DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

ABOUT DEPARTMENT
MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE:
Department of Architecture’s mission is ‘Understanding of Architecture as an iterative process for the production of spaces, and places that relate to individuals emotional and conscious existence in which a diverse range of human activities take place’.SADA has been recognised by PCATP by receiving its first two-year accreditation in 2014.

UNIQUE FEATURES:
The program’s focus is on developing cognitive, conceptual, technical and professional approach of students towards problem-solving. Architecture deals with inter-disciplinary knowledge and therefore the curriculum provides opportunity for students to not only have fundamental architectural knowledge but knowledge from practice, construction, structure and art.

Our curriculum integrates studio components for courses like Landscape architecture, interior design, urban design, parametricism, heritage and conservation. For fulfilment of above objective SADA faculty comprises of diverse group of individuals, ranging from academicians, practitioners, artists, designers and engineers.

ASSOCIATED CAREER:
Careers associated with architectural profession are of varying nature. Fresh graduates can apply in design offices both public and private. Students can also opt for specialising in Architectural design or its associative design fields. At present numerous students from our First Batch are pursuing or proceeding abroad to pursue post-graduate education in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, Heritage, Conservation etc. at International Universities of repute.

The B.Arch. Program at NUST-SADA endeavours to produce professionals with intuitive and practical understanding of the profession. To achieve this:

1. Courses are designed to demonstrate and promote analytic and critical thinking abilities.

2. Through workshops, lectures and regular visits from current architectural practitioners, student skills are developed in line with current practice.

3. Compulsory internships with architectural offices.

4. Co-curricular activities to promote team dynamics. Each semester comprises of courses that facilitates incremental learning.

Year One is the foundation building phase where students are encouraged to develop freehand and technical drawing skills; also cognitive learning is carried out within the initial two semesters of the program through basic design studio courses.

Year Two facilitates student learning in terms of conceptual and contextual analytical tools for architectural design. The goal is further strengthen through understanding of passive building systems, architectural history, understanding of materials and construction.

Year Three endeavours to bring in macro contextual relevance within architectural design and incorporating larger target audience. Design resolution at this stage includes construction techniques, environmental systems and structural resolution.

Year Four is the pen-ultimate year and students are expected to understand urban context. Expected outcome of this year is understanding of holistic design process defined as ability to integrate intra and inter-disciplinary subjects and to consider the importance of the various components to create efficient and functional structures. To develop a critical eye for detail through knowledge acquired by cross disciplinary interaction.

Year Five is not a learning year, it focuses upon the outcome of previous four years and students are encouraged to select a project of their choice, understand the underlying theoretical and practical concerns and produce a suitable design solution.

Head of Department Message

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT MESSAGE

Contextual design, critical thinking, and creative exploration are often seen as buzzwords in architectural education, but they are, in fact, the core priorities of SADA's architecture department. Our goal is to cultivate architects who showcase exceptional design innovation while being sensitive to the three primary forces shaping the built environment: culture, heritage, and sustainability. I believe effective leadership in academia is rooted in collaboration, teamwork, and mentorship. As Albert Einstein stated, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” I strive to promote this spirit within our department. Through our dynamic studio culture and community involvement, we aim to prepare our graduates to be reflective practitioners and well-rounded architects capable of addressing the challenges and needs posed by and for our built environment: climate change, urbanization, and the evolving needs of our time. SADA stands for creativity and social responsibility. As we envision our future, we aim to build upon our strong foundation of design excellence, a value that defines our identity, alongside our commitment to research and sustainability. We aim to foster a culture of collaboration among faculty and students at multiple levels, coordinating innovation with tradition and aligning academia with practice. The architecture department at SADA will continue to be a center for impactful education and research. Our team is committed to academic excellence and shaping the future of architecture for our students and society, guided by integrity and mentorship.

VISION & MISSION

SADA aims to produce the finest architects and designers. Being a new school, we have the opportunity of starting out with a fresh approach towards design education. To achieve this goal, we plan to provide students with a sound and extensive base of knowledge from their first semester by introducing the Basics of Design. We believe in learning by doing. We are one of the very few Pakistani schools with a studio culture for the first-year foundation course.

Our studios aim at creating an expressive and participatory environment through slide talks, seminars, guest lectures, practical assignments, film screenings and workshops. A diverse mixture of first year assignments attune students to work with a variety of materials and skills whereas the studio projects help students discover their individual voice and personal expression through freedom and creative learning.

An architect is responsible for designing buildings, making working plans and then often supervising construction. The field is more related to arts, however, during the process of designing, architects are in coordination with engineers of various disciplines.

In totality, the five years provide a progressive, incremental sequence of design study and application. An emphasis on 3D visualisation within the first year becomes the most advantageous link of the Basics of Design to Architectural Design; the second year design studio, where an introduction to conceptualising and designing a project is taught. It focuses on familiarising students to the basics of architecture design, after they have been put through a rigorous course in the first and second semesters, which is primarily concerned with form making, elements of form making and design.

The students in the second year studio learn to deal with human space, programme, scale, and the site itself.

The third year while building on the learning outcomes of the second year explores contextual issues relating to the street, and urban space. Architecture as discipline in itself will also form part of the studio.

The fourth year deals with large-scale work such as high-rise and long-span structures along with housing and social projects. In the final year, the students are encouraged to display their interests and vision through independent research and a final design thesis