From 1886 though 1887, Japan's Ministry of Education assigned three individuals - Ernest Francisco Fenollosa, Arata Hamao, and Tenshin Okakura - to undertake a survey of Western arts education. This was done with several goals in mind, including information-gathering preparatory to founding a school of art. Architecture in the economically vital United States at this time was at the crest of the Greek Revival movement, with strong influences from the Ecole des Beaux Arts of France. Observing these conditions in architecture and education, Fenollosa and Okakura chose to include a department of architecture within their plans for a school of fine arts. After many twists and turns, an architecture studio was eventually established within the design department in 1902, marking the beginnings of full-fledged architectural education within what would become the Architecture Department in 1923. From the establishment of this architecture studio to the present day, the department and its predecessors have produced leading figures in Japanese architecture.

Three unique characteristics of the Architecture Department
    The first unique characteristic of the Department of Architecture is that Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku remains, since its founding, the only national educational institution in Japan whose primary purpose is to train architects within an environment in which instruction in this course of study is provided by a faculty focused on the fine arts. At educational institutions in the West, architecture tends either to be attached to a fine-arts faculty or established as an independent School of Architecture, with architectural education undertaken from a comprehensive artistic perspective. In this aspect, the department is perhaps the closest among Japanese institutions to the Western model of architectural education.

    The second unique characteristic is that the Department's primary focus of architectural education is architectural design. Topics of instruction focus on practical issues and techniques in architectural design, imparting the comprehensive design skills needed by architects based on a rigorous training in architectural theory and in the techniques specific to each domain of architecture.

    Lastly, instruction takes place in small groups (enrollment is limited to 15 undergraduate students and 16 master's degree students). The goal of this structure is to provide guidance and education based on in-depth interactions between instructors and individual students in an environment with as few constraints as possible, thereby nurturing creativity and individual vision.

Curriculum (undergraduate education)
*Summary
    While educational content does not depart dramatically from that of departments of architecture at other universities in Japan attached to engineering faculties, the Architecture Department's educational philosophy places a special emphasis on imparting architectural design skills. Courses of instruction are designed to broaden academic knowledge and cultivate deep, patient reasoning capabilities on the one hand, and to encourage the development of aesthetic acuity and an independent vision on the other. The goal is to develop individuals passionately engaged with architecture through training based on guidance in practical techniques on a one-on-one basis.

    The curriculum is divided into specific areas of practical technique (architectural design) and specific topics of study. Based on a foundation of design studio activities, education in the area of architectural design proceeds in stages corresponding to the increasing difficulty of the material studied (see below). While students in principle are free to study subjects such as structure, architectural history, and architectural planning regardless of their seniority within the program, certain topics are better studied in a specific sequence or alongside architectural design courses. The course of instruction developed for such topics is based on cumulative years spent within the program.

First year: Various creative topics are addressed in an introduction to architectural design, including basic training in areas such as structural norms of architecture and related modes of expression. While each of these themes may seem rudimentary at a glance, depending on how the topic is pursued, they can lead to advanced study. As an example, the design and building of chairs using wood as a material is a traditional department subject, studied for over 40 years.

Second year: The first semester focuses on residential structures; the second semester addresses institutions of learning. Students proceed from a study of personal spaces to spaces designed for group activities. Students work to learn how to transcend their individual experiences to conceive and present new ideas. This is done by starting with experiences common to all, then stretching their imaginative faculties by intensively examining various specific case studies. At the end of their second year, students study structural design as a foundation for realizing spaces and forms. Summer fieldwork provides invaluable opportunities for learning based on exposure to the current state of architecture outside the academy, through detailed studies of architectural structures, and by recording and expressing these experiences precisely.

Third year: Based on the theme of spatial organization in architecture, topics of study shift toward meeting places and more complex structures. In addition, students look at the social nature of architecture from a broad perspective to identify the various ways in which architecture creates links and relations in the world. Selected instructors invited from outside the program add to this course of study. Travel to study ancient art, scheduled for the fall, offers an opportunity to look anew at traditional examples of Japanese architecture and the spatial structures they embody, prompting consideration of possible links to modern architectural expression.

Fourth year: At the start of this year, based on experiences from the first three years of the program, students turn toward senior projects while learning how to identify ideal forms for large-scale urban spaces - spaces on the scale of city blocks and beyond; how to plan a design development program; and how to choose among various approaches to presenting their proposals, among other topics. Students are then given preliminary assignments that serve as the starting points for thesis projects. They begin working on their thesis projects during the summer session, independently handling all aspects of their thesis projects, including establishing themes, conditions, and programs, refining their own ideas into feasible projects and devoting intensive work over an extended period of time.

Curriculum (graduate education and research)
    The curriculum for the master's degree program in the graduate school is also divided into two main categories. The first consists of academic topics (specific architectural subjects such as architectural history, structure, architectural planning, and architectural theory) at more advanced and specialized levels, based on knowledge accrued as undergraduates. The second involves identifying and implementing a research theme based on the student's interests under guidance from instructors in seminars held at the studio to which the student belongs. The graduation project and graduation dissertation represent a distillation of these efforts.

    In doctoral programs, students deepen their understanding of selected research themes as they work toward their doctoral degrees, presenting their results outside the department at periodic intervals, all based on work done within the studios to which the students belong.

Other information
    The Department is active in foreign exchange efforts, chiefly with schools that have signed international exchange agreements with the university. As of July 2008, the department enrolled two foreign-exchange students in architecture from institutions overseas (one from the Vienna University of Technology and one from Liechtenstein University of Applied Science), while six of its students were studying overseas in exchange programs (at the Vienna University of Technology, the University of Florence, Politecnico di Milano, and the University of Rome). The department also participates in joint projects with overseas universities - for example, the architectural joint exhibition in 2005 between Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku and the Korean National University of Arts.

    Following graduation, most students are employed in architectural offices or in construction-related design departments. Listed below are some major employers of graduates over recent years.

Jun Aoki & Associates, Taro Ashihara Architects, Arata Isozaki & Associates, Office of Kumiko Inui, Yoshio Taniguchi & Associates, Obayashi Corporation, Takenaka Corporation, Nikken Sekkei Ltd., and others

*Admissions policies (undergraduate)
    The characteristics of outstanding architecture are expressed by the words functionality, strength, and beauty.
    Functionality refers to eminent suitability for human activities. Strength refers to the structural stability required to ensure resistance to disasters and the various powers of nature. Beauty refers to the structural qualities that capture the human imagination.
    Cultivating architects who strive to create beauty on the foundations of functionality and strength, for more than a century, the Department of Architecture has trained and graduated large numbers of Japan's leading architects.
    Inheriting this proud tradition, the Department of Architecture admits prospective students who seek to master architectural design by acquiring the knowledge, understanding, and skills required to realize the functionality, strength, and beauty architectural design demands. Specifically, the department seeks students who possess the following qualities.

1. A deep and abiding interest in architecture and in the urban environments created by clusters of architectural structures, with a deep commitment to achieving excellence in architecture and design for urban environments
2. A deep capacity to reconceptualize the meaning of beauty in architecture, with strong interests in other artistic domains, including painting, sculpture, crafts, and design
3. Broad interests in the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, as well as engineering techniques and engineering history, all of which are essential elements in achieving architectural functionality and strength
4. An unusual capacity for grasping the views of others and to effectively communicate their own views to others

*Admissions policies (graduate)
    The Department of Architecture seeks to train more specialized architects and researchers, based on the knowledge and techniques mastered during undergraduate years. While lectures including special seminars are attended by all those enrolled in the program, core creative and research activities occur in studios managed chiefly by individual instructors. Prospective students interested in this program are asked to identify the research and creative interests of each instructor and to compare these against their own interests before making appointments to meet with specific instructors.

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