Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Freshman Application Requirements 2015 The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Office of Admissions 30 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 Studio Test must be returned to The Office of Admissions and Records by Tuesday, February 24, 2015 by 4pm. No additional portfolio should be sent. Official transcripts, official test scores and letters of recommendation may be sent to The Office of Admissions with the completed Studio Test. All work must fit inside an envelope no larger than 14" X 17" X 2". Any work submitted in an envelope larger than 14" X 17" X 2" will not be reviewed by the admissions committee. Smaller envelopes are acceptable. Architecture admission decisions will be available the first week of April. Materials will be held until Thursday, May 28, 2015 by 4pm for pick up by applicant. Applicants wishing to have their Studio Test returned by U.S. mail (via United States Postal Service) must enclose a self-addressed envelope of the proper size and a check or money order for postage. UPS, FedEx, DHL and other commercial shippers will not be used to return studio test materials. Do not send stamps; checks should be made payable to: The Cooper Union. 1. Date of birth 2. Please state what high school you are graduating from and the date of your graduation. 3. Please list any other high schools you may have attended. 4. What school and what year of study are you currently enrolled in at the time of this application? Please tell us if you are not currently in school. 5. Please describe your major or area of focus in the high school you are graduating from if applicable. 6. Most recent semester/quarterly High School Average: Cumulative High School Average: SAT I (all sections): CR: Math: Writing: or ACT Composite score: I, the undersigned, state that the Studio Test which I have submitted is my own work and that I have received no help from others in the preparation of this submission, and that the Studio Test is the property of The Cooper Union and it, including my own responses submitted hereto, may not be reproduced, displayed, published or distributed without the express written permission of The Cooper Union. The Cooper Union Studio Test is protected by US copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, or published without the express written permission of The Cooper Union. Applicant s signature Date
Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Transfer Application Portfolio Requirements 2015 The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Office of Admissions 30 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 In addition to the Studio Test, all transfer applicants are required to submit a portfolio of creative work in any discipline (i.e. architecture, drawing, painting, poetry, music, crafts, original academic papers, theses, etc.). Please be aware that any portfolio submitted must be in a required format of 8 1 2 x 11 inches or 11 x 14 inches. Any portfolio exceeding these dimensions will not be considered. In addition, please do not submit any weighty covers or binders or boxes for the material. All work must fit inside an envelope no larger than 14" X 17" X 2". Any work submitted in an envelope larger than 14" X 17" X 2" will not be reviewed by the admissions committee. Smaller envelopes are acceptable. Photographic, photostatic and photocopied reproductions are acceptable. Please do not send DVDs, Flashdrives or CDs. Portfolios will be held until Thursday, May 28, 2015 at 4pm for pick-up by the applicant. Applicants wishing to have their portfolios returned by mail must enclose a self-addressed envelope of the proper size and a check or money order for postage. Do not send stamps. Checks should be made payable to The Cooper Union. We do not accept FedEx, UPS, DHL or other delivery services for returns. Your submission will be treated with respect and care. However, The Cooper Union will accept no responsibility for any damage that may occur to your work or portfolio. Studio Test and portfolio must be submitted on or before Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 4pm (this is not a postmark date, this is a received by date). Architecture admission decisions will be available by the middle of April.
Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture PAGE 2 Transfer Student Information 2015 This questionnaire must be completed by all applicants for transfer admission to the School of Architecture. It should appear as the first page in your portfolio or should be attached to the back of the front cover of your portfolio. Please type or print your answers. If you have not yet submitted them, official transcripts, official test scores and letters of recommendation may be sent to The Office of Admissions with the completed Studio Test and portfolio. Date of Birth 1. Are you currently in school? If so, please list the name of the school you are attending, the year of the program that you are in, and the title of the program. 2. Please list the chronology of your educational history beginning with the most recent. List the year, the name of the institution, the program or major, and the duration of time that you spent at each school or in a program, including the high school(s) you attended. 3. It takes five years to receive a Bachelor of Architecture at Cooper Union. Which of the five years do you qualify to be placed into? I, the undersigned, state that the Studio Test which I have submitted is my own work and that I have received no help from others in the preparation of this submission, and that the Studio Test is the property of The Cooper Union and it, including my own responses submitted hereto, may not be reproduced, displayed, published or distributed without the express written permission of The Cooper Union. The Cooper Union Studio Test is protected by US copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, or published without the express written permission of The Cooper Union. Applicant s signature Date
Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture PAGE 3 Transfer Student Information 2015 THE COOPER UNION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE REQUIRED FIRST-YEAR COURSES: Please list college credit earned in the following subjects: Freehand Drawing Class hours per week Credits: Sem. 1 Credits: Sem. 2 Grade: College Text used Calculus Class hours per week Credits: Sem. 1 Credits: Sem. 2 Grade: College Text used Physics Class hours per week Credits: Sem. 1 Credits: Sem. 2 Grade: College Text used
Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Freshman and Transfer Studio Test 2015 Instructions and Key to Submission Sheets: All work is to be submitted on paper that is 11" in width and 14" in length. The test is preformatted to be printed as 11" X 14". You may print on paper that is 11" X 17" and trim accordingly to 11" X 14". The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Office of Admissions 30 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 The square area on each sheet defines the field of operation. QUESTION 1 A PLAN OF THE STILL LIFE Project the plan looking down at each element of the still life as cut through from the level of the line indicated. QUESTION 2 PORTRAITS A) Self Portrait B) Self Portrait in terms that have no reference to the body QUESTION 3 THE GRID Redefine the grid in black and white only using the following marks: points, lines, planes, intersections and/or erasures. QUESTION 4 FRAGMENT Rip, tear or cut a critical fragment from any drawing you have ever made, and position that fragment on this page. QUESTION 5 SCALE A MEMORY IN PLAN Given the square area above, consider the square as a site and the grid as a measure. Construct the plan of a place important in your memory using these tools. Give it a working title and write one sentence inspired by this memory. QUESTION 6 SPACE FROM LITERATURE Choose one of the three given texts and draw a plan or section of the space and elements you envision as the architectural counterpart of the literary text. QUESTION 7 MOBILE OR STABILE Select a mobile or stabile by Alexander Calder and draw it or any detail of it. QUESTION 8 ORDER: STRUCTURAL INTERSECTION Observe a structure such as a facade, a frame or an order. Draw an intersection. QUESTION 9 HIEROGLYPHICS Please research and select a hieroglyph or group of hieroglyphics. Please draw your selection within the given square format. QUESTION 10 WRITING PROJECTS QUESTION 11 FRESHMAN AND TRANSFER QUESTIONNAIRE
QUESTION 1 A PLAN OF THE STILL LIFE In the area directly below the image, project the plan looking down at each element of the still life as cut through from the level of the line indicated.
A B QUESTION 2 PORTRAITS A) Self Portrait B) Self Portrait in terms that have no reference to the body
QUESTION 3 THE GRID Redefine the grid in black and white only using the following marks: points, lines, planes, intersections and/or erasures.
QUESTION 4 FRAGMENT Rip, tear or cut a critical fragment from any drawing you have ever made, and position that fragment on this page.
QUESTION 5 SCALE A MEMORY IN PLAN Given the square area above, consider the square as a site and the grid as a measure. Construct the plan of a place important in your memory using these tools. Give it a working title and write one sentence inspired by this memory. Working Title: Text:
QUESTION 6 LITERARY COUNTERPART Choose one of the texts on the following page and draw a plan or section of the space and elements you envision as the counterpart of the selected expression of architecture in written language. Choose one: The Golden Bowl by Henry James The Skin, the cut and the Bandage by Sverre Fehn Espèces d Espaces by Georges Perec
Henry James, The Golden Bowl Inasmuch as though the Prince, his measure now taken, was still pretty much the same big fact, the sky had lifted, the horizon receded, the very foreground itself expanded, quite to match him, quite to keep everything in comfortable scale. At first, their union had resembled some pleasant public square, in the heart of an old city, into which a great Palladian church, say something with a grand architectural front, had suddenly been dropped; so that the rest of the place, the space in front, the way round, outside, to the east end, the margin of street and passage, the quantity of overarching heaven, had been temporarily compromised. Sverre Fehn, The Skin, the Cut and the Bandage This means that in the skin of the earth you find the rings, you find the objects, you find everything that is important for writing the story about your past. Diagrammatically, we have a person, the visitor, and objects (a bowl, perhaps, and a boat). What to do with these things? You must help that person; you must make a horizon, a floor, for him. Then he is safe. He doesn t go to hell or to heaven; he is in architecture. Now he wants to be with that object. You as the architect, create the horizon. You work with the horizon or the skin of the earth, and shape it to reveal the object where it lays. And the boat; it too will find it s place where it has been landed in time... Georges Perec, Espèces d Espaces I ve often tried to think of an apartment in which there would be a useless room, absolutely and deliberately useless. It wouldn t be a storage room, it wouldn t be an extra room, nor a corridor, nor a broom-closet nor a hidden corner. It would be a space without a use. It wouldn t serve any purpose, it wouldn t refer to anything. It requires, no doubt, a bit more imagination to create for oneself an image of an apartment in which the arrangement of spaces would be based on the senses: one can imagine what a tasteroom might be, or a hearing-room, but one might well ask what a seeing-room would look like, or a swallowing-room or a touching-room...
QUESTION 7 MOBILE OR STABILE Select a mobile or stabile by Alexander Calder and draw it or any detail of it.
QUESTION 8 ORDER: STRUCTURAL INTERSECTION Observe a structure such as a facade, a frame or an order. Draw an intersection.
QUESTION 9 HIEROGLYPHICS Please research and select a hieroglyph or group of hieroglyphics. Please draw your selection within the given square format.
QUESTION 10 WRITING PROJECTS 1 The following words have meaning in an architectural vocabulary but have additional implications in other spheres of thought: PLAN WALL ORDER BOUNDARY PLINTH FORUM PASSAGE COLUMN CHAMBER These words are both physical and mental; concrete and literary. Choose one and elaborate. 2 What elements do you read in these plans? Write two sentences below each square.
QUESTION 11 FRESHMAN AND TRANSFER QUESTIONNAIRE Please answer all questions in paragraph form. 1 What is your favorite book? 2 What is your favorite film? 3 What is your favorite painting? 4 What is your favorite musical work? 5 Tell us about a trip that you took without leaving your chair. 6 Select a headline from The New York Times that inspires you to think about a mythic dimension of our contemporary life. Write a one-line response.
QUESTION 11 FRESHMAN AND TRANSFER QUESTIONNAIRE Please answer all questions in paragraph form. 7 Define the responsibilities of an architect. 8 Cooper Union offers an education in architecture, engineering, and art, supported by studies in humanities. How do you distinguish the study of architecture from these other studies? What do you think makes Cooper Union different from other architecture schools? 9 List all scholarly areas of special interest you are now studying either in school or on your own. 10 Have you received any academic honors or awards? Please indicate elective (E) or appointive (A) office you ve held in extra-curricular or community or service activities.