School of Architecture completes move to UTSA Downtown Campus
(Aug. 8, 2003)--The University of Texas at San Antonio School of Architecture completes its move from the 1604 Campus to the Downtown Campus on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The school is the second UTSA academic unit to locate completely downtown, joining the College of Public Policy.
Pictured are students working in the School of Architecture's Urban Loop Studio Building adjacent to the UTSA Downtown Campus.
"It's a long-anticipated step in the school’s growth and evolution,” said Julius M. Gribou, School of Architecture dean. "It will facilitate an even closer relationship with the local professionals and provide greater opportunities for working with city agencies and various neighborhoods.
"When I came here in fall 2000, the school just broke the 400-student barrier," he added. "It appears that we will reach a student population above 600 this coming academic year, indicating 50-percent growth in 3 years."
According to Gribou, the move to the Downtown Campus responds to the school's
mission of equipping students to be effective practitioners by using an urban
laboratory to facilitate a theoretical and practical study of San Antonio's
historic setting in intersection with contemporary theory.
Additionally, the three architecture degree programs (bachelor of science
in architecture or interior design, and master of architecture) take advantage
of the unique culture in South Texas and the borderlands of the southwestern
U.S. and northern Mexico.
The school now is housed in the Business Technology Center (BTC), 301 South Frio Street; the Urban Loop Studio Building (ULS), 605 Urban Loop; and in all three Downtown Campus buildings. BTC houses first- and second-year studios, administrative and faculty offices, and support spaces. The BTC, a business building in which UTSA is leasing space, is located directly across from the Frio Street Building.
ULS is located near the campus, accessible from the UTSA parking lot under I-35. The building, which has been leased by UTSA, houses third- and fourth-year studios, faculty offices and support spaces.
The Durango Building houses third- and fourth-year interior design studios, thesis space, classrooms and archives. The Frio Street Building includes graduate studios, an interior design materials lab and classrooms. The Buena Vista Street Building has architecture faculty offices and classrooms.
The UTSA School of Architecture began as a program in 1979 offering a four-year, preprofessional bachelor of fine arts degree in art and design with a concentration in architecture. The B.F.A. became a bachelor of science in architecture degree in 1993, and the master of architecture degree program began in January 1996.
For more information, contact Julius Gribou or Janice Kelsey-Ferguson in the school's new administrative office, Business Technology Center Room 1.122, at 210-458-3010.
---------------------
---------------------
© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2003