Architecture at the University of Oregon has a long and rich history. It has been at the forefront of innovation in architectural education since its inception in 1914. It was the first school to adopt completely two basic elements of the "modern" movement in architectural education, an affiliation with the allied arts (painting, crafts and sculpture), rather than with engineering, and a non-competitive, individual approach to learning.

Ellis F. Lawrence became the first Dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Lawrence believed that architecture, the crafts and fine arts should be integrated into one school. The school originally adopted many tenets of the "Beaux Arts System," but structural alliance with the arts resulted in breaking away from the hierarchical, competitive and conservative European system. The final break was initiated when W. R. B. Willcox became the architecture curriculum head in 1922.

Willcox's theory of education included an underlying premise that architecture was, along with other arts, an expression of the values, aspirations and character of the society which produced it. It was vital that the architect have a broad understanding of the culture's history and values, and beyond that, that the architect be a positive influence in helping forge those values. This premise is still alive today at the UO.

The maverick intellectual image of the School was enhanced by Willcox's many articles on architectural education. Kindred spirits were attracted to Eugene. Bernard Maybeck was a frequent visitor and Frank Lloyd Wright came to spar with Willcox. Eric Mendelsohn taught successive summer studios, presenting studio lectures illustrated with flowing charcoal sketches.

In 1919, the UO architecture program was accepted as a member of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, an early form of accreditation. The UO was the first program ever admitted after only five years of existence; and it was one of only twelve special programs accepted that year out of the 40 schools that applied. Interior architecture coursegallery was introduced in 1921; in 1928, a Bachelor of Architecture in Interior Design degree was first offered.

The Programs Evolution

Lawrence and Willcox guided the program through the first three decades of life. The school's reputation for producing 'creative' designers grew; yet the Lawrence/Willcox tradition, with its modernist vision rooted in the Arts and Crafts Movement, was often at odds with the mainstream modernists and their bias toward a technological ideal.

After World War II, enrollment at the UO exploded. The number of architecture majors grew from 75 in 1925 to 410 in 1951. It would increase to over 800 in 1979, before pulling back to around 600 currently. The student population in the AAA school became too large for effective central administration by the Dean's office. Consequently, each curricular area of the school became a department. In 1964, the Department of Architecture, with programs in Architecture and Interior Architecture, was created.

There had been very little change in the curriculum through the first 50 years of the program. A set palette of courses was required for all students. The curriculum was broadly inclusive; sculpture, watercolor, painting, and figure drawing courses were required as part of an architecture curriculum centered around design studio. But the curriculum did not allow students much choice in directing their education.

As dramatic social change swept through society in the late 1960s and early 1970s, students began demanding more rights and more choice. The rigid curriculum of the past years was replaced by a more open set of program requirements allowing students almost unlimited freedom in selection of courses. In the 1980s a third curricular model appeared with a more balanced set of required and elective credits. That model, with slight modifications, continues in place today.

During the final three decades of the century, many new programs were initiated. Some of the highlights are listed below:

- Christopher Alexander's The Oregon Experiment, the published master planning strategy based on pattern language principles, became the official policy of campus planning on the U of O campus.

- Oregon faculty were instrumental in the creation of the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER). FIDER is now the recognized accrediting body in interior design/architecture. In 1976, Oregon's Interior Architecture program was the first West Coast program to be accredited.

- The Center for Housing Innovation was established in 1988 to address substantive research issues in the field of housing.

- The Energy Efficient Industrialized Housing Research Program was begun.

- Endowed faculty positions were initiated, including the Frederick Charles Baker Chair in Lighting and Architectural Design and the Pietro Belluschi Chair in Architectural Design.

- A wide range of advanced offerings in computer graphics and analytical procedures such as energy modeling were introduced.

One of the most significant developments in the history of the program occurred in the mid-1990s. The department instituted a Portland-based M.Arch Option II degree program in urban architecture. The first M.Arch class began the Portland Program in 1994-95. In Fall Term 1997, the Portland program moved into its new home in the university-owned Willamette Block Building in downtown Portland; the Portland M.Arch degree program received its NAAB accreditation the same year.

The Portland Program, an extension of the Eugene programs, is also open to advanced Eugene-based students who wish to broaden the context of their studies. This urban program has opened many possibilities for collaboration between the Eugene- and Portland-based students and faculty, as they are able to utilize Portland as a laboratory for the study of urban architecture. This involvement engenders valuable interaction between the academic and professional communities.

The department still sees its educational mission as rooted in Willcox's visionary realm of freedom and responsibility. The curriculum is design-centered. Comprehensiveness is aided by a subject area of substantial breadth and depth, while integration is aided by skills courses and practiced in studio. Faculty enjoy substantial freedom with respect to curricular innovation and research within areas of expertise and are expected to maintain a collective responsibility to integrative and comprehensive design.


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