School: University of Waterloo
Location: Cambridge, Ontario
Undergraduate program: Bachelor of Architectural Studies
Graduate program: Master of Architecture
Number of students: 450
Number of faculty: 20
Notable alumni: Brigitte Shim, Peter Clewes, Omer Arbel, Paul Raff, Stephen Teeple
Website: uwaterloo.ca/architecture
Strengths: Premier co-op opportunities, in Canada and around the world, let students learn from some of the global architectural community’s cream of the crop
The overview: Already a highly regarded breeding ground for innovative architecture minds, the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture got a massive boost recently thanks to a brand-new home – and hometown – when a local business consortium drew the school from its original Waterloo locale to nearby Galt, a community in the city of Cambridge, Ont. The new school is set on the banks of the Grand River in the historic Riverside Silk Mill building, overhauled in a $27-million renovation and now filled with design studios, labs, classrooms, a design library, exhibition galleries, a public auditorium and a café. The program itself is a dynamic nexus for research and teaching in construction, development, built heritage, green architecture, visualization, prototyping and computer-assisted design. Paid placements in studios such as Arquitectonica International in New York and Diamond Schmitt Architects in Toronto, plus firms in Japan, Germany and Spain, build students’ professional networks, as do international exchanges and a study-in-Rome affiliation (fourth-year students develop an exhibition that travels back to Canada).