Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Faculty of Architecture
Department of Architecture
The roots of the Department of Architecture are in Kaunas when in the year 1922 it was established in the Faculty of Technique of the newly-founded Lithuanian University. During the initial stage, it was supervised by Prof. Mukolas Songaila. During long years the Department of Architecture was changing its place – in the beginning, it was part of Vytautas Magnus University, later – Kaunas Polytechnic institute, after the restructuring of this institute, in 1971 Architecture Department was moved from Kaunas to Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute (now VGTU), to the newly created Faculty of Architecture This school of architecture, until the end of 70-ties (as part of the technological university), was educating architects engineers. From 80-ties the study program was expanded and a wide range of artistic disciplines implemented (architectural composition, architectural semantics, psychology and etc.), since then future architects are trained while combining rational and artistic directions in order to achieve a high professional level. To enhance the quality of education, architects, who are famous and progressive in their creative activities are constantly involved in the teaching process. At this moment 80% of teachers in this department are successfully practising architects
Department of Urban Design
The Department of Urban Design of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) represents the positions of urban design education and research in Lithuania and boasts of having nearly 70-year-old traditions (it was founded in 1944, its first head was an associate professor Steponas Stulginskis). The Department’s curriculum is based on The European concept of urban design subjects. Urban design is treated as a branch of architecture with such main fields of research and design as an urban structure, urban space and the build-up (buildings) shaping it. Urban design is an integral part of architectural arts and education as well as one of the architectural activities. Lecturers of the Department of Urban Design teach basic disciplines of urban design arts and science at the level of undergraduate studies (BArch) at the Faculty of Architecture. Knowledge in the field of urban design is further deepened at postgraduate studies, Master degree (Architectural Studies axis). Urban Design Department trains professionals at three levels of qualification: BA, MA and PhD. From 1992, students of the Department of Urban Design (VGTU) have successfully taken part in national and international competitions of students’ works with their prize-winning semester and graduation projects. The most recent achievement was participation in the 3rd International Festival for Architecture, Design and Civil Engineering Schools of Eurasia in 2013 at Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, with four prize-winning projects of the Department’s students.
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