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)

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

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

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)

This is a theoretical seminar course that will be concerned with ideas and architectural knowledge that may be cultivated and tested through discourse. The course discussions will focus on an expansive role of architectural tools. While acknowledging a wealth of disciplinary conventions, histories and theories, this course recognizes that the forms of representation within the discipline of architecture have the capacity to affect the discipline of architecture and are not fixed. Students in this course will be expected to build upon their previous architectural education through a series of directed projects aimed at advancing architectural theories, ideas and methods. Some of the questions that students will be expected to address are: What are the practical, theoretical, and creative implications of a drawing that functions as architecture? How do architects change the way we make and think thanks to digital media? How do architects represent and model natural forces? How do architects express political or social agendas? What is the nature of an architectural contribution to interdisciplinary discourse? How can representation enable new kinds of artistic and research-based practices for architecture? Students will be expected to self-direct their process while framing their work intellectually in a seminar environment.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

This course is limited to first-year MArch (2yr) Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (2yr)

ReAssembly: Working Logics is a workshop-based studio rooted in hands-on research centered around material-specific methodologies and multivalent modes of production. At the intersection of architecture, art, and fabrication – the course will investigate the material and cultural implications within various design workflows. We will develop digital, automated, and manual workflows to investigate tectonic possibilities and novel design outcomes. Existing precedents will be closely studied to reimagine and refabricate various assemblies within architecture and other material-based practices. These working logics will leverage tools and techniques such as CNC milling and other means of digital fabrication in the development of large-scale prototypes. The workshop aims to build skills and language around compositional, tectonic, and conceptual explorations of contemporary architectural fabrication.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Elective

This is a placeholder course for RISD students interested in taking a class at Brown University.

RISD students must receive prior approval from either the Division of Liberal Arts (for Liberal Arts credit) or their Department Head (for Major, Non-Major, or Graduate Elective credit) in order to cross-register. This will be conducted using an electronic ‘Prior Approval for Brown University Credit’ form found in Etrieve.

This course will be replaced with the approved designation as outlined on the Prior Approval for Brown University Credit form.

This is a placeholder course for RISD students interested in taking a class at Brown University.

RISD students must receive prior approval from either the Division of Liberal Arts (for Liberal Arts credit) or their Department Head (for Major, Non-Major, or Graduate Elective credit) in order to cross-register. This will be conducted using an electronic ‘Prior Approval for Brown University Credit’ form found in Etrieve.

This course will be replaced with the approved designation as outlined on the Prior Approval for Brown University Credit form.

Ceramics and printmaking have a shared ethos in the production of multiples and process-driven technical methods. This is reflected in industry but is not often explored in an academic context. This course would be the first at RISD to explore the rich resources of the Ceramics and Printmaking Departments to promote research into innovative ways to combine the disciplines. For almost three centuries ceramics have been enhanced by printed elements. The combination of ceramic and print technologies have tremendous potential for new applications in functional and sculptural approaches to ceramic multiples and printed editions. RISD has all the facilities in ceramics and printmaking required to pursue research in this field. Students will learn ceramic techniques such as hand-building and slip casting to create forms to hold screen printed, intaglio, relief, and digital images. Historical techniques will be presented and new methods and combinations will be developed.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective

Ceramics and printmaking have a shared ethos in the production of multiples and process-driven technical methods. This is reflected in industry but is not often explored in an academic context. This course would be the first at RISD to explore the rich resources of the Ceramics and Printmaking Departments to promote research into innovative ways to combine the disciplines. For almost three centuries ceramics have been enhanced by printed elements. The combination of ceramic and print technologies have tremendous potential for new applications in functional and sculptural approaches to ceramic multiples and printed editions. RISD has all the facilities in ceramics and printmaking required to pursue research in this field. Students will learn ceramic techniques such as hand-building and slip casting to create forms to hold screen printed, intaglio, relief, and digital images. Historical techniques will be presented and new methods and combinations will be developed.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective

This course will explore digital design and production methods of ceramic objects within the context of contemporary art and design. Students will undertake a series of projects utilizing 3D modeling applications to produce forms that can be fabricated by additive technologies including direct extrusion of clay. Students will also build an open source printer to gain a better understanding of the adaptability and control of the tools they will be using. Rhino will be used as the primary CAD tool and students will need to provide their own laptop with Rhino installed. Experience with both ceramics and 3D modeling preferred.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

The course explores an extensive range of sculptural possibilities for ceramics through the theme of sampling. Students learn basic ceramic construction including handbuilding and moldmaking. Projects include: transformation of found shapes, images or objects, abstraction and introduction to contemporary ceramic sculpture. The emphasis is on experimentation and development of personal ideas.

Elective

In this class we will utilize an industrial approach and integrate it with a fine art sensibility. Students will learn how to make molds and prototypes; produce porcelain casting slip; strategies in casting; traditional and non-traditional surface applications. Course projects will focus on non-functional concepts. Many tools are supplied, however, students are required to purchase a tool kit to supplement those already on hand.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Ceramics Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Ceramics

In this class you will find a site, a venue, a place from which your investigations will spring. Working from the tradition and need of tableware; or architectural ornamentation; or public art, you will attach your personal expressive needs and vision to uses outside of the studio. Creative and inventive individual solutions are stressed. All ceramic techniques and processes appropriate may be used. Collaboration is encouraged. Designed for students at an advanced level, using clay as a primary material and involving a variety of processes and forming methods.

Elective

Students explore the pottery making processes of throwing, jiggering, extruding, casting, and pressing. They test and experiment creating the ceramic surfaces from a variety of high temperature glaze and firing techniques. They establish and challenge the creative and expressive potentials of utility.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Ceramics Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Ceramics

In the first semester, graduate students begin their investigation and produce clay works that allow the faculty to assess their approach and capabilities. Students are available and pursue active contact with the faculty. Students also attend supplemental department presentations.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Ceramics Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Ceramics

A seminar exploring ceramic idea, method, and expression in ceramic art from the technical perspective. Raw materials, clay bodies, glazes and glaze calculation are studied. The potential connection between technical understanding and the fulfillment of your vision and aesthetic expression is examined. Independent research is required.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Ceramics Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Ceramics

A seminar exploring idea, method, and expression as found in the history of ceramic art. The focus is the potential connection between historical awareness and the development of your own work. Independent research is required.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Ceramics Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Ceramics

In the beginning of your fourth year you work independently with a ceramic faculty tutor to develop your individual degree project. Your project is expected to be a body of ceramic work that is unified in direction, significant in its degree of growth, innovative in its resolution, and personal in its expression.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Senior Ceramics Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Ceramics

Drawing is explored through ceramic techniques. This class serves to enhance the artist's perceptions relative to what drawing can become through the exploration of surface becoming form, and form mediated by surface. Drawing can be premeditation and drawing can be realization.

Elective