Architecture

You consider yourself an innovator, a visionary, and most of all a student of design. You enjoy looking at buildings and spaces and thinking about what makes them great. You understand that architecture and the places it helps to shape will play a central role in our society in the decades ahead - creating solutions for many of the challenges facing us and answering questions about how we will live, work and play. You want to help find those answers; you want to design the future. At Clemson, you will join an intense, close-knit community of award-winning professors, gifted practitioners and motivated students. You will learn how to think with your hands and emerge ready to continue on to graduate school to become a licensed architect or enter the design profession.

At Clemson the undergraduate curriculum is conceptualized as fluid, broadening the education to allow students to transform into diverse, well-rounded and proficient critical thinkers and designers. The concept of fluidity builds upon the existing Fluid Campus where students are given the choice to study in Genoa, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Charleston, South Carolina; or Clemson. Fluidity is also evident in the general education requirements where students choose a minor as well as a foreign language. Fluid is choice. Choice broadens experience and encourages students to shape their own educational path.

Through every part of our curriculum, you'll be encouraged to tap into your creativity and learn to express that creativity in your approach to design projects. You will learn the basics of building design and construction, and lay the groundwork for pursuing a master's degree in architecture and other design fields.

Your first five semesters of study focus on teaching foundational skills, which prepare you for the Fluid Campus. Courses in design, drawing and computer applications, as well as required courses in science, math, social sciences and the humanities give you a broad base to build upon in your advanced level classes. Computer integration in the design studios is emphasized in the second year. First- and second-year students study public speaking, making our students well prepared to speak professionally about their work.

Accreditation

Clemson's undergraduate architecture program is a pre-professional program. Clemson's graduate architecture program is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. professional degree programs in architecture. See full accreditation statement here.

For the 2022 admissions cycle, Clemson has adopted a test-optional policy. Applicants are not required to submit a standardized test score to be considered for admission to Clemson for the 2022-2023 academic year.

If you choose that test scores should be used, your scores must be submitted electronically by the respective testing agency. Clemson’s institutional code for SAT is 5111, and the code for ACT is 3842. Clemson super-scores both the SAT and the ACT. For the SAT, this means that the overall total SAT score will then be derived by taking the highest of the evidence-based reading and writing/math scores.

According to The ACT, superscoring at Clemson means that we “consider a student’s highest ACT section (or subtest) scores regardless of test date. The super composite ACT score is calculated as the average of the best ACT English, Reading, Math, and Science subject scores and is used as one of multiple factors in admission and financial aid.”