Belmont University
Department of Architecture
We form diverse leaders of character for whom architecture is a vehicle for the common good. Grounded in a Christ-centered identity, students collaborate with industry and cross-disciplinary partners to develop creativity, empathy, and technical skill in preparation for professional practice. Through the integration of context, including community, site, building, and systems, students create meaningful, human-centered designs that steward creation and inspire hope.
Setting
Belmont’s Architecture program is situated within a distinctive environment that brings together a beautiful university campus, the energy of Nashville, and a close-knit academic community. Students study architecture in a setting where the built environment itself becomes part of their education. Belmont’s campus combines historic architecture, contemporary buildings, landscaped spaces, and an evolving urban context, providing students with opportunities to observe how buildings, public spaces, landscape, history, and community come together to create a sense of place.
The experience extends well beyond campus. Nashville becomes a living laboratory for architectural education. The city offers students a dynamic environment in which to study growth, urban development, historic preservation, adaptive reuse, housing, healthcare, sustainability, and the relationship between established neighborhoods and new development. With more than 60 architecture firms in the Nashville area, students are surrounded by an active professional community and have opportunities to connect their education with architects, designers, builders, organizations, and projects throughout the region.
Just as important is the community students find at Belmont. Architecture education is demanding and highly collaborative, and students become part of a supportive studio culture where they work alongside classmates, faculty, professionals, and students from other disciplines. Small cohorts encourage meaningful relationships, mentorship, collaboration, and a strong sense of belonging. Students are known as individuals and are encouraged to develop their own interests, strengths, and voices as designers.
Together, Belmont, Nashville, and the Architecture community create an extraordinary setting for learning. Students experience the support and personal connections of a close academic community while studying in one of the country’s most dynamic cities. It is an environment where they can learn from buildings and places, engage with professionals and communities, test ideas through real-world experiences, and discover how architecture can meaningfully contribute to the places and people it serves.
School Philosophy
At Belmont, we believe architectural education should prepare students not only to design buildings, but to understand the people, places, and communities their work will serve. Our approach is purpose-driven, human-centered, collaborative, and grounded in the realities of professional practice.
Design studio is at the heart of the educational experience. Students learn by making, testing ideas, receiving feedback, and working through increasingly complex design challenges. Throughout the curriculum, they integrate creativity with technical knowledge while considering architecture across multiple scales—from community and site to building, systems, materials, and human experience.
Learning also extends beyond the studio. Students engage with industry professionals, other disciplines, communities, and real-world challenges, developing the ability to listen, collaborate, think critically, and respond with empathy. Emerging technologies and new ways of designing are explored alongside the enduring responsibilities architects have toward people and the environment.
Grounded in Belmont’s Christ-centered identity, the program ultimately challenges students to consider a larger question: How can architecture contribute to the common good? We prepare students to become creative and technically capable professionals, but also leaders of character who approach architecture with purpose, steward creation responsibly, and use design to inspire hope.
Programs
Belmont’s Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) is a five-year professional program built around a progressive studio sequence in which students move from foundational design exploration to increasingly complex, integrated architectural projects.
The first year establishes a broad foundation in creative thinking, design methods, spatial exploration, representation, and the relationship between craft, profession, and vocation. Beginning in the second year, architecture studios become the center of the curriculum, supported by coursework in site design, architectural history, materials and methods, digital technologies, structures, environmental systems, regulations, and architectural theory.
As students advance, the studios intentionally broaden in scale and complexity. They experience collaborative design, urban design, comprehensive building design, and a culminating Signature Studio, learning to connect conceptual thinking with site, structure, environmental systems, materials, regulations, and human experience. Professional Practice and the Senior Capstone further prepare students to understand the responsibilities and opportunities of entering the architecture profession.
Learning extends beyond traditional coursework. Students engage with industry professionals, cross-disciplinary partners, communities, and real-world design challenges, developing communication, collaboration, empathy, leadership, and professional judgment alongside their creative and technical abilities. Elective opportunities allow students to explore specialized interests, with offerings that may include topics such as preservation and adaptive reuse, high-performance buildings and certification systems, sacred space, and contemporary architectural change.
Throughout the five years, the goal is not simply to accumulate architectural knowledge, but to learn how to integrate it. Students progressively connect community, site, building, systems, technology, and human needs as they develop their own voice as designers. By the end of the program, graduates are prepared to enter professional practice with a strong design foundation, technical knowledge, collaborative experience, and an understanding of architecture as a profession with responsibilities to people, communities, and the common good.
of Focus
1. Digital Fabrication & Technology
2.Building Technologies
3. Community Design
4. History | Theory | Criticism
5. Cross-Cultural Contexts | Human Experiences 6. Industry Collaborations
7. Design/Build
8. Sustainability & High-Performance Built Environments
Opportunities
Co-Op / Work Placement
Cross-disciplinary experience
Summer Program
Study Abroad
Facilities
Large-format Printer
Laser Cutter
Woodshop
3D Printing
Fabrication Lab
Policies
Transfer Policies
The Architecture program welcomes transfer students and works individually with each student to determine the most appropriate path into the B.Arch curriculum. Because architecture courses, particularly design studios, build progressively upon one another, placement is based on a careful review of previous coursework, portfolio work, and alignment with Belmont’s learning outcomes.
General education coursework typically transfers more readily, while architecture-specific courses are reviewed individually to determine equivalency and appropriate placement within the professional curriculum. This process helps ensure that transfer students have the knowledge and skills needed to succeed as they advance through the program.
Depending on prior coursework and studio preparation, transfer students may need additional time to complete the B.Arch degree. Our goal is to recognize the work students have already completed while establishing a clear pathway that supports their continued growth and successful progression through Belmont’s Architecture program.
