SCI-Arc’s New BS in Design Program: A Venue for Interdisciplinary Innovation

SCI-Arc’s new Bachelor of Science in Design program is a groundbreaking foray into architectural education that leverages the capacity for design, technology, and critical thinking to shape a world that is ever shifting into interdisciplinary fields of practice.

With an exciting and boundary pushing foundation sequence followed by curriculum organized into three tracks—Data Environments, Film + Narrative, and Games + Interaction—students will have the opportunity to expand their interests into fully fledged careers at the forefront of technology, contemporary design, sustainability, and social consciousness. (Applications for SCI-Arc’s BS in Design will remain open until March 15.)

Design faculty in the three curricular tracks, Damjan Jovanovic, Kordae Henry, Jennifer Chen, and Masha Hupalo, alongside Undergraduate Programs Chairs Kristy Balliet and Marcelyn Gow, have developed a course structure that prepares students to deploy a wide array of digital design skills with keen cultural, visual, and technological sensibilities that are in demand across many growing industries, such as film, gaming, and data-based urban environments and design.

Film + Narrative faculty Chen explains that “from the space of a pixel to the entire planet, there are stories to tell and ideas to explore—it is not just exhilarating but timely that students will be exposed to the possibilities of the design discipline, and with that, the skillset and the mindset adaptable to career paths that are not static but ever growing and morphing.”

“Environment is more than an aggregate of spatial data points, and I am looking forward to working on representations of spatial patterns that don’t overshadow the knowledge they produce,” adds Hupalo of the Data Environments track that she’ll be leading. “Media-based cartographies, algorithmic visualizations, commitment to field work, and a wide understanding of existing urban planning and governance systems will support students in offering tangible models of possible ways of living together.”

BS Design is facilitated for students to benefit from a careful alignment between the subjects covered in SCI-Arc's liberal arts-based core curriculum and the design courses. Graduates of the program will navigate different ecosystems of emerging technologies and be well positioned for employment across multiple industries, entrepreneurial ventures, and academic pathways.

To learn more about Bachelor of Science in Design please visit the SCI-Arc website.