Paul B. Sogg Architecture Building

Construction of the Sogg Building not only provided much-needed space for the UNLV School of Architecture but also enabled the school to satisfy accreditation requirements. When the school began as the Architectural Studies Program in the 1980s it was housed in a collection of construction trailers that did not meet the standards of the National Architecture Accrediting Board. It launched a design competition for its building in 1991. The process went awry, however, when a controversy developed over whether architects on the school's faculty could compete. Although the local partnership JMA Architects/Lucchesi-Galati initially received the commission, they eventually lost it to second-place Swisher and Hall of Las Vegas, with Barton Myers as design consultant. Professional disagreements leading to Myers's exit from the project, along with budget constraints and design changes, resulted in a large warehouse of a building, representing a missed opportunity to design a distinguished—or even functionally satisfactory—structure. The building does, however, respond in small ways to its environment. Drought-resistant plants surround the school and metal-screen fins shelter narrow windows from the southern sun.

The School of Architecture offers undergraduate degrees in four programs—architecture, interior architecture and design, landscape architecture, and urban planning—as well as a master of architecture degree. Though it is currently a small school, it is growing rapidly. All the programs focus on the unique environment of the Las Vegas area in order to address issues of designing for a desert climate and the needs of tourism and recreation.