The undergraduate minor in architectural engineering serves CU Boulder students who are interested in building science, engineering and systems design.

Architectural engineering is the application of engineering principles and technology to building design and construction. Architectural engineering combines aspects of electrical, mechanical and civil engineering to design integrated systems for buildings. Building systems include heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; illumination and electrical systems; material and structural systems; and construction methods applied to buildings.

Requirements

Admission Requirements

A cumulative GPA of 2.750 or higher is required to be admitted to the minor.

The minor is not open to students pursuing the Bachelor of Science in architectural engineering or the Bachelor of Science in Integrated Design Engineering with an architectural engineering disciplinary emphasis. In addition, the structural systems and construction engineering and management tracks (shown below) are not open to students pursuing the Bachelor of Science in civil engineering or the Bachelor of Science in Integrated Design Engineering with a civil engineering disciplinary emphasis.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisite courses are required, with a grade of C- or higher in each. A student may be accepted into the minor with no more than two of these courses as deficiencies. All deficiencies must be completed before the minor is awarded.

Program Requirements

Grade Requirements

A cumulative GPA of 2.000 is required in the courses used to satisfy the minor requirements, with no individual grade lower than C-.

Residency

The minor requires 18 credit hours, at least nine of which must be AREN/CVEN courses completed on the CU Boulder campus. The minor is composed of three required courses, two courses in a single track, plus one elective course.

Course Requirements

Required Core Courses
AREN 2050Building Materials and Systems3
CVEN 3246Introduction to Construction3
CVEN 3161Mechanics of Materials 13
or MCEN 2063 Mechanics of Solids
Tracks6
Choose one:
Mechanical Systems Track
Energy Efficient Buildings
HVAC System Design
Structural Systems Track 1
Structural Analysis
Steel Design
Reinforced Concrete Design
Design of Wood Structures
Electrical Systems Track
Circuits for Architectural Engineers
Introduction to Circuits and Electronics
Circuits and Electronics for Mechanical Engineers
Circuits for Engineers
Building Electrical Systems Design 1
Lighting Track
Illumination I
Illumination 2
Construction Engineering & Management Track 1
Pre-construction Estimating and Scheduling
Construction Project Execution and Control
Elective3
History and Theory of Architecture 2
Engineering Drawing
Civil Engineering Drawing
Beginning Digital Applications 2
Energy System Modeling and Control
Optical Design for Illumination and Solid State Lighting
Design of Masonry Structures
Advanced Lighting Design
Luminous Radiative Transfer
Daylighting
Special Topics for Seniors/Grads (Sustainable Lighting Workshop, Computer Simulation of Building Systems, or Forensic Engineering)
Sustainable Building Design
Compu Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis for Built/Natural Envmnts
Building Energy Audits
Advanced Solar Design
Thermal Analysis of Buildings
Special Topics for Seniors/Grads (Distributed Generation Systems, Color Theory/Light Source, or Applied Data Analysis & Modeling)
Embodied Carbon in Buildings
Optimizing Grid Connected Systems
Total Credit Hours18