"The real architects are the young ones, regardless of age, with continuing enthusiasm, imagination, industry, inventiveness, curiosity and dedication to architecture for all people as their reason for being ... By such examples we continue to renew faith in the creative spirit and its potentials."

Bruce Goff.  "As An Architect," 1978.

SFIA was created to offer new alternatives in design education while retaining the best features of exceptional traditional schools.

SFIA offers open enrollment for re-entry students, students from other professions and trades, and other promising students regardless of academic background. And it offers academic credit for work in architectural offices. These policies are in the tradition of the long-established Boston Architectural Center.

SFIA offers a three-year Master of Architecture degree program for committed students from other disciplines. This follows the pioneering program at the University of California in Berkeley that has been adopted by many other universities across the U.S.

SFIA is privileged to have the support of faculty and speakers of extraordinary achievement who work outside of the academic tradition. This policy is patterned after the innovative and internationally esteemed "AA" or Architectural Association in London.

SFIA is creating one of the first and most comprehensive programs in Ecological Design in the U.S. We are developing curricula and textbooks in cooperation with other schools in an emerging Ecological Design Consortium and with the McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

SFIA offers low-cost optional courses in affiliation with Ecological Design Program courses at Merritt College in Oakland. This allows some students to earn academic credit with SFIA while paying very low community college fees.

SFIA offers dozens of technical and management continuing education programs in San Francisco, through national workshops, and by distance learning. SFIA is an enthusiastic supporter of, and a provider for the American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System.

SFIA will offer work exchange in special circumstances, to allow students to support school facilities and activities while reducing their educational expenses. This new program will be modeled after the historic practices of the Frank Lloyd Wright School and the Bauhaus.

While following many well-proven traditions in education, SFIA is also testing new approaches to solve long-standing problems. Research studies challenge the value of competitive design studios, the jury system, arbitrary criticism, and subjective grading. The architectural profession has complained bitterly about being cheated by design education that is educator-oriented rather than student-oriented, staffed by non-architects, and divorced from the realities of architectural practice. SFIA has introduced dozens of innovative practices to deal with these issues. SFIA solicits and monitors ongoing feedback on the effectiveness of our practices and policies, from all parties concerned.

Above all, SFIA is dedicated to helping all students reach their highest creative potential. We support student experimentation and visionary exploration, require no student to follow any design ideology or convention, and encourage all students to find their own personal modes of expression.