The Department of Architecture at Izmir University of Economics is uniquely located within a faculty of art and design where both faculty and students actively interact and collaborate in a lively atmosphere of inter-disciplinary design culture. Cross-departmental courses, inter-disciplinary research activities, design exhibitions, conferences and other design events contribute to this end.
The department places curricular emphasis on the design studio, where the focus is on improving the required skills for the design of the built environment. This is supported by a range of supplementary courses from architectural technology and computing to the history and theory of art, design and architecture. In addition, students are recommended to choose an area of specialization (Building Science and Technology; Architectural History, Theory and Criticism; and Practical Applications and Digital Techniques) that is fulfilled by satisfactorily completing a series of elective courses given in that area, preparing them for future studies on the topic.
In their final year of study, architecture students carry out a comprehensive graduation project working in connection with the architecture industry and under the supervision of academic staff members, allowing them the opportunity to display their understanding of a particular issue of architectural design and to present original ideas through research in their chosen area. This graduation project consists of a thesis based on academic research (fall semester) and a detailed and documented design proposal (spring semester).
Special workshops with visiting practitioners and field trips to architectural sites of interest, are other activities that are built into the curriculum to ensure that learning happens both on- and off-campus.
The department is also keen to maintain active ties with notable regional, national and international architectural practitioners who are responsible for creating the built forms of our surroundings. EKOTAM, (İzmir Ekonomi Üniversitesi Tasarım Araştırma Merkezi) Izmir University of Economics Design Research Center, is a special research collaborative program between related design industries and the academic staff of IEU Faculty of Art and Design that aims to provide such a link. The Department of Architecture fully participates in and supports EKOTAM in all of its endeavors.
Finally, the department aims to endow its students with a sense of ethical consciousness, not only an environmental consciousness that is aware of the effect of natural forces, particularly earthquakes, on man-made structures, but also a social and cultural consciousness that is concerned with the problems of society today and attempts to address them through the design of the built environment.