This university, which has developed in Yokohama, a center of industry and the place where the Meiji-period policy of "civilization and enlightenment" began, prides itself on having a free, pragmatic and international atmosphere. With respect to architectural education, the university has emphasized education in architecture and the arts since it was still known as the Yokohama Institute of Technology and Professor Junpei Nakamura (who was later designated a "person of cultural merit" by the government) played a key role on its faculty. The university has educated many excellent architects and has always been slightly different in character from the architectural departments of other universities. It carries on that tradition even today; education and research in the Department of Architecture at Yokohama National University have been praised for the importance placed on design, the advanced experimental character of many efforts, the maintenance of an open approach to education and research, and the international activities of faculty and graduates.
In 2001, the architect Alejandro Zaera-Polo, the winner of an international competition for the Yokohama International Port Terminal, was invited to teach a six-month studio involving the urban study of Yokohama. Design faculty members subsequently continued efforts to provide a practical studio education. In 2007, the Yokohama Graduate School of Architecture (Y-GSA) was opened to provide a practical, innovative education in architecture. Y-GSA, a program intended to play a leading role in the development of architects, is an extension of those past achievements.