Bachelor of Science in Architecture

The BS in Architecture at the University of Illinois Chicago is built around continuous studio work, where students develop architectural skills through drawing, physical model-making, digital production, and design projects at both architectural and urban scales. Students have access to dedicated studios, a staffed Project Lab, Fabrication Lab, and Print Lab, giving them opportunities to move from digital concepts to physical prototypes and finished presentation materials. The program’s eight studio courses provide a structured progression of design skills, while the school’s collaborative facilities support hands-on experimentation and project development.

• Design Studios: BSArch students complete eight studio courses, one each semester, with studio exercises developing skills in analog drawing, physical models, digital software, critical observation, and architectural and urban-scale design.
• Digital Production: Students use digital modeling and production tools as part of their studio work, including advanced digital modeling in upper-level coursework. UIC also requires an architectural-software-capable laptop for architecture students.
• Fabrication Lab: The Fab Lab provides BSArch students in their third and fourth years with access, after training, to laser cutters, 3D printers, and a CNC milling machine, supporting rapid prototyping and physical realization of digital designs.
• Project Lab: The staffed Project Lab provides access to woodworking and metalworking equipment, including planers, jointers, lathes, sanders, saws, a MIG welder, metal lathe, metal roller, and hand-bending tools.
• Digital Fabrication: The Fab Lab includes three universal laser cutters, a Trotec engraving machine, a three-axis CNC router, and several 3D printers, along with additional equipment such as a vacuum former and sandblaster.
• Print Lab: The dedicated Print Lab provides architecture students with large-format plotters and color copiers, with software drivers allowing students to send print jobs from their laptops through the school network; tutorials and lab assistants provide technical support.
• Physical Model Making: Studio coursework specifically incorporates physical models, allowing students to investigate architectural concepts such as form, space, proportion, scale, module, and materiality through hands-on work.
• Collaborative Studios: Undergraduate studios are organized as open spaces designed to encourage discussion and collaboration, with each student assigned a workspace for studio courses and project development.
• Library & Digital Resources: Students can use UIC’s Richard J. Daley Library, including the IDEA Commons and Digital Scholarship Hub, which provides GIS data visualization, 3D printing, scanning, prototyping technologies, laser cutting, and computers equipped for data and text mining.
• Hands-on Workshops: The Project Lab provides orientation and special-topic workshops each semester, helping students develop practical skills with the school’s fabrication equipment and materials.
• Design & Technology Projects: Upper-level architecture seminars incorporate physical models and advanced digital modeling, with projects exploring architectural technologies and principles of module and materiality. 

The Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the University of Illinois Chicago is a four-year pre-professional degree designed with substantial studio experience, preparing graduates for design-focused roles in architecture and related fields. UIC reports that BS Architecture graduates have been hired by firms including Gensler, Perkins & Will, SOM, Studio Gang, CannonDesign, FGM, and others, while internships and the school’s professional-development activities provide opportunities to build industry experience before graduation.

Typical career roles: Architectural Designer, Architectural Intern, Design Assistant, Architectural Project Assistant.

Career & employment opportunities:

• Architecture Career Fair: UIC’s School of Architecture holds an annual Career Fair where undergraduate and graduate students meet architecture firms from Chicago and beyond; the 2026 event included opportunities for firms to recruit UIC’s architecture students.
• Internships: Internships are not mandatory, but UIC states that many opportunities are available through the School of Architecture and the wider Chicagoland architecture community.
• Fourth-year co-op: UIC’s undergraduate architecture materials describe a grant-funded co-op providing BS Architecture students with paid, part-time internships at local firms during their fourth year.
• Career Services: UIC Career Services provides Handshake-based job and internship opportunities, career advising, resume support, mock interviews, networking guidance, and career fairs.
• Industry connections: UIC’s architecture career events connect students with professional firms, while documented graduate employment includes firms such as Gensler, HOK, SOM, Perkins & Will, Studio Gang, CannonDesign, AECOM, HDR, BIG, OMA, and SHoP.
• Employment outcomes: UIC specifically states that BS Architecture graduates have found employment in architecture firms and can take on responsibilities for design projects; graduates have worked in Chicago, nationally, and internationally.
• Salary information: UIC's published First Destination Survey for the Architecture, Design, and the Arts college reported a $40,000–$49,999 median salary range for responding 2015 graduates. UIC does not publish a current BS Architecture-specific salary figure on the program page, so this historical figure should not be treated as a current salary estimate.
• Professional accreditation pathway: The BS Architecture is a pre-professional, non-accredited undergraduate degree. Qualified graduates may apply for advanced standing in UIC’s NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture program or pursue professional graduate architecture study elsewhere.
• Long-term professional value: UIC’s NAAB-accredited MArch provides the professional degree pathway; UIC notes that most U.S. registration boards require an accredited professional architecture degree as a prerequisite for licensure.

Further Academic Progression: After completing the BS in Architecture, students can apply for advanced standing in UIC’s Master of Architecture (MArch), which is NAAB-accredited, or apply to professional MArch programs at other accredited architecture schools. The undergraduate degree can therefore serve as the pre-professional foundation for advanced architectural study and the subsequent professional education required for an architecture licensure pathway.