Yale School of Architecture
Encyclopedia
The Yale School of Architecture is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University
. It is generally considered to be one of the most prestigious architecture
schools in the world.
Yale's architecture programs are an outgrowth of a longstanding commitment to the teaching of the fine arts in the university. "Art was first taught at an American college or university in 1869 when the Yale School of the Fine Arts was established. Yale alumnus and educator Andrew Dickson White
was offered the post as the first dean of the school, but turned it down to be the first president of Cornell University
. Even earlier, in 1832, Yale opened the Trumbull Art Gallery, the first college-affiliated gallery in the country. The Department of Architecture was established in the School of the Fine Arts in 1916. In 1959 the School of Art and Architecture, as it was then known, was made into a fully graduate professional school. In 1972 Yale designated the School of Architecture as its own separate professional school."
The School is housed in the masterwork of its former Dean, Paul Rudolph
. Rudolph Hall, formerly the Yale Art and Architecture Building, was rededicated and reoccupied in November 2008 following an extensive renovation and addition.
, a professional degree, Master of Environmental Design, a nonprofessional research-based degree, and Doctor of Philosophy
in architectural history
and criticism. The school also offers joint-degree programs with the School of Management
and School of Forestry
. Additionally, a course of study for undergraduates in Yale College
leads to a Bachelor of Arts
.
Yale's core program has always stressed design as a fundamental discipline. While initially associated with Beaux Arts pedagogy, the school adopted a close affiliation with other modes of fine art, including sculpture, graphic design, painting and furniture design. One of its most illustrious early graduates, Eero Saarinen
, produced a wide variety of student projects ranging from medals and currency to campus and monumental buildings. When the Art and Architecture Building became its home, Paul Rudolph's design reflected this close integration between various fine art departments. The famed department of Graphic Design contributed consistently to architecture posters, publications and exhibits, particularly to Perspecta, Yale's ground breaking student journal.
Another distinguishing element in the Yale core program has been the Yale Building Project, a first-year studio and summer program. Particularly under Dean Charles W. Moore first year students were pushed to design small buildings that ameliorated the life of poor or disadvantaged Americans, working as VISTA volunteers in the deep South. In later years the program focused more on New Haven and Southern Connecticut. A recent book on the subject documents the extraordinary breadth and significance of the work produced by students, many of whom went on to become renowned architects and educators.
Yale's M.E.D., one of the first of its kind, made it possible for architects and planners to pursue a wide range of research connected to the betterment of the entire environment. Only recently have the design professions embraced this wider field of study, spurred by the sustainability movement. Recipients of the degree included William Mitchell, later dean at MIT, and Steven Izenour
, a partner with Venturi, Scott Brown Associates.
and Retrospecta; a biannual news magazine, Constructs; and publishes books.
and James Stirling
, while also respecting the contributions of Eero Saarinen
and Louis Kahn
. Paul Rudolph was a pedagogue who never insisted that any student work in his manner, but rather gave all a wide berth in which to find his or her own way. As Dean Robert A. M. Stern
wrote recently:
* indicate former deans
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. It is generally considered to be one of the most prestigious architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
schools in the world.
History
Andrew Dickson White
Andrew Dickson White was a U.S. diplomat, historian, and educator, who was the co-founder of Cornell University.-Family and personal life:...
was offered the post as the first dean of the school, but turned it down to be the first president of Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. Even earlier, in 1832, Yale opened the Trumbull Art Gallery, the first college-affiliated gallery in the country. The Department of Architecture was established in the School of the Fine Arts in 1916. In 1959 the School of Art and Architecture, as it was then known, was made into a fully graduate professional school. In 1972 Yale designated the School of Architecture as its own separate professional school."
The School is housed in the masterwork of its former Dean, Paul Rudolph
Paul Rudolph (architect)
Paul Marvin Rudolph was an American architect and the dean of the Yale School of Architecture for six years, known for use of concrete and highly complex floor plans...
. Rudolph Hall, formerly the Yale Art and Architecture Building, was rededicated and reoccupied in November 2008 following an extensive renovation and addition.
Programs
The school awards the degrees of Master of ArchitectureMaster of Architecture
The Master of Architecture is a professional degree in architecture, qualifying the graduate to move through the various stages of professional accreditation that result in receiving a license.-Overview:...
, a professional degree, Master of Environmental Design, a nonprofessional research-based degree, and Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in architectural history
Architectural History
Architectural History is the main journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain .The journal is published each autumn. The architecture of the British Isles is a major theme of the journal, although it includes more general papers on the history of architecture. Member of...
and criticism. The school also offers joint-degree programs with the School of Management
Yale School of Management
The Yale School of Management is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The School offers Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. degree programs. As of January 2011, 454 students were enrolled in its MBA...
and School of Forestry
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies is one of the graduate professional schools of Yale University. Founded to train foresters, it now trains leaders and creates new knowledge that will sustain and restore the health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people...
. Additionally, a course of study for undergraduates in Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
leads to a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
.
Yale's core program has always stressed design as a fundamental discipline. While initially associated with Beaux Arts pedagogy, the school adopted a close affiliation with other modes of fine art, including sculpture, graphic design, painting and furniture design. One of its most illustrious early graduates, Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
, produced a wide variety of student projects ranging from medals and currency to campus and monumental buildings. When the Art and Architecture Building became its home, Paul Rudolph's design reflected this close integration between various fine art departments. The famed department of Graphic Design contributed consistently to architecture posters, publications and exhibits, particularly to Perspecta, Yale's ground breaking student journal.
Another distinguishing element in the Yale core program has been the Yale Building Project, a first-year studio and summer program. Particularly under Dean Charles W. Moore first year students were pushed to design small buildings that ameliorated the life of poor or disadvantaged Americans, working as VISTA volunteers in the deep South. In later years the program focused more on New Haven and Southern Connecticut. A recent book on the subject documents the extraordinary breadth and significance of the work produced by students, many of whom went on to become renowned architects and educators.
Yale's M.E.D., one of the first of its kind, made it possible for architects and planners to pursue a wide range of research connected to the betterment of the entire environment. Only recently have the design professions embraced this wider field of study, spurred by the sustainability movement. Recipients of the degree included William Mitchell, later dean at MIT, and Steven Izenour
Steven Izenour
Steven Izenour was an American architect, urbanist and theorist. He is best known as co-author, with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown of Learning from Las Vegas, one of the most influential architectural theory books of the twentieth century. He was also principal in the Philadelphia firm...
, a partner with Venturi, Scott Brown Associates.
Publications
The school maintains an active publications program. It supports two student-edited journals, PerspectaPerspecta (journal)
Perspecta: The Yale Architectural Journal is a student-edited peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Yale School of Architecture, Yale University since 1952. It is rated as an A* journal on the Excellence in Research for Australia journal list....
and Retrospecta; a biannual news magazine, Constructs; and publishes books.
Philosophy
As reflected in its current faculty roster, the Yale School of Architecture is particularly noted for the broad ideological, aesthetic, and theoretical diversity of its professors. Accordingly, the School has made a strong commitment to not promote a single style or methodology of studying architecture, but to help each student to discover his or her own method of design. This commitment to diversity has a long history at both the university and the school itself. During the 1960s Yale promoted the work of such young firebrands as Robert VenturiRobert Venturi
Robert Charles Venturi, Jr. is an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major figures in the architecture of the twentieth century...
and James Stirling
James Stirling
James Stirling may refer to:*James Stirling , mathematician*Admiral Sir James Stirling , Governor of Western Australia*James Stirling , Scottish engineer...
, while also respecting the contributions of Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
and Louis Kahn
Louis Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn was an American architect, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935...
. Paul Rudolph was a pedagogue who never insisted that any student work in his manner, but rather gave all a wide berth in which to find his or her own way. As Dean Robert A. M. Stern
Robert A. M. Stern
Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern, is an American architect and Dean of the Yale University School of Architecture....
wrote recently:
The fundamental philosophical breadth of our approach is not only curricular and geographical but also artistic; we refuse to promote a single conception, artistic or otherwise, of what architecture is or might become. We recognize our obligation to the historic moment in which we study and teach and build, but we also recognize that that moment, however unique, is neither singular nor unchanging nor disconnected from the past or the future....Singular systems of design are no substitute for methodologies; our responsibility is to see architecture from many sides; most of all, our responsibility is to think problems through. We do not celebrate a false, single-minded unity or even pretend that consensus can always be achieved; rather we hold open the doors of perception to the wide world of diversity. We welcome debate, even disagreement.
Alumni
- Muzharul Islam
- Peter CalthorpePeter CalthorpePeter Calthorpe is a San Francisco-based architect, urban designer and urban planner. He is a founding member of the Congress for New Urbanism, a Chicago-based advocacy group formed in 1992 that promotes sustainable building practices.-Biography:...
- David ChildsDavid ChildsDavid M. Childs is the Consulting Design Partner at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. He is best known for his redesign of the new One World Trade Center in New York....
- Lise-Ann CoutureAsymptote ArchitectureAsymptote is a New York-based architectural office founded in 1989 by principals Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture.-Overview:Asymptote Architecture recently announced the opening of the Yas Marina Hotel, a 500 room Hotel complex in Abu Dhabi. The Yas Hotel is the world's first building designed...
- Andres DuanyAndrés DuanyAndrés Duany is an American architect and urban planner.Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960. He attended The Choate School and received his undergraduate degree in architecture and urban planning from Princeton University...
- Sir Norman Foster, Pritzker PrizePritzker PrizeThe Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built...
Laureate - Charles GwathmeyCharles GwathmeyCharles Gwathmey was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969...
- Blair KaminBlair KaminBlair Kamin is the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, a post he has held since 1992. Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for The Des Moines Register. He also serves as a contributing editor of Architectural Record...
- Richard KellyRichard Kelly (lighting designer)Richard Kelly was an American lighting designer and considered one of the pioneers of architectural lighting design. Kelly had already established his own New York-based lighting practice in 1935 before enrolling at the Yale School of Architecture where he graduated in 1944...
- Maya LinMaya LinMaya Ying Lin is an American artist who is known for her work in sculpture and landscape art. She is the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Personal life:...
- William McDonoughWilliam McDonoughWilliam Andrews McDonough is an American architect, founding principal of , co-founder of with German chemist Michael Braungart as well as co-author of also with Braungart...
- George NelsonGeorge Nelson (designer)George Nelson was a noted American industrial designer, and one of the founders of American Modernism. While Director of Design for the Herman Miller furniture company both Nelson, and his design studio, George Nelson Associates, Inc., designed much of the 20th century's most iconic modernist...
- James PolshekJames PolshekJames Stewart Polshek is an American architect based in New York City. He is the founder of Polshek Partnership, the firm at which he was Principal Design Partner for more than four decades...
- Tim PrenticeTim PrenticeTim Prentice is a kinetic sculptor. He received a Masters Degree in architecture from Yale in 1960 and founded the award-winning company of Prentice and Chan in 1965. He resides in Cornwall, Connecticut....
- Jaquelin T. RobertsonJaquelin T. RobertsonJaquelin Taylor Robertson, FAIA, FAICP usually credited as Jaquelin T. Robertson and informally known as "Jaque," is an American architect and urban designer....
- Richard RogersRichard RogersRichard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside CH Kt FRIBA FCSD is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs....
, Pritzker Prize Laureate - Eero SaarinenEero SaarinenEero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
- Robert A.M. Stern
- Stanley TigermanStanley TigermanStanley Tigerman is an American architect, theorist and designer. He studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Chicago Institute of Design, and Yale University. After serving several years in the United States Navy, he assumed the role of draftsman and designer in a series of offices...
- Alexander TzonisAlexander TzonisAlexander Tzonis is a Greek architect, researcher and author.He has made contributions to architectural theory, history, and design cognition bringing together scientific and humanistic approaches in a rare synthesis. Since 1975 he has been collaborating in most projects with Liane Lefaivre...
- Elizabeth Plater-ZyberkElizabeth Plater-ZyberkElizabeth Plater-Zyberk is an American architect and urban planner of Polish aristocratic roots based in Miami, Florida...
Present faculty members
- Mario CarpoMario CarpoMario Carpo, , is an Italian architectural historian.Mario Carpo graduated from the University of Florence in 1983 with a degree in architectural history. He was a doctoral researcher at the European University Institute from 1984 to 1987, then an Assistant Professor at the University of Geneva...
- David ChipperfieldDavid ChipperfieldSir David Alan Chipperfield CBE, RA, RDI, RIBA is a British architect, born in London. He has offices in London, Berlin and Milan, and a representative office in Shanghai...
- Keller EasterlingKeller EasterlingKeller Easterling is an American architect, urbanist, writer, and teacher. She earned both her B.A. and M.Arch from Princeton University and has taught architectural design and history at Parsons The New School for Design, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University. She is currently Associate...
- Peter EisenmanPeter EisenmanPeter Eisenman is an American architect. Eisenman's professional work is often referred to as formalist, deconstructive, late avant-garde, late or high modernist, etc...
- Frank GehryFrank GehryFrank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
- Dolores HaydenDolores HaydenDolores Hayden is an American professor, urban historian, architect, author, and poet. She teaches architecture, urbanism, and American studies at Yale University.-Background:...
- Bjarke IngelsBjarke IngelsBjarke Ingels is a Danish architect. He heads the architectural practice Bjarke Ingels Group which he founded in 2006. In 2009 he co-founded the design consultancy KiBiSi...
- Greg LynnGreg LynnGreg Lynn is owner of the Greg Lynn FORM office, an o. Univ. Professor of architecture at University of Applied Arts Vienna, a studio professor at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and the Davenport Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture. He was the winner of the Golden...
- Demetri PorphyriosDemetri PorphyriosDemetri Porphyrios is a Greek architect and author who currently practises architecture in London as principal of the firm Porphyrios Associates. In addition to practice and writing, Porphyrios has held a number of teaching positions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Greece. He is...
- Massimo ScolariMassimo ScolariMassimo Scolari , is an Italian architect, painter and designer.He graduated in architecture in Milan in 1969. In 1973 he became a professor of History of Architecture at Palermo, and of Drawing at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia...
- Robert A. M. SternRobert A. M. SternRobert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern, is an American architect and Dean of the Yale University School of Architecture....
, Dean of the School - Alejandro Zaera-Polo
Former faculty members
- Tadao AndoTadao Andois a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was once categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field...
- Cecil BalmondCecil BalmondCecil Balmond is a Sri Lankan/British designer, engineer, artist, architect, and writer. He has been hailed as "one of the most important forces in contemporary architecture today," and in 2003 received the prestigious RIBA Charles Jencks award for Theory in Practice. He is also the recipient of...
- Mario BottaMario BottaMario Botta is a Swiss architect. He studied at the Liceo Artistico in Milan and the IUAV in Venice. His ideas were influenced by Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn. He opened his own practice in 1970 in Lugano.-Career:...
- Santiago CalatravaSantiago CalatravaSantiago Calatrava Valls is a Spanish architect, sculptor and structural engineer whose principal office is in Zürich, Switzerland. Classed now among the elite designers of the world, he has offices in Zürich, Paris, Valencia, and New York City....
- John HejdukJohn HejdukJohn Quentin Hejduk , was an American architect, artist and educator who spent much of his life in New York City, USA...
- Helmut JahnHelmut JahnHelmut Jahn is a German-American architect, well known for designs such as the US$800 million Sony Center on the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, the Messeturm in Frankfurt and the One Liberty Place, formerly the tallest building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Suvarnabhumi Airport, an international...
- Philip JohnsonPhilip JohnsonPhilip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect.In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later , as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture...
- Louis KahnLouis KahnLouis Isadore Kahn was an American architect, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935...
- Daniel LibeskindDaniel LibeskindDaniel Libeskind, is an American architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect...
- Winy MaasMVRDVMVRDV is a Rotterdam, Netherlands-based architecture and urban design practice founded in 1991. The name is an acronym for the founding members: Winy Maas , Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries...
- Thom MayneThom MayneThom Mayne is a Los Angeles-based architect. Educated at University of Southern California and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1978, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1972, where he is a trustee...
- Richard MeierRichard MeierRichard Meier is an American architect, whose rationalist buildings make prominent use of the color white.- Biography :Meier is Jewish and was born in Newark, New Jersey...
- Samuel MockbeeSamuel MockbeeSamuel "Sambo" Mockbee was an American architect and a co-founder of the Auburn University Rural Studio program in Hale County, Alabama....
- Charles Willard MooreCharles Willard MooreCharles Willard Moore was an American architect, educator, writer, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and winner of the AIA Gold Medal in 1991.-Life and career:...
* - Eric Owen MossEric Owen MossEric Owen Moss practices architecture with his eponymously named LA-based 25-person firm founded in 1973.Throughout his career Moss has worked to revitalize a once defunct industrial tract in Culver City, California....
- Glenn MurcuttGlenn MurcuttGlenn Marcus Murcutt AO is a British-born Australian architect and winner of the 2002 Pritzker Prize and 2009 AIA Gold Medal.-Biography:...
- Paul RudolphPaul Rudolph (architect)Paul Marvin Rudolph was an American architect and the dean of the Yale School of Architecture for six years, known for use of concrete and highly complex floor plans...
* - Moshe SafdieMoshe SafdieMoshe Safdie, CC, FAIA is an architect, urban designer, educator, theorist, and author. Born in the city of Haifa, then Palestine and now Israel, he moved with his family to Montreal, Canada, when he was 15 years old.-Career:...
- James StirlingJames Stirling (architect)Sir James Frazer Stirling FRIBA was a British architect. He is considered to be among the most important and influential British architects of the second half of the 20th century...
- Bernard TschumiBernard TschumiBernard Tschumi is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Born of French and Swiss parentage, he works and lives in New York and Paris. He studied in Paris and at ETH in Zurich, where he received his degree in architecture in 1969...
- Robert VenturiRobert VenturiRobert Charles Venturi, Jr. is an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major figures in the architecture of the twentieth century...
- Shadrach WoodsShadrach WoodsShadrach Woods was an American architect, urban planner and theorist. Schooled in engineering at New York University and in literature and philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, Woods joined the Paris office of Le Corbusier in 1948...
- Joshua Prince-RamusJoshua Prince-RamusJoshua Prince-Ramus is an American architect. Prince-Ramus is Principal of REX, an internationally acclaimed architecture and design firm based in New York City. REX recently completed the AT&T Performing Arts Center Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas and the Vakko Fashion Center and...
* indicate former deans