Beyond the Sustainable Environment

Morgan’s Institute of Architecture and Planning (IAP)

For over 25-years the Institute of Architecture & Planning (IAP) has provided students the opportunity to experience the makings of the built and natural environment in the broader perspective of interdisciplinary learning.  The Institute’s three graduate programs (Architecture, Landscape Architecture, City & Regional Planning) prepares students to address the challenges associated with systems of the built environment and their integration with systems in the natural environment. Graduates have joined local firms in various modes of professional practice, while others have accepted positions in state and local government, community groups and organizations, or teaching.

The Institute introduces and promotes the sense of interconnectedness between a building, those who occupy the structure, forces of nature, and the social and political climate with which the structure will be associated. The intention of the Institute is to be a professionally-based academic unit that has a clear commitment to the fundamental qualities that bring together a balanced educational program in the exploration of the human and natural environment. 

The objective is to link domains of environmental (natural patterns and flows), economic (financial patterns and equity), and social (human, cultural, and spiritual) as related to the professional practices of planning, design and management. This leads to the realization of a sustainable urban environment that is beautiful, humane, socially appropriate, and restorative.

The Bachelor of Architecture & Environmental Design (BSAED) is also an important component of the IAP family.  BSAED is a four-year para-professional program structured to integrate elements of the built and natural environment with the ability to produce a meaningful response to the changing needs of urban society patterned by a wide cultural backdrop.  The program advances the concept of critical thinking by which each student can visualize, discuss and represent a detailed conceptualization, application, investigation, syntheses, and an evaluation of the connections between them.  Students are taught to accept responsibility for their role in creating environments as well as how to communicate ethical practices that lead to informed decision making.

IAP students become knowledgeable of planning, design and management as a predictive decision-making process with the examination of human factors involved in the necessarily collaborative activity of environmental intervention and preservation.  The aim is to graduate competent and dedicated professionals.