The Architecture and Urbanism Course (CAU) was established in the first semester of 2002 by the Departments of Civil Engineering and Arts and Design at PUC-Rio, based on the tradition and experience of the University in Civil Engineering, Design, and History education. From the outset, CAU has been characterized by a pedagogical project whose structuring axis is the integrated design studio and by valuing interdisciplinarity, internationalization, innovation, and the critical capacity of the professionals it trains.
With the growth and consolidation of CAU and the creation of the Postgraduate Program in Architecture (PPGArq) in 2013, the Department of Architecture and Urbanism (DAU) of PUC-Rio was inaugurated in April 2015, enhancing the existing articulation between research, extension, and teaching, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in the field of Architecture and Urbanism at PUC-Rio. Thus, since 2013, DAU has been heavily investing in integrating undergraduate and postgraduate education, considered fundamental for the quality of professional training, through extracurricular activities and scientific initiation projects.
The Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism at PUC-Rio particularly values the non-dissociation between theory and practice, which is expressed, among other ways, through the integrated design studio, which inserts a significant part of the theoretical content of the mandatory curriculum into studios with 12 hours per week, and is taught by combined teams of professors with full dedication, primarily focused on research, and with partial dedication, primarily focused on project practice in private offices or public entities. The pedagogical strategy of the integrated studio as the backbone of the curriculum, besides enhancing the association between theory and practice, reinforces interdisciplinarity, with the inclusion, in the same design studios, of professors from different areas of knowledge and distinct departments of the University.
DAU constantly seeks to expand its insertion and multiply in society the principles of social and environmental responsibility. This is achieved through content taught in the classroom, but also through practical experience in extracurricular activities, such as workshops and study trips, or through the experience that students can have in the Architecture Model Office.
Otávio Leonidio
Director of the Department of Architecture and Urbanism
