Our summer programs offer students a design-studio experience, a glimpse into life at one of the leading public universities in the world, and the opportunity to earn college credit

Structured around the experience of a design studio typically offered within the curriculum of a college-level architecture program, students focus on developing and advancing their design skills through space, form-making, and related 2-D and 3-D representation techniques.

Summer 2026 dates
JumpStart: June 22 - July 17, 2026 (in-person commuter)
TeenArch: June 22 - July 10, 2026 (two options: in-person commuter, remote/online)

Note: Although we are not offering organized on-campus housing for Summer 2026, any student age 17 years or older may be eligible for an independent Summer Sessions Housing Contract. For more information, please visit UCLA's Summer Sessions Housing page.

Click here to register for JumpStart

Click here to register for TeenArch

Led by AUD Summer Programs Director Julia Koerner, both the JumpStart program and TeenArch Studio engage students in a wide range of activities, from intensive design exercises, individual feedback sessions, and small group discussions, to studio-wide presentations and reviews. Students are introduced to the conceptual and technical facilities essential to the study of architecture as a discipline and its practice as a profession. To supplement studio activities, weekly lectures from UCLA faculty and notable guest designers explore the many facets of idea-driven design, as well as urban and design culture in Los Angeles.

Both programs culminate in final presentations of work to guest critics, offering students a chance to apply their skills and gain experience and poise with giving professional presentations. Students leave the programs with new design languages and insights, as well as a design portfolio they can use to apply to future design programs.

For Summer 2026, JumpStart will be offered in person, and TeenArch will be offered in both in-person and remote formats, with specific details below.

We are also happy to note the return of the Summer Lecture Series; the 2024 Summer Lecture Series offered an array of design voices and perspectives for both Summer Program participants and interested members of the general public.

JumpStart

Summer 2026: June 22 - July 17, 2026
In-person, commuter

JumpStart is a 4-week summer studio for individuals contemplating careers in architecture, design, and related fields. The program is open to students from all backgrounds and carries six quarters of University of California credit. To participate in JumpStart, students must hold a high school diploma (or equivalent).

This year’s program will be delivered in person. Students will be assigned to an instructor for a studio on campus, and will attend Technical Seminars, Theory Seminars, as well as group-work sessions in person.

Software and fabrication-tool tutorials will be provided each week as relevant to assignments within the Technical Seminars.

Over the course of the program, students will learn to:

• Produce architectural representation via both orthographic and parallel projections
• Build analog models using manual and digital fabrication tools
• Develop digital models of existing and original designs
• Learn to use 2-D and 3-D modeling and drawing software: Rhinoceros and Adobe Illustrator (individuals with prior modeling experience will be challenged to expand and advance their skill set through technical workshops)
• Communicate architectural ideas effectively across formats
• Nourish those ideas with broader cultural thematics

Studio, workshops, and seminars are offered between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm PST on Mondays and between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm PST on Tuesdays through Fridays.

The Summer Lecture Series usually takes place at 1:00 to 2:00 pm in Perloff Hall Decafe.

There will be a Field Trip in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

Lunchtime lectures, workshops, and seminars are offered between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm PST. Lunchtime lectures will be recorded and offered asynchronously for those in different time zones.

If you are enrolled in JumpStart and are 17 years of age or older at the time of residence, you may apply for housing through the UCLA Summer Sessions Housing application which opens in mid-May.

STUDIO TOPIC: FROM ADU TO THE MONSANTO HOUSE OF THE FUTURE

“Modern life demands, and is waiting for, a new kind of plan, both for the house and the city.” – Le Corbusier

The Monsanto House of the Future, built in 1957 in Anaheim, California, is an ultra-modern, 20th-century prefabricated house. Over the ten years in which it was on display at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, the Monsanto House represented the future of housing, and acted as a study on how plastic might be used to mass-produce housing at lower costs—"plastic, fantastic living."

Students will explore and materialize formations and constituents of architectural thresholds and kit of parts in three phases, framed by analysis of the Monsanto House of the Future. Students will then multiply and situate those components within simple geometric arrays as a vehicle for further speculations on architectural space, form, order, and the inter-relationships among objects and fields. Concurrently, students will transform a zone within that array and rethink construction logics through idea-driven model-making. Ultimately, this exercise will result in designing an ADU that sits next to the Monsanto House on a typical 100x50’ LA site.

Syllabus, schedule, fees, and registration info are available at summer.ucla.edu/institutes/JumpStart.

Questions? Email us at summer@aud.ucla.edu.

TeenArch Studio

Summer 2026: June 22 - July 10, 2026
In-person and remote options

TeenArch Studio is a three-week architecture experience for high school students interested in exploring architectural and design thinking. The program carries three quarter units of University of California credit. TeenArch Studio is open to students who are 15 years of age or older by the first day of Summer Sessions 2026 (June 22, 2026), and enrolled in grades 9 through 12 during Spring 2026.

For Summer 2026 we are offering two TeenArch format options:

A: In-Person Commuter: June 30 - July 18, 2026
(Non-UCLA students in the TeenArch Program must be 15 years of age or older by June 22, 2026 to be eligible.)

B: Remote/Virtual: June 30 - July 18, 2026
(Non-UCLA students in the TeenArch Program must be 15 years of age or older by June 22, 2026 to be eligible.)

Note: Although we are not offering organized on-campus housing for Summer 2026, any student age 17 years or older may be eligible for an independent Summer Sessions Housing Contract. For more information, please visit UCLA's Summer Sessions Housing page.

There is a field trip in Los Angeles scheduled for Saturday, June 27, 2026 for all in-person TeenArch students.

All students who elect to complete the program in-person will be assigned to an instructor for a studio on campus, and will attend Technical Seminars as well as group-work sessions in-person. Students who elect to complete the program online will be assigned to a remote instructor and online studio space, and will attend Technical Seminars, Theory Seminars, as well as group-work sessions in-person.

UCLA also offers the Summer Scholars Support program, a need- and merit-based scholarship opportunity for California high school students enrolled in grades 9 through 12. Learn more via the program website.

STUDIO TOPIC: TACTILE TRANSFORMATIONS: Soft vs. Hard Materials at Architectural Scale

In the Summer 2026 TeenArch Studio, students will begin by creating iterative physical models which will explore the relationship between hard and soft materials. They will understand how form and volume take shape through a series of deliberate operations. Through diagrammatic drawing, physical model-making, and 3D modeling, students will learn how to generate codified systems in order to abstract inspiration and figuration from a seemingly abstract form to create order in the form of a simple enclosure.Every design has a throughline – a way to describe from beginning to end the process taken to arrive at the final product.

Students will develop a studio extension in the courtyard in front of UCLA AUD’s Perloff Hall, they will use their study models and architectural drawings to inform their design, taking into consideration feedback they have received over the course of the studio.

TeenArch syllabus, schedule, fees and registration info at summer.ucla.edu/institutes/TeenArchStudio.

Questions? Email us at summer@aud.ucla.edu.