‘‘I think [it's] terrific,'' the Otago-based architect said.
Otago Polytechnic is developing the degree, which chief executive Phil Ker said was expected to start in 2017.
It will be the newest of five such programmes in New Zealand.
Unitec, Auckland University, and Victoria University of Wellington have bachelor's and master's programmes in architecture, while the Canterbury Polytechnic Institute of Technology has only a bachelor's programme.
Architectural students typically complete a three-year bachelor's degree and then a three-year master's degree before they can be certified architects.
Mr Ker said Otago would start with the bachelor's programme and then evaluate whether it made sense to develop a master's degree.
‘‘The design of the degree has to be such that it will feed into one of the established master's programmes for now,'' he said.
‘‘You've got to walk before you run.''
The degree might be housed within the polytechnic's existing engineering school, which went through a restructuring earlier this year that left seven full-time equivalent staff members (FTEs) out of a job.
A department-wide review was also part of the restructuring, and Mr Ker said yesterday that review was a partial catalyst for the development of the new architecture degree.
‘‘The review that we did ... brought this back on to the agenda,'' he said.
‘‘But there's been discussions held in [the engineering school] and the design school over the last two or three years.
‘‘It became a right time to take a much closer look at [the idea]. And we did, and decided we would proceed.''
He expected when the three-year degree reached ‘‘maturity'' - after about three years - it would have between 70 and 100 equivalent full-time students (Efts) and six or seven FTEs.
The staff would be ‘‘a mix of full-timers, proportional staff, and industry-based people who come in, contributing to specialty areas''.
The programme was being developed by existing staff and more staff were expected to be hired in time.
Mr van Brandenburg said the polytechnic's plans were still ‘‘humble beginnings''.
‘‘It's baby steps.''
But he was excited nonetheless.
‘‘I'd certainly be interested in seeing what they do, and happy to take part however I can.''
