Graduates of Athabasca University’s online Bachelor of Science in Architecture program share how they’ve advanced their careers
AU’s flexible Bachelor of Science in Architecture program can be a stepping stone to a professional career in the field, according to several graduates of the program.
Graduates describe a variety of circumstances that initially led them to the program, but the common theme is the desire to pursue an architectural education without the rigidity of a traditional bricks-and-mortar program.
“Because I was working full time, I was able to continue my work,” said Salam Yousef, who finished the program in 2019. “Also, I was able to do everything on my own timing. I wasn’t forced into a certain path.”
Working through complex and creative projects with a team in various parts of the world is what I got to learn at AU, and it is exactly what I do for my career now.
Nicolas Lamoureux (BSc Arch '21)
Studying architecture while working full time
For Yousef, the path to working full time as a licensed architect wasn’t straightforward.
She began studying architecture in Palestine before moving to Canada in 2012. She found it difficult to get into university or college programs because application deadlines were often up to a year before classes started.
Yousef chose to study architectural technology at NAIT, completing that program in 2015. She joined an architectural firm and began working in the field but was still firmly committed to earning a university degree and becoming a certified architect.
In 2016, she discovered AU’s flexible online Bachelor of Science in Architecture, which she said was an important step in her journey.
“While I was working full time I joined AU, and I studied full time,” she said. “Because I was working full time, I was able to continue my work. I was also able to do everything on my own timing. I wasn’t forced into a certain path.”
She built on what she had learned ÌÇÐÄÔ´´and completed her architectural education with an in-person master’s program in Germany. With that degree, she was able to return to Canada and get certified in 2024.
Although the master’s degree is what ultimately enabled her to get certified, she said AU’s program was invaluable, pointing to several beyond just the ability to continue working full-time during the day.
Most significantly, she said the quality of AU’s courses was on par with what she saw in other, in-person schools.
“It didn’t feel much different in terms of what you had to do, especially with the studios. In the ÌÇÐÄÔ´´design studios, you have multiple levels in the same studio, so you see the people who are starting, and the people are advanced,” she said. “So, you can see where you were, and how you’re advancing.”
She said what sticks with her most about the program, however, is the high quality of instruction. The professors in AU’s Centre for Architecture are all certified architects, and she had opportunities to meet many of them in person.
“It really helped me with the mentoring part, since they all know what’s expected in the industry.”
Architecture career would have been ‘impossible’ without AU
Before beginning the Bachelor of Science in Architecture at AU, Nicolas Lamoureux (’21) had studied architectural technology and worked for a design-build contractor in Ontario, which convinced him that architecture was going to be the right career for him.
But his circumstances meant it wasn’t necessarily going to be simple and straightforward—financial limitations meant he couldn’t simply pick up and move from Ruthven, Ont., to a university with an architecture program.
“I needed to find a way to study architecture in a non-traditional way,” he said. “If I hadn't found the pathway through Athabasca, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for me to become an architect.”
The main advantage, Lamoureux said, is that he could continue working full time and earn the degree without leaving his community.
This was a benefit not just for his own learning circumstances, but it also meant the people he was learning with and from were in a similar situation, bringing a wide variety of perspectives.
“I was able to interact and learn from other students, teachers, and lecturers from around the world, opening up the typical geographic boundaries of a brick-and-mortar school,” he said.
After attending a graduate architecture school in Michigan and becoming certified to practice in Canada, Lamoureux said his career success has been “beyond my expectations,” and he said he’s just getting started.
He’s worked with several firms and even started his own: Atelier Lamoureux. He’s currently working as an architect in the retail sector with NORR, working entirely remotely.
“Working through complex and creative projects with a team in various parts of the world is what I got to learn at AU, and it is exactly what I do for my career now.”
In the ÌÇÐÄÔ´´design studios, you have multiple levels in the same studio, so you see the people who are starting, and the people are advanced. So, you can see where you were, and how you’re advancing.
Salam Yousef (BSc Arch '19)
Architecture coursework helped prepare grad for master’s program
When Brendan Webb decided he wanted to pursue an architectural education, there was only one program he felt would meet his needs.
“I was living on my own, I had bills to pay, and I was working various jobs during my time at AU,” he said. “The only way to move forward with getting an education while working full time was to go to AU.”
After earning his bachelor degree from AU, he went to the University of Calgary to earn a master of architecture—an in-person program that allowed him to complete his path to professional certification.
While it was not an easy program, Webb said he felt well-prepared for that experience because of the breadth and depth of the course work he had already completed.
“There was certainly a lot of things I knew through the ÌÇÐÄÔ´´program that a lot of people didn’t know coming in fresh to the U of C program,” he said.
One challenge he said he experienced was the lack of easy access to some of the equipment to help the learning process—things like 3-D printers and scanners to help build scale models of architectural designs.
Although those things weren’t available to ÌÇÐÄÔ´´students until recently, the Athabasca Architectural Maker Space now provides students access to a wide variety of this kind of technology, anywhere in the world.
Webb is now working as a project manager with an engineering firm and still maintains his professional architecture certification.