Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 1908 |
| Dean | Steven P. French |
|
Academic staff
|
252 |
| Undergraduates | 574 |
| Postgraduates | 523 |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| Website | design.gatech.edu |
The College of Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1908 as the Department of Architecture, and formerly the College of Architecture, offering the first four-year course of study in architecture in the Southern United States.
The history of the College of Design spans over 100 years. The Department of Architecture was formed in 1908, and granted its first degree in 1911. It was renamed to the School of Architecture after World War II, and elevated to a full-fledged College of Architecture in 1975. In 2016, it was renamed the College of Design in order to more accurately reflect the breadth of programs the College offers, and to reduce confusion between the College of Architecture and its component School of Architecture. For most of the 20th century, the Architecture curriculum was directed by masters of architecture, mostly Harvard graduates (until 1975).
In 1908, Georgia Tech (as the "Georgia School of Technology") formally began teaching architecture, when Preston A. Hopkins of Boston was appointed to teach the entering class of 20 students and organize the curriculum. The new Department of Architecture, although small, was equal in rank to other academic departments of engineering at Tech. Francis Palmer Smith (B.S. Univ. of Pennsylvania 1907) was selected as the first department head in 1909. In 1911, the first degrees, the Bachelor of Science in Architecture, were granted. This event placed Georgia Tech among the earliest public universities in the U. S. to offer an architecture degree. By 1912, the Department of Architecture grew to 42 full-time students with three faculty members.
By 1930, the Architecture department had 132 full-time students, awarded 20 degrees, and had six full-time with six part-time faculty. The curriculum during the early years was closely allied with engineering, plus the subject of construction was strongly emphasized. By the 1930s, the influence of the Beaux-Arts, formerly a dominant force in architectural education nationally, had begun to decline as the sway of Bauhaus increased. The department did not have the post-professional graduate program or an option for architectural engineering, both of which were contained in over half of the architecture schools at the time. Architectural education was mainly a product of local concerns in Atlanta, in Georgia and the South, in accordance with the mission of the Georgia School of Technology. In 1934, the five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree was created to conform with the requirements of the increasingly influential Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). Under the leadership of Bush-Brown, the Architecture students declined to 66 during the depression, reached a low of 22 students during World War II, and then exploded to 462 post-war students.
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