Michigan Architecture Prep

ArcPrep  ArcPrep 

The University of Michigan Architecture Preparatory Program (ArcPrep) provides Detroit Public School (DPSCD) juniors with hands-on learning in architecture, urbanism, and studio design. U-M ArcPrep works to broaden career horizons, meet future demand, and bring diverse voices into the fields of architecture, planning, and design by serving students typically underrepresented in American architecture schools and thus the profession of architecture.

U-M ArcPrep strengthens participants’ ability to translate observations about the world into visual and spatial language and, through a spatial justice lens, works to expand students’ sense of agency in the built environment. Time is spent engaging with college-level instructors in developing design skills, as well as professionals from design-related fields, to demonstrate impact in their immediate communities. Students receive instruction through a series of thematic, interrelated modules structured to deliver fundamental design and research methodologies, offer techniques for critical analysis, shed light on the profession and its affiliate fields, and demonstrate pathways to design education.

ArcPrep’s Curriculum

The main components of the program include:

Five project-based workshops, two-days each, led by Taubman faculty and Ph.D. students 

Students will explore five “worlds” within architecture. For example; material reuse and circular design principles, spatial justice, critical representation techniques, participatory design, afrofuturism and other forms of speculation, digital immersive technologies, and others.

Field trips 

Students will have the opportunity to visit project sites and architecture offices, and to connect with active practitioners in Detroit.

A mentoring program led by the Equity in Architectural Education Consortium (EAEC) network

ArcPrep students will be connected with advanced-degree student mentors from the EAEC Program; Florida International University (FIU), Hampton University, Howard University, Morgan State University (MSU), Tuskegee University, University of Michigan (UM), University of Oklahoma (OU), and Florida A&M University (FAMU).

Why ArcPrep?

Ten years after its launch, ArcPrep graduates have pursued degrees in architecture, engineering, design, and the arts at over 15 colleges and universities across the country. Forty-four percent of ArcPrep students accepted to the University of Michigan gain admission to Taubman College. This high acceptance rate underscores the program’s role in preparing students to meet the rigorous admission standards of one of the nation’s top architecture schools.

After attending ten ArcPrep sessions, we hope students will: 

  1. Be exposed to diverse career pathways and practice methodologies within architecture, urbanism, and related fields. 
  2. Have a space to ask questions directly to current practitioners and develop their personal interests. 
  3. Become engaged in a range of material and immaterial experiments that develop their spatial thinking and analytical skills. 
  4. Develop an intentionality and criticality towards creative production and its outcomes. 
  5. Learn more about Detroit from workshop leaders and community partners, and find pathways to become involved in the city’s future.

Personnel

Under the directorship of Gina Reichert, lecturer, and Anya Sirota, associate dean of Academic Initiatives, ArcPrep is led by Michigan Mellon design fellows and supplemented by an educational ecosystem composed of prominent academics from the University of Michigan. Additionally, the program is strengthened through its Detroit partnerships, bringing leading design firms, community advocates, artists, and civic leaders into the classroom.

Academic Initiatives Team

Anya Sirota, Associate Dean of Academic Initiatives

Jacob Comerci, Managing Director for Academic Initiatives

Ishan Pal Singh, New Media Specialist

U–M Faculty Collaborators

Past Fellows

  • Missy Ablin
  • Allen Gillers
  • Youngtack Oh
  • Suzanne Lettieri
  • Julie Pedtke
  • Paulina Reyes
  • Salam Rida
  • Torri Smith
  • Sara Timberlake

Select Professional Partners

  • 313 Creative
  • Berardi Partners
  • Equity in Architectural Education Consortium
  • Fielding International
  • Gensler
  • Hamilton Anderson and Associates
  • National Organization of Minority Architects
  • Rossetti
  • Smith Group

Partnering Cultural Institutions

  • 400 Forward
  • A Host of People
  • Design Core Detroit
  • Detroit Institute of Art
  • Detroit Public Library
  • Kresge Arts
  • Oakland Avenue Urban Farm
  • Scarab Club
  • Sidewalk Festival
  • Power House Productions

Select Academic Partners

  • Cornell University
  • University of Detroit Mercy
  • Lawrence Technological University

Application Information

Any student from a participating DPSCD high school is eligible. Students are selected by their principals and must meet the following requirements:

  • 2.5 GPA or better
  • Good attendance and academic standing
  • An interest in architecture