Architecture Courses
ARCH 21ST-99
ADVANCED STUDIO
SECTION DESCRIPTION
These studios, three of which are required for graduation, are offered by individual instructors to students who have successfully completed the core curriculum. They are assigned by lottery. Once assigned to an advanced studio, a student may not drop studio.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00
Fee: Some advanced studio sections have a fee for course supplies or field trips. The fee is announced during the registration lottery held in the department.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
ARCH 2252-01 / LAEL 2252-01
PHENOMENA
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As artists and designers our understanding of the physical universe can be a fundamental part of our engagement with our context and in production of our creative work. This course includes an introduction to selected fundamentals of physics: momentum, thermodynamics, and waves and optics - all part of the basis for Architectural Technology. These fundamental phenomena are to be considered both through their mathematical application and expression as concepts in contemporary art. Content to be examined through mathematical problem solving, critical reading, and lab sessions using both physical measurement and digital simulation in Python programming language.
Offered as ARCH-2252 and LAEL-2252.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Sophomore Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 2253-01
ARCHITECTURAL ANATOMY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Introduction to technical building systems - Structure, Environmental and Enclosure - and their integration with an emphasis on quantifying performance and increasing sustainability. Content includes survey of these three system types - typical components, basis of performance, and analysis of performance - and introduction to related conventions of construction and architectural detailing to realize them.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Sophomore Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 2254-01
STRUCTURAL DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Structural Design with timber, steel and concrete (allowable stress, plastic, and composite design respectively). Students will develop understanding and application of quantitative methods of structural design for conventional structural components and systems - beams, columns, trusses, frames, walls, etc. in multiple materials. Introduces the conventions of detailing structural systems in these materials. Introduces systems and requirements for building foundation, gravity superstructure, and lateral superstructure.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Junior Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 2255-01
ENCLOSURE DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Comprehensive design of building enclosures - integrated consideration of structural design, tolerance, detailing, thermal transmission, air transmission, and moisture transmission. Introduce typical and atypical systems of enclosure with emphasis on relative advantages of different systems depending on location, intended performance, and design intent.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Junior Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 2256-01
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course reinforces the fundamentals of environmental systems- thermal, light, ventilation, acoustics-and teaches design strategies to evaluate and optimize building concepts based on these systems. The lab component will include hands-on testing (e.g. data-loggers for thermal and HDR imaging for daylighting) and an emphasis on digital simulations (e.g. Rhino plug-ins for thermal and lighting analysis). The Simulation Game is an in-class activity where students compete to make the most energy-efficient conceptual building massing using an energy modeling program in Rhino/Grasshopper. The course will culminate in a case study project in which students apply design strategies to a specific building design problem.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Junior Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 2296-01
DIRECTED RESEARCH SCOPE SEMINAR
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This seminar will utilize the content, topic, and conceit of measure as a pinhole through which to see the world of Directed Design Research. Directed Design Research is an alternative to Thesis, which lays out a specific territory of inquiry and encourages students to identify the topic and scope of their work, emanating from this specific point of departure. The seminar will lay out a series of methods, techniques, and exercises related to the exploration of measure, asking each student to then define a territory of inquiry within this delimited field. The deliverables for the Scope Seminar include a thoughtfully delimited and actionable statement of the intended design research, the documentation of a minimum of three methodologies or approaches to be utilized in the design research, and a well-wrought syllabus that includes: a weekly breakdown of tasks and deliverables, relevant references and precedents properly cited, and a concise text (3 pages maximum) describing the research activities to be undertaken.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Fifth-year Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture (Directed Research Track)
ARCH 2297-01
DIRECTED RESEARCH SEMINAR
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The course is, effectively, a seminar congruent with a studio, and its ambition is to provide rigorous methodological framing and provocative content scaffolding for the design research activities within the studio. While the studio component will focus on the advancing of the design research questions framed in the fall seminar, the seminar component will consider the best formats and vehicles for the dissemination of the design research. The deliverables for this course will be twofold: a thoroughly researched, documented, and delineated design project; and a textual 'exit document' in which students articulate their research methods, techniques, formats, and outcomes.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
ARCH 2298-01
DIRECTED RESEARCH STUDIO
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The course is, effectively, a studio congruent with a seminar, and its ambition is to provide rigorous methodological framing and provocative content scaffolding for the design research activities within the studio. While the studio component will focus on the advancing of the design research questions framed in the fall seminar, the seminar component will consider the best formats and vehicles for the dissemination of the design research. The deliverables for this course will be twofold: a thoroughly researched, documented, and delineated design project; and a textual 'exit document' in which students articulate their research methods, techniques, formats, and outcomes.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
ARCH 2350-01
ADVANCED TOPICS IN ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This 3 credit advanced seminar offers students the opportunity to focus on drawing topics pertaining to architecture. Drawing is treated as a space for architectural research and/or as an autonomous work of architecture. The notion that drawing serves architecture merely as representation is questioned and critiqued. The theoretical and technical focus on the process of drawing will cultivate and address issues that have for hundreds of years served as the core of the architecture discipline. Simultaneously, the research may allow for the generation or assimilation of ideas, cultures and knowledge from other fields into architecture.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $20.00 - $100.00
Elective
ARCH 2350-01
ADVANCED TOPICS IN ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Constructed Simulations (ARCH-2350) is a drawing seminar centered around the practice of atmospheric simulation. The course brings into dialogue two disparate modes of architectural representation: the wall section and the rendering. Leveraging physics simulation capabilities from Blender and Unreal Engine, students will explore the atmospheric potentials of various wall assemblies and construction systems. With an interest in destabilizing conventional material regimes and associated notions of comfort, the course aims to advance the representational agenda of biogenic constructions and bioclimatic adaptation through toggling the environmental levers of rendering engines.
Open to LDAR, INTAR, and ID students with faculty approval
Estimated Cost of Materials: $20.00 - $100.00
Elective
ARCH 2352-01
ADVANCED TOPICS IN ARCHITECTURAL THEORY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Theory offerings in the architecture department are deliberately consistent or complementary with our pedagogy, born and raised in an arts college. Theory based courses have a basis in empiricism, direct observation and experience of creative processes. Recognizing that discovery and invention often come between existing matrices of thought, offerings may be from disciplines other than architecture or branches of knowledge other than art and design. Objectives of the theory component of our curriculum are to:
- Expand the capacity to speculate productively.
- Develop the skeptic's eye and mind.
- Equip the ability to recognize connections that trigger discovery and invention.
Elective
ARCH 252G-01 / LAEL 252G-01
PHENOMENA
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As artists and designers our understanding of the physical universe can be a fundamental part of our engagement with our context and in production of our creative work. This course includes an introduction to selected fundamentals of physics: momentum, thermodynamics, and waves and optics - all part of the basis for Architectural Technology. These fundamental phenomena are to be considered both through their mathematical application and expression as concepts in contemporary art. Content to be examined through mathematical problem solving, critical reading, and lab sessions using both physical measurement and digital simulation in Python programming language.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)
ARCH 253G-01
ARCHITECTURAL ANATOMY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Introduction to technical building systems - Structure, Environmental and Enclosure - and their integration with an emphasis on quantifying performance and increasing sustainability. Content includes survey of these three system types - typical components, basis of performance, and analysis of performance - and introduction to related conventions of construction and architectural detailing to realize them.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to first-year MArch (3yr) Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)
ARCH 254G-01
STRUCTURAL DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Structural Design with timber, steel and concrete (allowable stress, plastic, and composite design respectively). Students will develop understanding and application of quantitative methods of structural design for conventional structural components and systems - beams, columns, trusses, frames, walls, etc. in multiple materials. Introduces the conventions of detailing structural systems in these materials. Introduces systems and requirements for building foundation, gravity superstructure, and lateral superstructure.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for second-year MArch (3yr) Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)
ARCH 255G-01
ENCLOSURE DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Comprehensive design of building enclosures - integrated consideration of structural design, tolerance, detailing, thermal transmission, air transmission, and moisture transmission. Introduce typical and atypical systems of enclosure with emphasis on relative advantages of different systems depending on location, intended performance, and design intent.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch (2yr) and (3yr): Architecture
ARCH 256G-01
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course reinforces the fundamentals of environmental systems- thermal, light, ventilation, acoustics-and teaches design strategies to evaluate and optimize building concepts based on these systems. The lab component will include hands-on testing (e.g. data-loggers for thermal and HDR imaging for daylighting) and an emphasis on digital simulations (e.g. Rhino plug-ins for thermal and lighting analysis). The Simulation Game is an in-class activity where students compete to make the most energy-efficient conceptual building massing using an energy modeling program in Rhino/Grasshopper. The course will culminate in a case study project in which students apply design strategies to a specific building design problem.
This course is a requirement for first-year MArch (3yr) Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)
ARCH 278G-01
BUILDING ASSEMBLY AND SYSTEMS DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Capstone architectural technology design class focusing on the integration of Structural, Environmental, Enclosure, and Circulation systems. Course to be semester long group design project with labs/workshops using related quantitative analysis and design tools to design systems for a complete building in detail. Special consideration for egress, accessibility, life safety, general code requirements (construction type and zoning), and documentation standards.
This course is a requirement for second-year MArch (2yr) and third-year MArch (3yr) Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch (2yr) and (3yr): Architecture
ARCH 278G-02
BUILDING ASSEMBLY AND SYSTEMS DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Capstone architectural technology design class focusing on the integration of Structural, Environmental, Enclosure, and Circulation systems. Course to be semester long group design project with labs/workshops using related quantitative analysis and design tools to design systems for a complete building in detail. Special consideration for egress, accessibility, life safety, general code requirements (construction type and zoning), and documentation standards.
This course is a requirement for second-year MArch (2yr) and third-year MArch (3yr) Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch (2yr) and (3yr): Architecture
ARCH 301G-01
GRADUATE SEMINAR: DISCIPLINARITY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Anyone following contemporary debates in architecture knows that there are as many definitions of architecture's disciplinarity as there are people who attempt to define it. In the current spate of publications on this topic, Mark Jarzombek declares architecture to be a failed discipline; Jane Rendell claims that architecture is a 'subject' subsuming several disciplines; Mark Wigley ruminates upon the prosthetic nature of the discipline to the sciences; Bob Somol and Sarah Whiting attempt to recover a Foucaultian disciplinarity in which norms, principles and traditions are supplanted by performative practice; Akos Moravansky argues that the disciplinarity of architecture resists the discursive approach embodied in post-1968 theory; Keller Easterling seeks the trapdoor into another habit of mind" by eschewing narrow categories of thought for more inclusive ones; Sylvia Lavin uses the analogy of the 'kiss' between an installation and the architecture that houses it as a model of architectural inter-disciplinarity as media interaction; and Hal Foster and Michael Speaks face off on the relative merits of design intelligence and critical distance. How can a student of architecture ever gain a foothold in this complex and confusing debate? At stake in the debates over disciplinarity is the question: how can we identify architecture's categories of knowledge, and how did the categorization of knowledge become a priority? This Disciplinarity seminar will historically situate the circumstances of architecture's emerging disciplinarity, and thematize it through three seemingly disparate but operatively identical lenses: the aesthetic, the historic, and the technological. Although the debates cited above appear unruly at first blush, fundamentally they aggregate around the relative merits of defining disciplinary categories of knowledge either too narrowly or too broadly, focusing either on architecture's autonomy or its extra-disciplinary appropriations. In addition to architecture's various categories of knowledge, the seminar will consider the influence of disciplinarity on our practices, considering how various classifications of architectural knowledge affect its techniques, standards, and formats of dissemination. From its Foucaultian framing to its current incarnations, Disciplinarity will unpack the construction of architecture's disciplinarity, and shed some much-needed light on what it means for architects to be disciplinary.
Students are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)