Urban Design at SoA
The School of Architecture’s mission is founded in the faculty commitment to community life and well-being, and in its focus on the city and its suburbs as places of human culture and socio-economic opportunities. The School affirms the essential need to design environmentally responsible buildings and public spaces that promote social integration and economic sustainability, as well as support life comfortably without reliance upon extravagant use of land and energy that adversely affect our ecosystems.
The Master of Urban Design program values and sustains a creative, open and supportive environment, emphasizing personalized instruction through small classes and studio courses. The School’s resources, including a state-of-the-art computer laboratory, a reference library, and a model shop complete with laser equipment, are enhanced by the interdisciplinary opportunities offered by the other schools and colleges of the University of Miami. Short travel courses prepare students to tackle a variety of morpho-typological issues as well as to identify cultural aspects influencing the development of human settlements. The School of Architecture Rome Center offers additional opportunities to study first-hand the roots of Western civilization and architecture.
Students have the opportunity to work with faculty in the exploration of theoretical issues as well as in the resolution of practical problems in Miami, around the United States, and in other regions of the world (Rome, Barcelona, Stockholm, Tokyo, Barranquilla, Haiti, etc.). Annual design competitions and charrettes (design workshops) supplement the studio work and provide a medium for the exploration of inter-disciplinary collaboration.
The Master of Urban Design brings together students and faculty in the exploration and definition of guiding principles of urban design for building better regions, cities, communities, and informal human settlements. Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Adjunct Professor Andres Duany are renowned for their dedication to the evolution of the principles of New Urbanism to direct the design and development of existing cities and neighborhoods as well as urban alternatives to suburban sprawl. In addition, students study alternative or complementary theories such as landscape urbanism, and are introduced to issues and problems of “informal” urbanism in Latin America and other parts of the world. Program Director Jean-François Lejeune and Coordinator Jaime Correa have extensive experience and knowledge of design issues affecting the European, Middle-Eastern and Latin American context. Faculty and visiting professors, from around the world, bring advanced knowledge on housing typologies, landscape urbanism, development, climate change issues, and post-industrial urbanism; they share their experience with students in the investigation of the environmental, social and economic context of town design.
The curriculum offers special opportunities to work directly with municipalities or private sector groups and prepares students to be effective designers and advocates for both private sector and public sector development enterprises. The highly integrated curriculum and close faculty support ensure an intensive and rewarding experience which draws from vanguard work in the academy and the profession. The program establishes an environment characterized by an active, dynamic exchange of ideas, and a forum for testing and advancing design proposals that enlighten the effort to build a sense of place and community in every architectural endeavor.