As a single unit containing architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and construction management, the School of Design and Construction is a new entity.
The programs consolidated in the fall of 2012 with the closure of the Interdisciplinary Design Institute at WSU Spokane, the transfer of landscape architecture and interior design programs to Carpenter and Daggy Halls, and the renaming of the school as the School of Design and Construction. All four programs have lengthy histories at WSU and retain their independent status as professional, accredited programs.
Architecture was the first program of its kind in Washington and is the oldest of the school’s four disciplines. It began in April of 1907, saw its first graduate in 1913, and has been housed in H.V. Carpenter Hall since the building’s completion in 1915. Rudolph Weaver became WSU’s first architecture professor and its first University architect. He designed Carpenter, Wilson, Community, McCroskey, and Stimson halls and the president’s residence. Later, architecture professor Stanley Smith served as architect and construction manager for many campus projects. In 2001, the program transitioned from a bachelor of architecture to a bachelor of science in architectural studies as the undergraduate degree, while introducing the master of architecture as the professionally- accredited degree. The program most recently received accreditation in 2014.
Interior Design, as with the other disciplines in the school, is tied to the land-grant mission of the University. Dating back to the early twentieth century, the program emerged from the Department of Domestic Economy and the College of Home Economics. Undergraduate student theses delved into issues of interior organization, decoration, and planning as early as 1918, but the first program in “Interior Decoration and Home Planning,” began in 1938. The interior design program was later part of the WSU Art Department until the late 1960s, when interior design, interior decoration, and home planning consolidated into one program. Interior design became part of the School of Design and Construction in 2012 and was most recently accredited in 2010.
Landscape Architecture established its roots on the Pullman campus in 1893 with course offerings in landscape gardening and floriculture within the Department of Horticulture, one of the first departments at Washington State College. The first faculty member was hired in 1949 and a four-year bachelor of landscape architecture (BLA) degree was accredited in 1973, housed within the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. The program was most recently accredited in 2013.
Construction Management began in 1945 as part of a “light construction management” curriculum within business administration. In the early 1960s, it became the building theory and practice program within the Architectural Engineering Department and the College of Engineering. It was renamed Construction Management in 1977 and underwent an accreditation visit in 2015.