The Urban Design Center (UDC) is the hub for our Boise-based students. Located in the heart of downtown Boise, the UDC provides studio spaces in which students immersed in architecture, bioregional planning, interior architecture and design and landscape architecture work together on a diverse range of projects in urban environments and the surrounding regions. The UDC also has a virtual studio where faculty record materials for online courses and teach classes virtually, so non-traditional students aren’t confined to a classroom with four walls.

Students in Boise can work at our Integrated Design Lab (IDL) — a research, education and outreach facility committed to designing high performance, energy efficient buildings as part of the 2030 Challenge. Students in Boise also have myriad professional opportunities at area firms, where they get mentorship from industry professionals and connect with clients in both the private and public sector.

As an emerging mid-tier city, Boise is the ideal laboratory for studying innovative design solutions to urbanization — while accounting for a strikingly diverse bioregion, where Idaho’s mountains, famous for their remote and rugged beauty, meet the high desert of the Snake River Plain. Already the largest population center in the state, the Boise-metro area is expected to grow from nearly 700,000 in 2019 to 1,000,000 by 2040. Its thriving cultural scene and access to world-class wilderness — think wild and scenic rivers, extreme backcountry winter sports, world-class rock and ice climbing — give it a reputation as one of the best places to live in the U.S.

In our intimate studio setting in this fast-growing metro area, Boise offers you the chance to think big by starting small. Join us in shaping the Gem State’s future.