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.

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, Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Studio, and Master of Science in Historic Preservation (MSHP). 

Students in the MDDO, MSHP, MFA, MArch, and MArch with a Track in Interior Architecture programs develop the critical skills necessary to translate ideas into meaningful objects and environments.

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.

A model of a city scape with a green space in the middle

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. In the MArch programs, we teach through hands-on inquiry, experimentation, and exploration. 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.

SAIC: WhatNot

Reimagining Designed Objects

Designers reimagine the objects and systems that mediate our daily lives. Through a critical appraisal of product, furniture, interaction, and systems design, SAIC's Master of Design in Designed Objects program teaches designers to be agents of change who maintain an expansive understanding of the object. 

Students talking an working in an HPRES classroom

The Future of Historic Preservation

SAIC's dynamic Master of Science in Historic Preservation is an all-encompassing program covering the areas of restoration design, materials conservation, architectural history, and preservation planning. The program affords students the flexibility to explore specific areas of interest through elective coursework in the field of heritage conservation.

SAIC Mitchell Visiting Professor Berenika Boberska

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.

WhatNot Class Brings Student Projects from Idea to Actualization

From corn husk lamps to a thermos with attached cups, WhatNot Studio in the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects provides an exciting opportunity for students to fully develop a project from digital renderings to physical product.

Explore
A designer utensil box that includes a set of cutlery, a custom leather mat, napkins, and bespoke packaging.

Credit: Eason Li

Contact Us

Architecture, Interior Architecture, & Designed Objects Office

Sullivan Center
36 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 1402

Phone: 312-629-6650

Chair of Designed Objects

Jim TerMeer jterme@saic.edu

Chair of Architecture and Interior Architecture

Tristan Sterk tsterk@saic.edu

Graduate Coordinator of Architecture and Interior Architecture

Doug Pancoast dpancoast@saic.edu

Graduate Coordinator of Designed Objects

Tim Parsons tparsons@saic.edu

Architect Licensing Advisor

Jessie LaFree jlafree@saic.edu

Undergraduate Coordinator of Architecture and Interior Architecture

Jonathan Solomon jdsolomon@saic.edu