Faculty of Engineering

North Americans spend more than 90% of their lives inside buildings. During this time, their productivity and quality of life are directly affected by the nature of the enclosed environment. Buildings also represent one of the largest components of any industrialized country's capital wealth. The resources used and the contaminants released by the construction and operation of buildings are now widely understood to have widespread impact on the environment and the economy. Future buildings will need to be more energy efficient, durable, sustainable, low maintenance, and flexible than existing buildings. Today there already exists an enormous portfolio of buildings that require repair, renovation, and rehabilitation. Managing, repairing, replacing, and retrofitting existing buildings will become an increasingly important activity in the future.

There is a pressing need to support this massive and changing industry with the proper technical knowledge and management skills. The Architectural Engineering curriculum is designed to address this need by providing the necessary fundamentals of mathematics and the natural sciences, as well as to provide perspectives from the fields of the social sciences and humanities.

Architectural Engineering has “Communication, Collaboration, and Design” as its mantra. A common Architectural Engineering class held in a studio setting is the core of each term and knits together issues such as design, aesthetics, culture, environment, and professionalism in the context of engineered buildings. A studio teaching experience, common in design-centric plans such as architecture and industrial design, allows for enhanced peer-learning, better collaborative work, inspiration from surroundings, rapid modelling and prototyping, while encouraging hands-on investigations and exploration. Another of the distinctive features of the curriculum is its 3A and 3B academic terms, during which students take their classes at the University of Waterloo Cambridge campus, immersed in the School of Architecture, working alongside architecture students.

Architectural Engineering is designed to produce graduates with broad, yet technically deep skills, capable of responding to the unique and emerging challenges currently confronting the building industry. Exposing graduates to a world of design excellence through this unique academic plan will ensure that the skills taught will be used to develop the best solutions, while teaching communication in multiple media will guarantee that these solutions are understood and supported by all of the stakeholders in the building industry. The curriculum considers sustainability and environmental concerns of the built environment to be a fundamental part of all engineering design. As such, sustainability is not taught as a separate course, but is pervasive through all design decisions and an input or constraint to all relevant analysis.

Academic Curriculum

A total of two approved Complementary Studies Electives (CSE), in addition to ENGL 191/SPCOM 191, AE 101, AE 392, and AE 491, and eight approved Technical Electives (TE) must be completed as detailed in the following sections.

Term 1A (Fall)

• AE 100 Concepts Studio
• AE 101 History of the Built Environment (List C-Humanities and Social Sciences CSE)
• AE 104 Mechanics 1
• AE 115 Linear Algebra
• CHE 102 Chemistry for Engineers
• MATH 116 Calculus 1 for Engineering

Term 1B (Spring)

• AE 105 Mechanics 2
• AE 121 Computational Methods
• AE 123 Electrical Circuits and Instrumentation
• AE 125 Structural Design Studio
• AE 199 Seminar
• MATH 118 Calculus 2 for Engineering

Term 2A (Winter)

• AE 200 Enclosure Design Studio
• AE 204 Solid Mechanics 1
• AE 221 Advanced Calculus
• AE 224 Probability and Statistics
• AE 280 Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences
• AE 298 Seminar
• ENGL 191/SPCOM 191 Communication in the Engineering Profession (List D-Other CSE)

Term 2B (Fall)

• AE 205 Solid Mechanics 2
• AE 223 Differential Equations and Balance Laws
• AE 225 Environmental Building Systems Studio
• AE 265 Structure and Properties of Materials
• AE 299 Seminar
• CSE 3 or TE 1 Approved Complementary Studies Elective or Technical Elective
• WKRPT 200 Work-term Report

Term 3A (Spring)

• AE 279 Energy and the Environment
• AE 300 Architectural Engineering Studio
• AE 303 Structural Analysis
• AE 353 Soil Mechanics and Foundations
• AE 377 Structural Timber Design
• AE 398 Seminar
• WKRPT 300 Work-term Report

Term 3B (Winter)

• AE 310 Introduction to Structural Design
• AE 325 Project 1 Studio
• AE 392 Economics and Life Cycle Analysis (List B-Engineering Economics CSE)
• AE 399 Seminar
• CIVE 507 Building Science and Technology
• CSE 3 or TE 1 Approved Complementary Studies Elective or Technical Elective
• WKRPT 400 Work-term Report

Note: Elective must be a Technical Elective (TE) if Complementary Studies Elective (CSE) is selected in a previous term, and vice versa.

Term 4A (Spring)

• AE 400 Project 2 Studio
• AE 491 Engineering Law and Ethics (List D-Other CSE)
• AE 498 Seminar
• TE 2 Approved Technical Elective
• TE 3 Approved Technical Elective
• TE 4 Approved Technical Elective

Term 4B (Winter)

• AE 425 Project 3 Studio
• AE 499 Seminar
• CSE 6 Approved Complementary Studies Elective
• TE 5 Approved Technical Elective
• TE 6 Approved Technical Elective
• TE 7 Approved Technical Elective
• TE 8 Approved Technical Elective

Electives

Students are responsible for selecting their own combination of electives, in keeping with their ultimate career objectives after graduation. The combination must satisfy the requirements of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). This includes having to meet minimum requirements in mathematics, natural sciences, engineering sciences, engineering design, and complementary studies.

Exceptions to the elective courses and requirements listed in the following sections (and links) require approval of the CEE Department. Some courses of interest may require prerequisite knowledge that is not part of the core curriculum in Architectural Engineering. Students may require extra courses or may need to seek enrolment approval from the course instructor if the prerequisites have not been satisfied.

Complementary Studies Electives

Two Complementary Studies Elective (CSE) courses must be taken in approved non-technical subjects. The CSEs are in addition to those courses which are part of the core curriculum and contain complementary studies material, such as ENGL 191/SPCOM 191 (List D), AE 101 (List C), AE 392 (List B), and AE 491 (List D). The CSE courses are organized on a Faculty basis and detailed in this Calendar, under the Complementary Studies in the Faculty of Engineering page. The two CSE courses are to be chosen according to the following constraints:

• One course from List A - Impact Courses
• One course from List C - Humanities and Social Sciences Courses

Technical Electives

Students are required to complete eight technical elective (TE) courses within the following requirements:

1. At least three TEs must be from TE List A (Architectural Engineering Technical Electives)
2. At least two TEs must be from TE List B (Engineering Design Intensive Technical Electives)
3. One TE must be from TE List D (Natural Science Technical Electives)

The Technical Elective lists for Architectural Engineering are provided below. Note that the offering of these courses is contingent upon sufficient demand and/or available teaching resources. There may be courses added and changes made to the content, term of offering, or meet times from what is listed below. Special Topics Courses (AE 495 and AE 497) are offered as resources and faculty availability permit. Further information is available from the CEE Undergraduate Office or CEE website.

Legend for TE List A, B, C, and D

Term courses are offered: F=fall term, W=winter term, S=spring term

TE List A - Architectural Engineering Technical Electives

Choose at least three

TE List B - Engineering Design Intensive Technical Electives

Choose at least two

TE List C - Engineering Technical Electives

List D - Natural Science Technical Electives

Choose one

Specializations

The Faculty of Engineering recognizes specializations with the Architectural Engineering BASc degree. Students who satisfy the specialization requirements (courses and grades) will have the specialization designation shown on their transcript and diploma. Specializations are intended to recognize success in a concentration of electives within the Architectural Engineering degree specification. In other words, specializations focus the selection of electives required for the base degree and do not require extra courses.

The Architectural Engineering plan has two specializations recognized by the Faculty of Engineering. Each specialization requires students to select technical electives with a common theme. Students are responsible for meeting the TE requirements of the Architectural Engineering degree when pursuing a specialization. Each specialization requires the successful completion of a minimum number of TEs specified by the specialization with a minimum average of 60%. Students must declare a specialization for it to be recognized as part of their degree and appear on the transcript and diploma.

The specialization course requirements are provided below. Exceptions to the listed courses require the approval of the CEE Department.

Building Structures Specialization

The Building Structures Specialization course requirements are:

1. At least five TEs from the list below.
2. At least one of CIVE 413 or CIVE 414 must be taken in the five TEs.

Building Systems Specialization

The Building Systems Specialization requires at minimum of four TEs from the list below.

Faculty Options

The Faculty of Engineering recognizes options within the BASc degree. Students who satisfy the option requirements (courses and grades) will have the option designation shown on their transcript and diploma. Options are intended to recognize success in a field of study outside of the basic degree. Consequently, students must usually take extra courses to complete an option.

Students in Architectural Engineering are often interested in the Entrepreneurship Option, Environmental Engineering Option, International Studies Option, Management Sciences Option, and Statistics Option. Complete details of designated options available to Engineering students are provided in this Calendar in the section entitled Options, Specializations and Electives for Engineering Students.

Accelerated Master's Program in Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering offers an Accelerated Master's Program. See Accelerated Master's Programs in Engineering for more details.