It is a 5 year honours degree course, designed in accordance with national and international guidelines on architectural education. The B.Arch.(hons) in WIT was the first outside of Dublin to receive full accreditation by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI) in 2005. It is also recognized under European Directive 2005/36/EC. Studying architecture in an accredited programme is the first step towards becoming a registered professional architect. Architectural education at WIT is primarily about developing within each student a ‘design mind’ so that they can bring together in a creative way the complex challenges facing the future world of construction. Students are introduced to design methodologies and work in a ‘learning through doing’ environment in the studio where they explore architectural designs growing in complexity as they progress through the various years. Students learn the importance of culture, climate and craft in developing design ideas. Feeding into these studio based projects are the supporting subjects grouped under the generic headings of ‘Cultural Context’, ‘Communications’, ‘Technology & the Environment’ and a suite of electives including Work Placement.