Combine your appreciation for architectural design with communication skills to learn the process of constructing and managing the built environment.
Design and Construction Integration Major
This major is for students who understand and appreciate various architecture techniques and design styles. Graduates become a building project’s point person to the various stakeholders, such as designers, contractors and owners. You’ll use your design knowledge, construction management expertise and communication skills to convey a buyer’s “vision” to the builder’s teams, while explaining the builder’s requirements to the buyer.
Today’s construction projects incorporate:
- An increased complexity of building projects
- Collaborative work-delivery procedures
- The owners’ expectations
- An ever-changing technology in the architecture, engineering and construction industry
In order to be successful, these processes require leaders who understand all sides of projects and stress the need for enhanced cooperation between the various stakeholders. The design and construction integration (DCI) major focuses on the management of the design and construction process through collaboration with the different parties involved.
Coursework emphasizes the pre-construction side of building, including conceptual estimating, which predicts a project’s cost, and lean principles of construction, which stress the importance of maximizing values and minimizing waste in the design and construction process. Students learn to identify owners’ and users’ needs and to integrate sustainability, modern engineering systems and building techniques into high-performing building designs.
Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors majoring in Design and Construction Integration may be eligible for the Kiewit Scholars program, which awards annual scholarships and provides personal and professional growth opportunities for future leaders in the design and construction industry.
What to expect in this major
The core of DCI is in construction management and supporting courses that provide students with a fundamental understanding of the design process from within and outside the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. In addition to construction management classes, DCI students study liberal arts, sustainability, architecture techniques, society, design and management.
