer science.

This focus on urban engagement means that our design studio courses are linked to the cultural and physical history of Boston and other nearby urban areas. It also means that the School treats the “everyday” elements of our built environment, such as office buildings, housing, retail, parking, and transportation infrastructure, as the legitimate focus of academic study.

Architectural education has always been a hybrid. From its very beginning as an academic discipline, it has involved liberal arts education and professional training. It is still true. The Northeastern curriculum can be understood as both a liberal arts major in creative problem-solving, and also a very focused series of steps in professional architectural training. Integrating these complimentary pieces is essential. So, design studios are carefully integrated with technology courses. And we are very careful to teach design as craft; a series of specific skills that can be developed and honed. You can find much more about the undergraduate and graduate curricula on this site, but in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact me at g.thrush@neu.edu

George Thrush, FAIA

Director, School of Architecture

Hybrid Office Building and Residential Type
Graduate Degree Project
Shannon Brooker and Chris Halliday, M.Arch. 2008