Los Angeles Institute of Architecture and Design
Architecture Transfer Program
Los Angeles, USA
Bachelor's degree
DURATION
4 semesters
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2027
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus, Distance Learning
Key Summary
About: The LAIAD Architecture Transfer Program offers a two- or four-semester pathway and a sequential two-year option for students aiming for a professional Bachelor of Architecture (B Arch) or Bachelor of Interior Design. It features design studios, drawing, model making, 3D modeling and rendering, and portfolio classes in partnership with West Los Angeles College. Students may apply for advanced placement at local universities; admission depends on portfolio review. California students can instead enter the profession through the internship route.
Career Outcomes: Graduates pursue advanced placement then professional careers as architectural designers, intern architects, interior designers, BIM modelers, or 3D visualizers.
- 2 or 4 Semester Architecture transfer program for students who will pursue a professional degree in Architecture
- Rigorous design studios
- Drawing, sketching, and model making classes
- 3D computer modeling and rendering classes
- Portfolio design classes
- In partnership with West Los Angeles College
A sequential 2 year program primarily intended as a transfer program for students who want to pursue a professional (B Arch) degree in architecture. At the conclusion of the program, students will be eligible to apply for advanced placement in a local university for completion of a degree in architecture. Admission and advanced placement is subject to portfolio review at the destination school. Alternatively, after completion of this program, students in California may also enter the architecture profession directly through the internship process.
In the first year, (Architecture Transfer 1) architecture and design are understood as the embodiment of design principles and ideas. Students first undertake a series of inter-related studio projects to identify and visualize certain ordering principles and ideas. These principles and ideas are then interpreted in systematic abstract constructions. The next series of studio projects require students to be able to use ordering ideas to accomplish fundamental spatial qualities such as open, closed and sequential spaces. From the first day of class, students are treated as professional designers, and are asked to engage in design discourse, and to participate in studio culture. Although listed as separate courses, rigorous classes teaching drawing, model making, and computer skills are taught as part of the studio experience.
Projects in the second year (Architecture Transfer 2) address the relationship between idea, structure, function, and form. These projects require students to use organizational ideas and systems to create constructions that form the basis for a series of spaces intended for habitation and use, and deal with architectural aspects such as spatial definition and sequence, transition areas, intersections, and human scale relationships. The conditions, principles, ideas and issues that are considered in the decision making process are applied to architectural problem solving. The development of personal architectural language is stressed. Architectural design as the embodiment of principles and ideas is continually stressed. Students are introduced to the notion that the creation of an architectural spatial / organizational idea can have a correspondence to an underlying social or ideological viewpoint. Continued development in drawing, model making, and computer skills are all taught as part of the studio experience.
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