Cornell
AAP
Department of Architecture

Departments

Search
Interior of a concrete dome building with architectural models and drawings lining the walls.

Architecture

Department of Architecture

About the Department

Architecture at Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning is about creative and critical design practices that make lasting impact. Balancing rigorous research and scholarship, responsibility for our natural and built environments, we reimagine the world at every scale to build a just and sustainable future for all.

At Cornell Architecture we see design as a process of creative experimentation and iterative analysis, ensuring non-judgmental, holistic, and open-ended inquiry enabled by independent, critical thinking and bold thought leadership. Our undergraduate and graduate programs are designed to support interdisciplinary collaboration and provide an integrated foundation in global history, theory, structures, environmental systems, building technologies, and visual representation, ensuring that our students are equipped with actionable knowledge and the agency to enact change.

Interior of a concrete dome building with architectural models and drawings lining the walls.

Above: An architecture exhibition in Milstein Hall.

Degree Programs

Studios and Spaces

  • Student examining models and pinned up work.
  • Student examining a structural model.
  • Students presenting pinned up work
  • Student pinning up work in a gallery.
  • Students laying on fuzzy chartreuse pads inside a large translucent plastic enclosure.
  • Students sitting at a table covered with building models.

Upcoming and Ongoing Events

View All

Latest News and Research

Latest News and Research

Project Tompkins County, City of Ithaca Secure Market Building Funding for Clean Energy Projects

A partnership that includes Architecture Associate Professor Timur Dogan’s Environmental Systems Lab secured $250K in funding aimed at accelerating local deployment of clean, safe, reliable energy projects.

Announcements Interactive Entertainment Architecture: Culture Lab, Toronto 1991–1994

Curated by Architecture Assistant Professor Farzin Lotfi-Jam, this exhibition presents previously unseen video recordings through an accelerated, 36-channel display that fragments and recomposes the radical symposium’s architecture.

Announcements Three Major Los Angeles Art Institutions Celebrate Paul R. Williams

Architecture Professor Milton S. F. Curry, former Dean of USC School of Architecture, led the acquisition of the Williams archive, procured funding, and cocurated the exhibition at USC Fisher Museum of Art, open until March 2027. AAP architecture alums Cory Henry (M.Arch. ’12) and Amanda Williams (B.Arch. ’97) will contribute to related programming.

Paper Voxel Shader – An Efficient Shadow Calculation Approach For Urban Building Energy Modeling

Architecture and Design Tech Associate Professor Timur Dogan and Amber Su (B.Arch. ’25) introduce a voxel-based ray-tracing method that efficiently computes sunlit fractions for urban surfaces using point cloud or mesh data without the requirement for manual geometry simplification.

Stories

A person presents an architectural model on a table while other people watch them.

Cornell AAP to Launch First New York City-based High School Summer Program

Cornell AAP recently announced an opportunity for rising high school juniors and seniors to join City Visionaries, the newest addition to the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center’s (AAP NYC) immersive slate of New York City-based programs.

Stories Announcing: Cornell Journal of Architecture Issue 13, “Missing”

Student presenting pinned up work.

Concluding a thematic set spanning three issues and marking the 45th anniversary of its inaugural volume, this student-led publication continues to capture current thinking in the field and reinforce the importance of writing and editing in an architectural education. A launch event is scheduled for April 10, and additional details will be announced soon.

Stories Enter the Dragon: Milestone Dragon Day to Take Viewers Inside

Celebrating a tradition born 125 years ago, first-year architecture students will parade a dragon they’ve designed through campus on March 27, then invite community members to tour its interior, reports the Cornell Chronicle.

Stories What Building a Dragon Taught Me About Collaboration

Laura Weiss (B.Arch. ’86) contributed this essay to Cornellians reflecting on her class’s contribution to the annual campus event and the lessons it provided.

Stories Oi! Oi! Oi! Dragon Day Marks 125 Years of Beautiful Beasts

dragon float

In advance of this year’s celebration, Cornellians takes a look back at the annual parade that shows off a dragon designed and built by first-year architecture students.

a view through a glass window with a building on the other side

Apply

Careers

We invite you to submit your application to join our faculty, staff, and students who come together from around the globe to advance research, scholarship, and critical and creative practices to build a more sustainable, just, and resilient world.

View All