The College of Architecture, Design and Construction
celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007. It began with the
establishment of a curriculum in architecture in 1907 in the Civil Engineering
Department. Auburn was the first university in the South to offer a degree in
architecture. The Department of Architecture was established in the School of
Engineering in 1912. In 1927, the School of Architecture and Applied Arts,
which included a curriculum in art, was formed. Auburn was one of the first
universities to grant autonomy to an architecture program originating in an
engineering school. A distinctive achievement of Auburn’s architecture program
was the graduation of several women as early as the 1920s and 1930s.
A new program in Industrial Design was established in the
Art Department in the 1930s. Landscape Architecture and Interior Design
programs that were created in the 1930s became part of the Architecture
Department, as did the newly formed program in Building Construction in 1942.
The school was renamed the School of Architecture and the Arts and retained
that basic form until 1986. In 1996 it became the College of Architecture,
Design and Construction (CADC), and in 1997, the Interior Design program
formally became the dual Interior Architecture/Architecture program. The
Graphic Design Program joined CADC and the Department of Industrial Design in
2007, and the department’s name officially changed to the Department of
Industrial + Graphic Design in 2009.
Today more than 1,200 students are enrolled in the CADC’s
highly regarded graduate and undergraduate programs.
Auburn University’s College or Architecture, Design and
Construction (CADC) programs rank among the nation’s best. In the annual DesignIntelligence magazine survey,
“America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools 2013,” the College of
Architecture, Design and Construction’s undergraduate Architecture and graduate
Landscape Architecture and both the undergraduate and graduate Industrial
Design programs are ranked in the top 15 degree programs in their fields nationally.
Auburn University’s Architecture program is ranked number
nine, rising from 14 in 2012. This marks the eighth consecutive year the
Architecture program has been ranked in the top 20 architecture programs
nationally. The program is also ranked number four in the South according to
the 2013 report.
In a survey of Architecture Deans, Auburn University is ranked
number three among the most admired undergraduate architecture programs for
“its community engagement and great design-build program.”
The Landscape Architecture graduate program is ranked
thirteenth among the top programs in the country. This marks the third time the
program has been ranked in the past nine years.
Rising from ninth in 2012 to sixth in 2013, the
undergraduate Industrial Design program in the College of Architecture, Design
and Construction continues to be a leader in the field. The Industrial Design
graduate program is ranked fourth and has been ranked in the top twelve
programs nationally six out of the last seven years.
Tin Man Lau, Alumni Professor of Industrial Design, has been
named one of DesignIntelligence’s 30
Most Admired Educators for 2013. This is the fourth time Lau has been named on
this list. He was also honored in 2007, 2008 and 2009. For the seventh consecutive
year a CADC faculty member has been named one of the most admired educators by DesignIntelligence.
Vini Nathan, dean of the College of Architecture, Design and
Construction, said, "I am delighted that our programs continue to receive
national recognition. It serves to support the high academic rigor and
professional relevance of the design programs in the CADC. The extremely strong
reputation of our programs is testimony to the convergence of bright students,
dedicated faculty and staff and supportive alumni, advisory board,
administration and industry partners."
Other CADC programs recognized by their respective
industries are the Graphic Design and Building Construction undergraduate
programs. The Graphic Design program in the CADC is one of only four public
graphic design programs listed by HOW
magazine, one of the premier and most respected graphic design publications in
the industry.
The McWhorter School of Building Science’s Building
Construction undergraduate program is one of the top Peer Six programs in the
country. Peer Six represents the leading Building Construction programs in the
country. AU’s building science program
is the second oldest construction program in the United States and is
universally considered one of the top six construction education programs in
the nation.
