College of Architecture + Planning

The College of Architecture + Planning is a community of award-winning and highly recognized set of faculty, entrepreneurial students, and supportive staff which together create a creative community unlike any other.

Our efforts spark positive transformation in our designed world to promote the health and well-being of our society and environment through research, community engagement and educational experiences shaped to nurture the agile, inventive minds necessary to address global challenges.

DESIGN FOUNDATIONS

Design Foundations (DF) provides freshmen with a platform for success in any of the college’s degrees (architecture, multi-disciplinary design, or urban ecology), and a pathway to earn general education credits so that students are making progress toward their degree, regardless of their eventual choice of major. In addition to setting the foundation for the design, architecture, and urban design majors, DF courses also provide the basis for minors in those three areas that students can combine with any other major at the university.

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U OF U AND YELLOWSTONE ARE FOSTERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DESIGN LEADERS

Inspiration isn’t hard to find in Salt Lake City, Utah; one look out the windows of the University of Utah’s campus, and you’re treated to sheer visual splendor. Tall mountains, a clean cityscape, and a whole world of colorful nature within easy reach. While Salt Lake City may seem far from the world’s ‘digital design hotspots’ in the Bay Area and beyond, its location has led to something truly exciting at its university. The University of Utah’s Multi-Disciplinary Design Program is teaching the next generation of product designers to not only take inspiration from the extraordinary nature around them and turn that into beautiful digital products, but to use those digital product design skills to protect that beautiful nature itself.

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DARK SKIES PROGRAM

The College of Architecture + Planning is the home of the Consortium for Dark Sky Studies, the first academic center in the world dedicated to discovering, developing, communicating and applying knowledge pertaining to the quality of the night skies. The consortium of over 25 university, industry, community, and governmental partners research the global issue of light pollution, and the public health, economic, and environmental impacts of the “disappearing dark.” Part of the consortium’s work is to offer university students the opportunity to minor in Dark Skies Studies.

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Architecture

Urban Ecology

Division
of
Multi-Disciplinary Design

ARCHITECTURE

As a School of Architecture, we value curiosity, adventure, risk-taking, and discovery. We understand the vital role that thoughtful, well-designed built environments have in the physical and emotional well-being of individuals and communities, and we promote empathetic responses to foster community and environmental health.

We support creativity and innovation in architecture and design through critical theoretical understanding and collaborative research. We understand the power of context and the potency of the local, and we are dedicated to confronting the imperative issues of our time, including air quality, water accessibility, public health, and social equity, and to do the greatest good for our society and our world.

Student Experiences at the U

If you want learning and networking experiences outside of the classroom, the U has a number of opportunities for you:

Design+Build Salt Lake
Study abroad in Italy
Center for Ecological Planning and Design

Career Opportunities

This undergraduate program is a pre-professional degree in architecture, meaning that most students pursue additional education or certification to complete their training. Upon leaving graduate school, you can pursue a number of career paths such as:

Architect
Architectural drafter, engineer, historian, journalist, theoretician
Construction manager
Historic preservation specialist
Industrial designer
Interior architect, designer
Landscape architect
Material scientist
Product designer
Specification writer
Urban designer, ecologist, planner
User experience designer, interface designer
Video game designer

Scholarships

Department Scholarships

Degrees offered

Architectural Studies BS
Minor in Architectural Studies

School of Architecture

URBAN ECOLOGY

Urban Ecology is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the interrelationships among social, environmental, and economic systems, with the goal of enhancing the vitality and sustainability of places and communities.

The University of Utah’s Urban Ecology program is designed to respond to problems and opportunities that exist in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural places for example, environmental management, fragile landscape protection, recreation and tourism, public lands planning, rapid population growth, regional transportation, energy production, and sprawl.

STUDENT EXPERIENCES AT THE U

Study abroad in Italy or Korea to learn about the ways old and new cities strive to become more sustainable.
Interface with the Metropolitan Research Center and the Center for Ecological Planning & Design.
Create and participate in research projects
Participate in Community-based projects

Career Opportunities

Environmental and sustainability planning
Public health
Public policy
Community development and planning
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysts
Planning consultants
Conservationist
Community organizers
Environmental outreach
Project engineers

Scholarships

Department Scholarships

Degrees offered

Urban Ecology BA/BS
Urban Ecology Minor
Dark Sky Studies Minor

Department of City & Metropolitan Planning

Design

Study product design through the Multi-Disciplinary Design program at the University of Utah. This exciting curriculum uses product design as a vehicle to investigate a number of broader concepts in design and creativity, such as:

Design research
Human-centered design principles
Interface development
Articulation of product forms
Materials
Digital manufacturing principles

Students complete courses from four areas of design:

Studio
Technical
History/Theory
Practice

Through classes on design, graphics, visual communication, and other topics, students will understand the connections among cross-disciplinary design specialties.

Student Experiences at the U

Students who want to begin applying their design skills to projects and problems while still in school can participate in Spark, a design initiative across several U departments and the greater community of Salt Lake City:

Spark Health Innovation Labs allows students to design healthcare solutions
Spark Crowd Source is an idea hub and think tank
Spark Connect2Health connects patients and health resources
Spark Education Lab helps students create design solutions

Career Opportunities

Multi-disciplinary product designers
Design researchers
Product development experts
Directors
Practitioners
Industrial & graphic designers
Product & industrial designers

Scholarships

Department Scholarships

Degrees offered

Design BS
Design Minor
Department of Design

Admissions