Program Overview
The Architecture Department at
Dar Al-Hekma University was founded in 2011. With the Fashion Department, it joined the Visual Communications and the Interior Design departments in the Hekma School of Design and Architecture. Its Bachelor of Architecture program was developed in collaboration with the University of Colorado, Denver. It, consequently, had an impactful entrance in the architectural education scene in Jeddah, where it has been widely recognized. In 2018, the department launched its
Master of Architecture Program. In 2021-2022, the department engaged in its five-year review of its programs which led to a switch to certain specializations in the Master of Architecture; namely, bioclimatic architecture and ecological buildings. In the last decade, the department graduated 323 student. In the last decade, the department graduated 323 students. Besides, the university's
undergraduate scholarships program hopes to make studying architecture more accessible for those with limited financial resources so that all students can have the opportunity to develop their skills in this important field.
Program Mission
The Architecture Department aims at “Graduating creative professionals equipped with the necessary design, research and leadership skills in order to contribute to the catering and production of more sustainable built environments.”
Program Goals
- Provide a rigorous intellectual atmosphere, which fosters inquiry through illustrating advanced design abilities and the competencies needed in the field of architecture.
- Maintain and raise the quality of teaching in the program through building on quality assurance assessments and accrediting the program by an international accrediting body specialized in architecture programs.
- Develop a solid students' support system that would raise their performance and achievements.
- Ensure that faculty and students are involved in quality scientific research activities related to the different domains covered in the program.
- Support faculty's professional development in both fields of architecture and educational techniques.
- Develop partnerships with local and international academic, public, private, and associative institutions to encourage exchanges and joint projects and support the transition to the workplace.
Why Choose the Bachelor of Architecture Program at Dar Al-Hekma University?
- The program leads to a career in which every project is a journey of discovery and an intellectual challenge. Architecture is the right fit for curious, open-minded and creative persons who are passionate about finding solutions for a better way for humanity to inhabit this world.
- Students go through professional training which qualifies them to the title of architect and make them eligible to join the Saudi Council of Engineers.
- The program has a solid curriculum aligned with international standards, with a strong emphasis on architectural design studio culture.
- An internationally diverse faculty, graduating from top universities in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East teach at the program which provides students with an exposure to a rich variety of architectural cultures.
- The program has an engaging extracurricular educational and social environment that provides support to students and widens their horizons through participating in student clubs, international trips, talks and conferences, complementary workshops and vertical studios.
Admission Requirements
Programs
| TOEFL Score
| Required Certificate Percentage
| Qudurat Test Score
| Othe Admission Requirement
|
|---|
Bachelor of Architecture
| 500
| 85%
| 65%
| Pass Math Test
( for litrerary track only)
|
For further details about admissions, click here
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge
- Discuss main and emergent theories and concepts related to the architectural field, its history, and its diverse design approaches.
- Recognize a broad range of traditional, modern, and advanced building science’s technologies, systems, processes and materials, and their impact on architectural design and historic and present social, economic, and environmental conditions.
- Identify the challenges and opportunities of increased globalization, climate change, and digital revolution in architectural and urban theory and practice.
Skills
- In line with contemporary architectural theory’s advances and recognized good methodological practices, collect, categorize, examine, compare, and critique relevant historic, social, economic, environmental, and spatial data to make sense of contexts and address architectural design problems.
- Design human-centered, climate-sensitive, sustainable, and resilient architectural solutions to contemporary complex urban, social, cultural, and environmental challenges.
- Effectively implement appropriate building science technical solutions to enhance the sustainability of architectural buildings and urban contexts.
- Use diverse textual, audiovisual, drafting, and digital mediums, develop and implement communication strategies that would clearly, and comprehensively in a professional way, present proposed architectural solutions and engage stakeholders and communities.
- Apply the main conceptual and methodological approaches used for research within the architectural field in order to provide a comprehensive analysis on social, environmental, and contextual features and to inform design thinking.
Values
- Demonstrate integrity, commitment to socially and environmentally responsible ethics, and recognized best ethical professional practices in the field of architecture.
- Demonstrate a capacity to work autonomously or within a collaborative or interdisciplinary environment to critically evaluate evidence, arguments and assumptions and reach sound judgement.
- Engage, as a responsible architect, in civic activities that are life-enriching and socially beneficial to the Community.
Plan of study
|
Year One (1) |
|---|
|
Semester – Fall |
Semester – Spring |
|---|
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
COMM 1301
| Communication
Skills I | 3 | COMM 1302 | Communication
Skills II | 3 |
ARTS XXXX
| Art & Design Elective
| 2
| EMOI 1201 | Emotional
Intelligence | 2 |
PHYS 1301
| Introductory Physics
| 3
| BBBF 1101
| Basic Body and Brain Fitness
| 1
|
| MATH 1302 | Math for Architects
| 3 | BARC 1351
| Technical Drawing
| 3 |
BARC 1500
| Architectural Design I - Fundamentals
| 5
| BARC 1321
| History and Theory of Architecture I | 3 |
| BARC 1501
| Architectural Design Studio 2 - Spaces | 5
|
|
Total Credit Hours |
16 |
Total Credit Hours |
17 |
|
Year Two (2) |
|---|
|
Semester – Fall |
Semester – Spring |
|---|
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
ARAB XXXX
| Arabic Studies
| 3
| ISLS XXXX
| Islamic Studies | 3 |
BARC 2322
| History and Theory of Architecture II
| 3 | XXXX XXXX
| General Education Elective
| 3 |
BARC 2341
| Materials and Methods of Building Construction I
| 3 | BARC 2342
| Materials and Methods of Building Construction II
| 3 |
BARC 2352
| Computer Aided Design I (Architectural Drafting)
| 3 | BARC 2343
| Environmental Design I (Lighting, Acoustics, Ventilation)
| 3 |
BARC 2502
| Architectural Design Studio 3 : Styles
| 5
| BARC 2503
| Architectural Design Studio 4 : Environmental
| 5 |
|
Total Credit Hours |
17 |
Total Credit Hours |
17 |
|
Year Three (3) |
|---|
|
Semester – Fall |
Semester – Spring |
Semester – Summer |
|---|
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit
Hours |
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit
Hours |
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit
Hours |
| ARAB xxxx | Arabic Studies | 3 | ICTC 1301
| Information & Communication Technology Concept
| 3
| BARC 3332
| Summer Internship 1
|
| BARC 3324 | Theories of Contemporary Architecture
| 3 | BARC 3325
| Theory and Practice of Urban Form
| 3 |
BARC 3345
| Structural Analysis | 3 | BARC 3326
| Conservation of Historic Buildings
| 3 |
BARC 3353
| Computer Aided Design II (Modelling and Rendering)
| 3 | BARC 3331
| Professional Practice and Ethics
| 2
|
BARC 3504
| Studio III: Contextua
Architectural Design Studio 5 : Cultural
| 5 | BARC 3505
| Architectural Design Studio 6 : Urban Design
| 5 |
|
Total Credit Hours |
17 |
Total Credit Hours |
16 |
Total Credit Hours |
3 |
|
Year Four (4) |
|---|
|
Semester – Fall |
Semester – Spring |
|---|
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
ITAI1201
| Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
| 2
| ARCE XXXX
| Arch Program Elective 2
| 3 |
BARC XXXX
| Arch Program Elective 1
| 3 | BARC 4333
| Construction Management
| 3 |
BARC 4346
| Structures for Architects II
| 3 | BARC 4354
| Computer Aided Design III (Advance Computational Modelling)
| 3 |
BARC 4344
| Environmental Design II (MEP, Safety)
| 3
| BARC 4507
| Architectural Design Studio 8 : Theoretical Theme
| 5 |
BARC 4506
| Architectural Design Studio 7: Technical
|
| 3 |
|
Total Credit Hours |
16 |
Total Credit Hours |
14 |
Summer - Semester
|
|---|
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
BARC4334
| Summer Internship 2
| 3
|
|
Year Five(5) |
|---|
|
Semester – Fall |
Semester – Spring |
|---|
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit
Hours |
Course Code |
Course Title |
Credit
Hours |
| ISLS xxxx | Islamic Studies | 3
| ISLS XXXX
| Islamic Studies
| 2
|
ENTR 3301
| Entrepreneurship & Design Thinking
| 3
| XXXX XXXX
| General Education Elective
| 2 |
BARC XXXX
| Arch Program Elective 3
| 3
| BARC 5509
| Architectural Design Studio 10 : Graduation Project 2
| 5 |
BARC 5508
| Architectural Design Studio 9 : Graduation Project 1
| 5
|
|
Total Credit Hours |
14 |
Total Credit Hours |
10 |
Career Prospects
The program equips students with the necessary skills that qualify them for a variety of career paths/jobs in the market including, but not limited to:
- Join the Saudi Council of Engineers, enter the job market and work either as an employee in public institutions and private companies, or as an independent consultant and entrepreneur, in the capacity of a professional architectural designer, a real-estate developer, a project manager, an auditor, but possibly also as an interior or graphic designer, an event organizer, a photographer, an artist, and a journalist specialized in the architectural field.
- Seek a specialized professional master's degree and work in one of the sub-fields of sustainable buildings science, urban planning, urban design, landscape architecture, construction management, real-estate development and management, conservation of heritage buildings, industrial design, scenography, digital fabrication, lighting design, and acoustical design.
- Seek a research-oriented master's degree in the fields of theory and history of architecture, and urban studies in order to become a researcher and possibly later on continue doctoral studies and work as university professor.
