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Architectural Education

Architectural Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is based on architectural programs of universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Architectural programs of universities established in the 1970s and up to early 1980s in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are very different in terms of length of study, distribution of courses, administration, nationality of faculty, and other factors, they are nevertheless very similar in content.

King Saud University

The Department of Architecture was estab­lished in 1967 within the College of Engi­neering which was supervised by UNESCO from its foundation until it joined King Saud University in 1969 In 1975, the Department shifted to the semester system with a requirement of 211 credit hours for gradua­tion, which was reduced later to 197 credits and even further reduced to 175 credits. From this total, 24 credits are devoted to general university requirements such as Islam­ic culture, Arabic and English language courses, while 27 credits are devoted to Col­lege distributional requirements such as mathematics and physics for architects, engi­neering economics, computer programming, and project management. Courses taught by the Department of Architecture take 124 credit hours, of which 53 per cent are design studios ( 66 credit hours) while courses on history and theory add up to ninety per cent (10 credit hours), planning 7 per cent (9 cre­dit hours) and environmental control sub­jects 4 8 per cent. The rest are courses pri­marily serving other disciplines such as civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, and elective courses.

During the current academic year (1985-86), the Department has been proposing some changes in the curriculum, including doubl­ing the courses on environmental control from 6 to 12 credits. It can be said that as a general pattern that has emerged over time the school is decreasing the number of re­quired credit hours and increasing the empha­sis on technical subjects, while history and theory courses account for 57 percent of the overall load.

King Faisal University

The School of Architecture and Planning in Dammam was established in 1975 It is the largest school in the Kingdom, with 71 facul­ty members and 514 students in 1984. In 1985, the school graduated 92 architects, the largest group in the Kingdom to have gradu­ated in any one year 2 In fall of 1986, the School offered 96 different courses. The curriculum was primarily developed by the first dean, Ahmed Farid Mustapha, who had been the head of the Department of Archi­tecture at King Saud University. The first curriculum resembles to some extent the curriculum that King Saud University had at that time, but with more design emphasis A total of 189 credits were required to gradu­ate, of which 151 credits were offered by the Department of Architecture. Each student had to pass 10 design studios accounting for 50 credits, with 12 contact hours per week.

University of Petroleum and Minerals

The School of Environmental Design was established during the 1980-1981 academic year by the College of Engineering and Sci­ences within this technical university. The school offers three degrees: Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Architectural Engineering, and Bachelor of City Planning. The School's philosophy is stated in the manual: "In harmony with the nature of U.P M as a technological university, and in consideration of the present and future needs of Saudi Arabia in the environmental design professions, all the College programs introduce basic science courses and are heavily oriented towards the teaching of physical design principles and the appli­cation of advanced technology. "

Out of the 144 credits needed for gradua­tion, in the Department of Architectural Engineering, only 2 credits are for the history and theory of design, while 6 credits are devoted to two design studios and one course to socio-cultural issues As for the Architecture Department, the major prob­lem was that of fitting a professional program into four years, since the first year is reserved to the University-required courses. This has resulted in offering design studios during the summer and has affected the course load distribution. For example, history and theory courses account for only 6 per cent of the total required courses.

King Abdul Aziz University

The School of Environmental Design accepted students in the fall of 1976 It offers three degrees, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and Bachelor of City Planning. The curriculum has been primarily developed by Harvard University It is a six-year program of 180 credits in which students will spend three years in the general program (84 credits) which covers the basic courses for the three departments. This program, in which most courses are non-technical but rather artistic, historical, and theoretical, diamet­rically opposite to that of the University of Petroleum and Minerals.

Umm AI-Qura University

The School of al-'Imara al-Islamiya was established in 1983 within a university that offers primarily programs related to Shari'a and Islamic culture. To summarize the philosophy of the program according to its founder, "the school of al-'lmara fol­lows a methodology of teaching that unifies the whole curriculum into a series of 'profes­sional units' of a semester's length within which independent subjects are integrated with each other and with the studio projects. In each unit, social structure and specific injunctions of Islam pertaining to the shap­ing of the built environment become the reference points that structure that particu­lar unit. Two remedial units lead to six professional units followed with a teaching practice, that replicates a consultant's office in full. The program is concluded with the graduation unit at the end of which ijaza (a certificate of architecture) is given to the graduates."