Anne Tate
A pioneer in sustainable planning for 20 years, Anne Tate leads various sustainability initiatives on campus. She is interested in the intersection of design and policy and served in 2003–04 as special advisor on sustainable development in the Office for Commonwealth Development (OCD) in Massachusetts, a post that combined the executive offices of environment, energy, housing and transportation. At the OCD she led two signature efforts: the Sustainable Development Principles and the Transit Oriented Development Initiative. With Doug Foy, Tate negotiated the settlement that unlocked development for 145 acres of prime waterfront land in Somerville, MA. She now co-chairs the Citizen Advisory Committee in Somerville. Her current project, Urban Eden, illustrates what our cities could be like if we were to build in partnership with nature.
Tate earned the AIA Young Architects Award for Community Service and first place in the Progressive Architecture design competition for affordable housing. In addition to teaching at RISD, she has lectured at Yale, Harvard and Princeton.
Courses
Fall 2024 Courses
ARCH 103G-01
GRADUATE CORE 3 STUDIO: CITIES
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The Core 3 Cities studio uses the lens of housing and housing policy to dissect the ways in which these architectural choices impact residents' access to dignity in their cities. In the market of the built environment, where does architecture start? You may think it is the napkin sketch or AutoCAD but think instead of something more mundane: the government official's zoning map or the development firm's financial projection. In the architectural profession, we often lament our lack of agency in the creation of space. The architect must wait for the client, the request for proposal, or the competition. We are then at the mercy of local, state, and federal policy-responding to regulations, sightlines, zoning, and more. But how can we see the mechanisms of governance and finance as inherent parts of design? The Core 3 Cities studio uses the lens of housing and housing policy to dissect the ways in which these architectural choices impact residents' access to and dignity in their cities. Through assignments, readings, and discussions we will explore what is at stake in the urban environment and endeavor to discover new forms of design intervention that respond with nuance to those stakes.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)
ARCH 2196-04
THESIS SEM: NAVIGATING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
We begin work on your Thesis Projects from the outset of the semester: navigating arbitrary beginnings; setting boundaries like nets; developing a whole language of grunts, smudges and haiku; gathering the unique and unrepeatable content, forces, and conditions of your project; hunting an emerging and fleeting idea; recognizing discoveries; projecting forward with the imagination; and distilling glyphs, diagrams and insight plans.This course satisfies the prerequisite requirement for Thesis Project.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
Spring 2025 Courses
ARCH 1519-01
RETHINKING GREEN URBANISM
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As over half the world's population has come to live in cities, urbanization has moved to the center of the environmental debate. This course will provide an interdisciplinary engagement between Sociology and Architecture to reflect on the past, present and future of ecological urbanism. Co-taught by professors from Architecture and Liberal Arts, the seminar will interrogate the ways in which green urban design has been conceptualized to date. It will explore cutting edge contemporary debates around the future of the green urban project and ask students to think forward into the future.
Elective
ARCH 2198-04
THESIS PROJECT
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, students are responsible for the preparation and completion of an independent thesis project.
Estimated Materials Cost: $50.00 - $200.00
Permission for this class is based on the student's overall academic record, as well as their performance in the Wintersession course ARCH 2197: Thesis Discursive Workshop. If the department recommends against a student undertaking ARCH-2198: Thesis Project, two advanced elective studios must be taken instead.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture