About

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at Cooper Union offers two sequential summer programs for high school students: an online five-week foundation course and an in-person four-week digital fabrication intensive. Together they form one of the more rigorous pre-college architecture pathways available, grounded in Cooper Union's distinctive tradition of critical thinking, design process, and making.The Introduction to Architecture Online (July 6–August 7, 2026) is the entry point.

Students engage in live synchronous sessions Monday through Friday, 11AM–2PM EST, with additional daily desk-critique sessions timed to accommodate international students — making the program genuinely accessible to students worldwide. No prior architecture experience is required. The curriculum moves through five weekly design problems structured as spatial games, progressing from points and lines through object volumes, hybrid systems, collaged fabrication, and a final review. Faculty include Nader Tehrani, Elizabeth O'Donnell, and other Cooper Union architecture faculty. Students build a portfolio over the five weeks that may be used in college applications.

Admission is competitive on a rolling basis; the application requires a 300-word statement of interest and one letter of reference. Tuition is $3,605. Scholarships are available to a limited number of New York City public school students who apply by April 1. No college credit is awarded; students receive a Certificate of Completion.The AACE Lab Summer Program is the advanced in-person follow-on, held at Cooper Union's fabrication lab in New York City.

Students who have completed the online introduction — or who have equivalent Rhino 3D proficiency — are eligible to apply. Over four weeks, students work with laser cutters, 3D printers, and CNC technologies to develop prototypes through iterative design-build projects. College credit is awarded upon successful completion. No financial aid is available for the AACE Lab track, and Cooper Union does not sponsor visas for in-person attendance. 2026 dates and tuition were not confirmed at time of writing. Neither program is residential. Students attending the in-person AACE Lab track will need to arrange their own housing in New York City.

The two-program structure — online foundation followed by in-person fabrication — is unusual in pre-college architecture education and gives serious students a coherent pathway from conceptual design thinking into hands-on material production within one of the country's most respected architecture schools.