The School of Architecture
Office of Admissions
The School of Architecture is committed to expanding the role of architecture as a critical and holistic practice through learning by doing, experimentation, and building with the landscape.
https://theschoolofarchitecture.edu/
Setting
All enrolled students have access to two campuses. Both sites are landmark historical buildings built by Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentice, Paolo Soleri.
COSANTI - CITY CAMPUS
Cosanti is located in Paradise Valley, Arizona built as the home and studio of Italian-American architect Paolo Soleri. Cosanti is marked by garden courtyards and terraced landscaping amidst experimental earth-formed concrete structures. Cosanti is located in Paradise Valley just north-east of Phoenix about half an hour from Sky Harbor International Airport.
The campus is an ideal setting for students to observe the fluid sandcast domes and forms carved directly out of the desert, serving as a springboard for individual experiments in design and building as a critical response to the environment. It’s proximity to numerous cultural, recreational, and culinary experiences make it the ideal location for the research component of TSOA’s graduate program.
For site visits, prospective students are encouraged to contact us ahead of time.
ARCOSANTI - DESERT LABORATORY
Arcosanti is an experimental city and urban laboratory designed by Paolo Soleri in the high desert of Arizona, about one hour north of Phoenix. Built on a mesa, Arcosanti has expansive views of the natural landscape. You can hike and explore nature, as well as join a thriving and vibrant arts-based resident community. At any particular time there are about sixty people that call Arcosanti home engaged in the arts, design and agricultural activities on site.
The students who commit to designing a built thesis project, spend their last semester in the desert lab, applying their theoretical knowledge to create experimental design solutions. As a remote experimental laboratory, this satellite campus offers the students amenities such as an on-site pool, workout gym, and fully equipped fabrication shop.
You can either contact us to schedule a trip as a prospective student, or visit the entire complex with a guided tour through the Cosanti Foundation.
School Philosophy
Honoring the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and thought, we design with a primary responsibility to the landscape, its regional histories, communities, matter, and climate, in tandem with a deep understanding of the holistic design processes that can produce lasting innovation in architecture.
The School of Architecture promotes new formats of learning through hands-on, immersive, and interactive experiences both within and beyond the classroom, resulting in new ways of understanding and communicating critical topics of the discipline. The School emphasizes experiential learning and service learning for and within a diversity of communities as integral to the program.
Programs
ACADEMICS
o Project-based learning encouraging new formats and mediums for learning beyond the traditional classroom
o Courses emphasizing designing with and learning from particular environments and ecologies, accentuated by the School’s unique location within the high desert
o Courses and projects that focus on interacting and designing for underserved communities at regional and global levels (e.g. Usonia 21)
o Integrated practical and professional training in studios and coursework, engaging students directly with outside professionals
o Partnerships with a diversity of institutions and organizations offering complementary expertise in courses and programs (e.g. Land Rich, UNL, AAVS, etc.)
COMMUNITY LIFE & PROGRAMMING
o Hosting a diversity of speakers and critics on critical issues in environmental issues, housing, urbanism, regionalism, pedagogy and expanded discourse
o Professional internships as required for graduation
o Mentorships with regional practitioners fostering new conversations and understandings of the profession
o Student publication providing a platform for students to engage chosen academics and practitioners
INFRASTRUCTURE
o Wide range of indoor and outdoor facilities and spaces for learning at TSOA’s historic campus
of Focus
1.Art & Design
2. Materials and Construction
3. Community Design
4. Resilience
5. Cross-Cultural Contexts > Human Experiences
6. Design/Build
7. Digital Design & Visualization
8. Sustainability & High-Performance Built Environments
Opportunities
Co-Op / Work Placement
Teaching / Research assistantships
Summer Program
Facilities
24 Hour Workshop
Large-format Printer
Laser Cutter
Woodshop
3D Printing
Metalshop
Policies
Transfer Policies
The School of Architecture operates on a rolling admissions basis. Transfer applications and other applications received after priority deadlines are evaluated on case-by-case basis as space permits.
