Architecture, Interior Architecture, & Designed Objects
Architecture, Interior Architecture, & Designed Objects Department
In the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO), our studios have no boundaries. We are creative across disciplines and we are engaged with our community at SAIC, our context in Chicago, and the world.
Our students are exploring the future of how we live, work, and communicate. They’re asking how design responds to shifting modes of belonging; and ensuring design will address the transcendent challenge of a changing climate.
Summer at SAIC
Join us on campus on July 27 to learn how to research undergraduate art programs, prepare your portfolio for admission and merit scholarships, tour our campus and residence halls, and much more.
Accepting Applications
Apply to SAIC's graduate Architecture and Interior Architecture programs for fall 2024 admission.
Pathways in Architecture, Interior Architecture, & Designed Objects (AIADO)
Since 1866, design has been part of SAIC’s ethos of creativity, experimentation, and free expression. AIADO embodies this commitment with undergraduate pathways in architecture, interior architecture, and designed objects. AIADO graduate studies include the following degree programs: Master of Architecture, Master of Architecture with an Interior Architecture Track, Master of Design in Designed Objects, and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Studio.
Students in the MDDO, MFA, MArch, and MArch with a Track in Interior Architecture programs develop the critical skills necessary to translate ideas into meaningful objects and environments.
Student Work
"Machines and Angels" by Egon Schiele
Work by Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan
"Stacks on Stacks on Stacks" by Amanda Williams
Schools have a responsibility to model cultures of equity and inclusion. In AIADO, learning is a collaborative project between students and faculty, and we welcome diverse perspectives. Our studio culture foregrounds student practice and responds to student goals with critique that is considered and constructive. We reward risk-taking and understand that failure is part of the creative process.
AIADO students will define the future of design in a changing world. We expect them not only to respond to change, but to drive it. We teach the skills graduates need to enter design professions, the ambition to reimagine them, and the values to guide them as leaders. AIADO futures are design futures.
Faculty News
Professional Practice
AIADO students gain valuable professional experience through independent studios and joint ventures that encourage them to turn their ideas into meaningful objects and environments. Past opportunities include collaborations with Venture Studio, Lost Arts, and the Venice Architecture Biennale.
A Leading Chicago Architecture School
As a leading Chicago school of architecture, we value the craft that brings ideas into the world, the research that informs criticality, and the compelling stories we tell to share our work. Students have access to the world-class facilities and resources of our museum campus, studio arts and liberal arts programs, and inspiration from the surrounding Chicago architecture. AIADO offers unique opportunities for students interested in the space where art and design come together.
Distinguished Faculty
Our dedicated faculty teach from diverse experience in practices that impact public life and drive public culture. Additionally, the Mitchell Visiting Professor, a renowned practitioner, is appointed to contribute experimental classes to an interdisciplinary community.
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Contact Us
Architecture, Interior Architecture, & Designed Objects Office
Sullivan Center
36 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 1402
Phone: 312-629-6650
Chair of Designed Objects
Tim Parsons tparsons@saic.edu
Chair of Architecture and Interior Architecture
Douglas Pancoast dpanco@saic.edu
Graduate Coordinator of Architecture and Interior Architecture
Carl Ray Miller cmiller@saic.edu
Architect Licensing Advisor
Jessie LaFree jlafree@saic.edu
Undergraduate Coordinator of Architecture and Interior Architecture
Monika Thadhani mthandh@saic.edu