The McGill School of Architecture (officially the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture since 2017) is one of eight academic units constituting the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1896 by Sir William Macdonald, it offers accredited professional and post-professional programs ranging from undergraduate to PhD levels. Since its founding, the school has established an international reputation and a record of producing leading professionals and researchers who have helped shape the field of architecture, including Moshe Safdie, Arthur Erickson, Raymond Moriyama and the founders of Arcop.
Having existed during both World Wars and the development of Modernism, the school experienced many changes in terms of enrollment and architectural ideologies over the course of its history. Beginning with a class of only three students, the school expanded many times and relocated on multiple occasions to different buildings both on and off of McGill's main campus. It was the first architecture school in Canada to offer a graduate planning program and a PhD in architecture, and the first department within the Faculty of Engineering to graduate women. Several of its directors and staff founded architecture schools at other universities.
The School of Architecture is located inside the Macdonald-Harrington Building, designed by Sir Andrew Taylor, on the McGill University downtown campus. The School of Urban Planning, which became independent from the School of Architecture in 1970, occupies the fourth floor. The School of Architecture also operates many auxiliary facilities, including workshops, laser cutting and 3D-printing facilities, research labs and various libraries and collections both within the Macdonald-Harrington Building and elsewhere on McGill's campus. The school is accredited by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB) and is recognized in the United States by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).
The Architecture Students' Association represents undergraduate students at the school and the Graduate Architecture Students' Association represents graduate and post-graduate students. All registered students automatically become members of these associations. The school also maintains a chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students as well as bilateral exchange agreements with several architecture schools in other countries. Undergraduate and graduate admissions are highly competitive, with the school enrolling approximately 7% and 17% of applicants, respectively, in recent years. The school also has one of the highest percentages of women representation at McGill. As of Fall 2019, there were 163 undergraduate, 90 graduate and 20 PhD students enrolled.
On September 26, 2017, the school was renamed the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture following a C$12 million gift from architect and McGill graduate Peter Fu.
History
McGill's School of Architecture, founded in 1896, is one of the oldest architecture schools in North America and the second to be established in Canada. Initially a Beaux-Arts style school based in the Arts and Crafts movement, it became a Bauhaus-based institution under new directorship after World War II. The school was the first in the country to offer a graduate planning program and a PhD in architecture.
Early history
In 1890, the Province of Quebec Association of Architects adopted a constitution requiring compulsory examination for people in Quebec who wished to become professional architects. This created a need for more systematic architectural education, and the absence of such opportunities caused many aspiring Canadian architects to study in the United States, where ten architecture schools had already been established. Canada did not yet have any formal architectural education, and the only forms of architectural education in Montreal were periodical lectures by local practising architects at McGill's affiliated religious colleges. This new need for architectural education is an important factor that led to the founding of the School of Architecture at McGill University.