The Rainbow Edges: The Legacy of Communist Mass Housing and the Colorful Future of Czech Cities
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The Department offers a five-year program leading to the Bachelor of Architecture degree. The program provides opportunities for general education as well as preparation for professional practice and/or graduate study.
The Department of Architecture offers two graduate degrees in architecture: a three-year accredited professional degree (MArch) and a two-semester to three-semester research degree (MS in Arch). Double-degree programs are currently offered with the Department of Community and Regional Planning (MArch/MCRP) and the College of Business (MArch/MBA).
History
The Department of Architecture was established in 1914 as the Department of Structural Design in the College of Engineering. The name of the department was changed to the Department of Architectural Engineering in 1918. In 1945, the name was changed to the Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering. In 1967, the name was changed to the Department of Architecture and formed part of the Design Center. In 1978, the department became part of the College of Design.
Dates of Existence
1914–present
Historical Names
- Department of Structural Design (1914–1918)
- Department of Architectural Engineering (1918–1945)
- Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering (1945–1967)
Related Units
- College of Design (parent college)
- College of Engineering(previous college, 1914–1978)
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Abstract
Almost twenty years after the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia, more than 30% of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic still live in structural panel buildings—the anonymous concrete apartment blocks that occupy the edges of teh country's towns and cities. In these fully prefabricated buildings, constructed by the thousands from the mid-1950s until the end of the 1980s, every wall, floor, and ceiling panel is structural. Massive stair towers provide additional stability in the absence of structural skeletons. The first post-Communist president, Vaclav Havel, famously referred to them as 'rabbit warrens' since the interiors are a series of boxy rooms, always the same size, and packed full of people.