Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (BAA)

The Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (BAA) at the University of New Mexico places design studios at the center of the learning experience, where students progressively develop architectural design, visualization, communication, and making skills. Students can combine studio-based projects with digital fabrication, physical model-making, collaborative work, community-oriented projects, and research through the School of Architecture + Planning’s specialized facilities. The school’s Fab Lab provides hands-on training in digital and analog fabrication, while its computing resources and design software support the digital side of architectural production.

Students gain practical experience through the program’s studios, collaborative opportunities, fabrication resources, and specialized architecture facilities:

• Design Studios: The BAA design-studio sequence is the core of the program, bringing design processes together through increasingly advanced exercises. ARCH 402 Design Studio VI, for example, explores collaborative design and contemporary architectural topics, with some sections involving community clients and collaboration with Landscape Architecture and Community and Regional Planning studios.
• Collaborative Projects: Students work both independently and collaboratively. UNM specifically highlights BAA student experiences involving group projects in which students contribute different skills such as graphic design, building, and concept development.
• Digital Fabrication: The SA+P Fab Lab is a 3,600-square-foot facility supporting student design development, experimentation, and research, with computer workstations equipped with current design software and 3D-modeling programs.
• CNC & Laser Fabrication: Students have access to a 3-axis CNC router, CNC plasma cutter, and three CO₂ laser cutters, providing opportunities to translate digital designs into physical models and fabricated components.
• Wood, Metal & Welding: The Fab Lab includes a woodshop, metal shop, and welding studio, with equipment such as table saws, bandsaws, drill presses, TIG and MIG welders, plasma equipment, and other fabrication tools.
• Fabrication Software & Training: The Fab Lab provides training for CNC RhinoCAM + Router, CNC plasma, laser, woodshop, and welding/metal-shop work, allowing students to build practical skills alongside their design development.
• Research & Technology: The Center for Research in Advanced Fabrication and Technology (CRA+FT) connects students and faculty with research, community outreach, interdisciplinary collaboration, fabrication, and emerging technologies.
• Community Engagement: The School of Architecture + Planning supports community-oriented design activities, and the BAA curriculum includes studio opportunities that can engage community clients and work across architecture, landscape architecture, and community and regional planning.
• Architecture Library: The Fine Arts and Design Library in Pearl Hall supports architecture and planning teaching and research and houses more than 200,000 items, including books, periodicals, exhibition catalogs, videos, and rare and unique fine-arts collections.
• Architecture Facilities: The Department of Architecture is housed in George Pearl Hall, which provides dedicated architecture and planning facilities together with digital fabrication and other making resources. 

The BAA can lead to roles such as architectural designer, fabrication professional, real estate development professional, and construction management professional, with UNM architecture alumni also working as licensed architects, artists, web designers, community leaders, and set designers. The Pre-Professional Architecture concentration is designed to prepare students for a two-year professionally accredited Master of Architecture, while the Design Studies concentration supports careers or graduate study in areas such as digital media, fabrication, landscape architecture, interior design, real estate development, industrial design, animation, urban design, and construction management.

Career support and professional experience: UNM provides several dedicated pathways to help students turn their architecture education into professional experience:

• Career Services: Students can receive individual assistance with career exploration, career assessments, resumes and cover letters, interview preparation, internship searches, job searches, and graduate-school planning.
• Handshake: UNM's career portal provides access to hundreds of internship, co-op, and post-graduation opportunities, employer information sessions, on-campus recruiting, career events, and employer contacts.
• Architecture internships: The School of Architecture + Planning offers student assistantships and internships during the academic year and summer, giving architecture students opportunities to gain experience alongside their studies.
• Cooperative education: UNM's Co-op Program integrates classroom learning with paid, degree-related work experience, allowing eligible undergraduate students to build practical experience and strengthen their resumes.
• Career fairs: UNM reports that hundreds of employers participate in its career fairs each year, providing opportunities to meet regional and national employers, explore industries, and learn about internships and job openings.

Employment and salary information: UNM Career Services' architecture career information sheet, using CareerOneStop data, lists an annual architect salary range of $47,250–$112,850 in New Mexico, with a $76,010 median, compared with a U.S. range of $49,950–$136,310 and an $82,320 median. These figures are occupational salary data rather than BAA-specific graduate salaries, and the university's published architecture career sheet is not a current BAA graduate outcomes survey.

University–industry connections: UNM Career Services' Employer Relations team connects employers with students through Handshake, career fairs, on-campus recruiting, and employer events, while the School of Architecture + Planning provides architecture-specific internship and assistantship opportunities. UNM also states that its employer-relations activities include outreach to employers and participation in economic and community organizations.

Long-term accreditation value: The BAA itself is not a professional NAAB-accredited architecture degree; UNM describes it as a pre-professional degree. This distinction is important for students intending to become licensed architects: the Pre-Professional Architecture concentration prepares students for a two-year professionally accredited Master of Architecture, which provides the professional-degree pathway rather than treating the BAA itself as the terminal accredited architecture qualification.

Graduation outcomes: UNM's official BAA materials report alumni careers including licensed architecture, real estate development, fabrication, construction management, community leadership, art, web design, and set design. The Design Studies concentration is intentionally broad, while the Pre-Professional Architecture and Landscape Architecture concentrations provide more direct preparation for subsequent professional graduate study.

Further Academic Progression: After completing the BAA, students in the Pre-Professional Architecture concentration can progress into a two-year professionally accredited Master of Architecture (MArch); students following the Landscape Architecture concentration can prepare for advanced standing in a professionally accredited Master of Landscape Architecture, at UNM or elsewhere. The Design Studies concentration can also provide preparation for graduate study in related disciplines such as digital media, landscape architecture, interior design, real estate development, industrial design, urban design, and other built-environment fields.