After nearly a century of promoting a multidisciplinary approach to educating future designers, the architectural engineering department at State College-based Pennsylvania State University, the country’s oldest such program and the longest to be continuously accredited, believes today’s industry trends have come full circle with tradition.
As the industry pushes toward more integrated project-delivery methods and high-performance buildings, students need both a breadth and depth of knowledge to succeed in project teams, says Chimay Anumba, head of the department, which was founded in 1910. “In some ways, it’s rethinking the old master-builder concept,” he says. “For today’s integrated teams, you need team members who can understand and appreciate where other team members are coming from.”